Michelin has been manufacturing motorcycle tires since 1892. By context, that’s 11 years longer than Harley-Davidson has been manufacturing motorcycles. Now, the company has launched its latest tire for motorsport: Michelin Road 6.
The people at Michelin explain that the Road 6, with its 100% Silica Technology, continues to produce the added benefits of both grip and durability – qualities that tend to be opposites – while keeping get performance and comfort. The resulting Road 6 offers a drier grip and handling than the previous generation Road 5but with wet grip, stability and service life are improved.
To evaluate the seat of the pants, Michelin provided a set of Road 6 in GT spec, reinforced to add the weight of heavier sports cars, to attach to my car. BMW R 1200 RT 2014. When the tires arrived, I noticed they had the rounder, less pointed look I’ve come to expect from Michelin sports tires. (I’ve run Pilot Road, Pilot Road 2, and Pilot Road 3 on my Honda ST1300 and Pilot Road 4 GT on my RT.) The rounded shape means that the entry is linear, not abrupt, which helps smooth traffic, predictable transitions. That familiar characteristic inspires confidence in the car’s handling and stability – especially on a full-wheel or passenger-carrying full-size sports car – and it’s immediately apparent. with the new Road 6 GTs.
advertisement
Check out more reviews of Rider’s motorcycle tires
Michelin invented dual rubber for motorcycles. The latest innovation, known as 2CT+ by Michelin, is designed to enhance stability during sharp acceleration, cornering and sharp braking. The dual compound construction is already standard on the rear tires in the Road range, but with the Road 6, Michelin also applies it to the front tyres.
The Road 6 also features a new Michelin technology called Water Evergrip, a sipe design that allows the tires to drain water consistently, even as they wear out. A cross-section shows each groove that begins to narrow at the surface of the tread, then flares inward. When worn normally, the sipe grows shallower but also wider. Michelin designed special 3-D, metal-printed molds for the production of tires including these smart sipes. Combined with modified angles in their sister grooves, they help to achieve a constant void ratio, so that drainage remains constant regardless of the angle of inclination.
To see with my own eyes, I went in a downpour. On the twisty, wet roads of my hometown of western Massachusetts, my RT running with the Road 6 GT felt brought into a wide range of speeds and during deliberate braking.
As the cataclysm continued, I stopped in a parking lot to take a few pictures. A man in an SUV got ahead.
“Are you ok?”
I’m fine, thanks.
“Why are you in here?”
I’m evaluating some new motorcycle tires designed to be better in wet conditions.
“It’s nuts. Go home!”
Thanks, I’m heading in that direction.
I was able to go a few hundred more miles on these tires before the publication deadline, although it will obviously take several thousand miles to report that they are as good in wet conditions as they were when first published. That said, the new Water Evergrip technology is an innovative concept that takes some great engineering to execute.
As for tire life predictions, nearly a quarter of a million miles in the saddle has taught me that tire life varies with the quality of the road surface, the weight a bike carries, how difficult it is to ride. the driver when accelerating, braking and turning, and no doubt. other factors. Time and distance will tell.
advertisement
Bottom line so far? I really like the feel of these new Michelin Road 6 GT tires on my RT.
For more information, visit michelinman.com/motorcycle.
