MICHELIN’S ENDURING
WET GRIP
U
nless you’re into serious track riding,
the sports-touring segment of tyres is
probably for you. This segment of the tyre
market offers the most versatile tyres for
road riders, which offer quick warm-up,
decent mileage and good grip in both
wet and dry conditions. French tyre manufacturer
Michelin has just released its new Road 5 range of
tyres, which look set to shake up the sports-touring
segment with emphasis on great dry grip, but that
also offer exceptional wet grip too – for the life of
the tyre. Sounds like the rubber Holy Grail to us!
Unlike anything else we’ve seen in the tyre market,
the new Road 5’s wet weather performance
doesn’t degrade as the tyre wears. This naturally
ha ppens as the tyre wears and the tread (sipes)
get smaller, so we were keen to hear how
Michelin had done this. Well, it turns out it’s all
in Michelin’s new siping technology – XST Evo –
which means the sipes increase in width as the
sipe wears and becomes shallower. Clever.
This XST Evo siping is the key to this highly
improved wet grip, which Michelin claims is
superior to any other tyre in the sports-touring
class. Viewed side on as a cross section, the sipe
is narrow on the tread surface but much wider
deeper in the tyre at the bottom of the sipe –
think of a triangle or one of those Swiss Toblerone
chocolate bars you can only ever seem to find in
Duty Free at the airport. Michelin says this new
tech allows the Road 5 to stop as quickly in the wet
after 5600km as the company’s own Pilot Road 4
tyre, which is no shabby wet weather performer.
The new tyre is available in a wide range of
sizes to suit most modern nakeds and sports-
tourers. Prices to follow. We’re looking forward
to getting a set to test and will let you know
more, as we’re bound to be getting a fair
bit more wet weather yet this summer...
Head to your local dealer or visit www.northern.co.nz to find your local stockist