Say what you will about the volume of ‘enduro specific’ products that have flooded the market recently, the popularity of this discipline has ultimately delivered some outstanding bikes and gear, many of which have changed both our bikes and the way we ride them for ever. One such brand unafraid to use the almighty e-word in their product description is Michelin, the French tire giant.
If you go back 15 or so years, Michelin not only dominated the mountain bike tire market, but the podiums of both World Cup downhill and cross country competition as well, wracking up a serious trophy cabinet along the way. But more than that, Michelin’s innovative stance helped deliver many of the precursing designs that shaped the way modern mountain bike tires look today. After a brief hiatus, Michelin have been busy getting back into mountain biking and with some familiar faces by their side, along with some radical new tires for the discerning all-mountain shredder and enduro racer, they are well and truly back in the game. With that in mind, we headed to Finale Ligure, Italy, for the final round of the Enduro World Series and the opportunity to check out their latest offering, the Wild Race'R.
Wild Race’R Details• Rear specific design
• Available sizes: 27.5 x 2.35 or 29 x 2.35
• Folding bead
• Reinforced carcass
• Gum-X compound
• Tubeless ready
• Dry terrain specific
• MSRP: TBA
• Available: January 2016
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bike.michelinman.com /
@michelinofficial
The unique pattern and shape of the Wild Race'R's central blocks were designed to offer grip across the entire contact patch without overly 'glueing' you to the trail and hindering your ability to change lines - especially important for a rear tire - and the pronounced 90-degree braking edges on the rear of the blocks increases braking performance while also delivering a consistent level of performance as they wear
Fresh French rubberMichelin’s renewed focus on mountain biking continues into 2016 with the arrival of their latest 'enduro specific' tire, the Wild Race’R. Designed in collaboration with enduro top guns, Nico Vouilloz and Jerome Clementz, the Wild Race’R’s pedigree on paper is hard to fault and represents a radical departure from its predecessor, boasting a completely new tread pattern and carcass.
Designed to deliver consistent performance on predominantly dry and challenging terrain, the team at Michelin wanted to create a true thoroughbred rear tire that would provide maximum performance with a variety of completely different tires up front. To do this, Michelin worked hand-in-hand with its pro riders for over a year to develop the Wild Race’R and with it, a greater understanding of the unique performance requirements of both front and rear tires in a variety of conditions.
Going way further than simply offering their tires in different compounds and relying on a softer front tire to provide the grip and a marginally harder rear tire to reduce the drag, Michelin's R&D team wanted to understand the unique relationship between both tires within the given parameters of all-mountain riding and enduro competition - riding up, carrying speed on flat sections and maximising grip, while descending predominantly natural trails - which helps to explain Wild Race’R’s unique tread pattern
Riding the Wild Race’RGetting a feel for a condition specific tire away from the conditions it was designed for can be pretty hard, so we left an unusually wet and slippery Finale and headed back to the UK, which had, until we returned, been enjoying a refreshingly dry autumn. Typically, recent rainfall had delivered a thin coating of greasy mud over previously dusty trails, but not to be swayed and eager to see how this new tire held up, we hit the trails to see how the Wild Race’R fared.
While greasy trails might not be the Wild Race’R’s area of expertise, the designers at Michelin never intended this tire to be a one trick pony. Surprisingly, on all but the slickest of roots and off-camber sections the Wild Race’R remained composed, calm and unnervingly consistent given the conditions. It did break away on a number of occasions, but these conditions were far from those that this tire was envisioned to master.
Upon landing on some nicely drained and sandy hardpack trails, intermingled with loose and rocky man-made sections, the speed and control of these tires really shone, going both up and down. Braking, cornering and a noticeable reduction of drag on prolonged fire-road climbs (we ran a Maxxis Shorty 3C in the front for reference) was evident from the get-go and a welcomed feature, but the speed going down and the ability to control it was by far the Wild Race’R’s defining attribute and something I'm keen to revisit when the conditions become more consistent.
The Wild Race’R, unlike some of Michelin’s other ‘mission specific’ enduro tyres, nods its head towards everyday riders as much as it does hardcore enduro racers looking for a great rear tire for the year's fairer months, making this a serious tire we can’t wait to really get wild on when the trails get dusty again.
*New patterns have been designed with 650b and 29 wheels in mind
*A 26in mould for a new design is not worth it from a business point of view
*it was developed as a race specific tyre, you shave time with the bigger wheels those days
Maybe a good tyre but all the Michelin I had over the years -cars, ute, track specific etc ... - all became cracked. Save time and money and buy Maxxis.
Largest market by volume is Usa. Largest market by % polulation/sales Italy.
MTB in France is way bigger than Uk. However props to UK ppls for riding in the mud, that is why there are so many riders.
I'll be happy to look at your numbers @MojoMaujer , but I do think it depends of the type of bikes. They do like DH bikes in the UK for example. On the other hand, the french Joe rides a 130-160mm dually with (over)dialled suspension.
As people have note it looks like the Panaracer Dart, which was front wheel specific tyre. They never worked that good for me as a rear tyre when I was pushed for cash and that's all I had.
Michelin, you are doing it wrong.