EBay deal: New Michelin Road 5 for $320/pair

[2and3cylinders]

No one commented on me going to the Bibendum dark side.

Bibendum, commonly referred to a "Bib", for those who are unaware, is The Michelin Man's name...

[PhotoAl]

Oh noes you went to the dark side!!!!!

I've run the Roads all the way back to the 2s and each one seemed better than the one before but the 5 was only a little better than the 4.  Currently running 6s and they are significantly better in longevity and handling feel than the 5s.  Never ran a 5 until it was worn out, was always putting new ones on for the next trip.  Had lots of them with 5,000 to 6,000 miles and seemed like maybe 9,000 would be the very best for me.  I'm currently at 7,800 miles on the 6s and they have lots of tread left.  6,500 miles was my last trip and it was more straight roads than a lot of my trips so they do have a pretty good flat spot in the center of the rear but not as bad as I would have expected.  

[texscottyd]

16 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said:

No one commented on me going to the Bibendum dark side.

Bibendum, commonly referred to a "Bib", for those who are unaware, is The Michelin Man's name...

Fun fact:  Back in the glory days of amateur road racing, Michelin had a very generous contingency program to win on their tires.   I got a lot of money back from Michelin, and it was paid out in the form of ‘Bib Bucks’ certificates.  

[texscottyd]

13 hours ago, PhotoAl said:

the 5 was only a little better than the 4.  Currently running 6s and they are significantly better in longevity and handling feel than the 5s

Hmmm… now I’m questioning my choice.  I also thought the 5 was only marginally better than the 4, so kind of assumed the 6 would be a similar ‘baby step’ forward.   I’ll pay the extra money for ‘significantly better’ if that’s the case, but it looks like I’ll have to burn off another pair of 5s before taking that step.  

[NormR]

IMO the 5's are a GREAT tire. Haven't tried the 6 yet but after 15,000kms any tire will be squared off if not completely done by then. I consider myself quite aggressive and am always looking for the "curviest" roads on any of my tours..... 

[2and3cylinders]

2 hours ago, NormR said:

IMO the 5's are a GREAT tire. Haven't tried the 6 yet but after 15,000kms any tire will be squared off if not completely done by then. I consider myself quite aggressive and am always looking for the "curviest" roads on any of my tours..... 

I'll take 9300 miles predicated on great performance. 

I think the T32s are a very very good tire too

Got the 5s in 2 days!!!

[2and3cylinders]

On 3/23/2023 at 2:10 PM, TomTracer said:

How old are those deal tires out of curiosity? When I had 4 bikes and changed tires myself I always had sets of tires on hand, stored in a cool dry basement. I never fretted over how old they were. Some of us are really anal about that, not me. I rode pretty aggressively back then, which is less the case as I fight to not let the old man in!

The front was baked in the week of thirty three and twenty two and the rear was baked in the week of Sixteen of twenty two

Given most manufacturers state that a tire should be used within five years Of manufacturer these tires are more than fresh enough to be held in attic stock for a couple of years if necessary to siri

[TomTracer]

Thx, just curious about the age. Running down an inventory yields good sales for us. Ride safely!

[dazzler24]

22 hours ago, PhotoAl said:

Oh noes you went to the dark side!!!!!

I've run the Roads all the way back to the 2s and each one seemed better than the one before but the 5 was only a little better than the 4.  Currently running 6s and they are significantly better in longevity and handling feel than the 5s.  Never ran a 5 until it was worn out, was always putting new ones on for the next trip.  Had lots of them with 5,000 to 6,000 miles and seemed like maybe 9,000 would be the very best for me.  I'm currently at 7,800 miles on the 6s and they have lots of tread left.  6,500 miles was my last trip and it was more straight roads than a lot of my trips so they do have a pretty good flat spot in the center of the rear but not as bad as I would have expected.  

 

7 hours ago, NormR said:

IMO the 5's are a GREAT tire. Haven't tried the 6 yet but after 15,000kms any tire will be squared off if not completely done by then. I consider myself quite aggressive and am always looking for the "curviest" roads on any of my tours..... 

My 5's were squared off at around 14,300kms (~9,000miles)- particularly the front.  Bit more wear was left on the rear before I bit the bullet and put on some 6's.

Hopefully, PhotoAl statement of "significantly better in longevity and handling" will also be my experience as I really liked the 5's and also thought of them as a GREAT tyre.

Just finished putting it all back together last night.  Now for some scrubbing in and seeing if the hype is realised. 🤞

 

[Wintersdark]

The rear is about the same (6 vs 5) imho, but the front is substantially improved vs the 5.  I find you get much better feedback thanks to the much stiffer sidewalls, particularly on the side of the tire. Also, better wear characteristics.  The 4 and 5 fronts tended to wear in a /-\ sort of pattern(think the top of an octagon); flat angled sides, flat top, with a weird pointy transition where the harder center compound meets the softer sides, resulting in fronts that you'd swap out with rears where normally you'd run 2 rears to a front.  Of course, it wasn't that bad, because you'd get around 10k out of a set, but still.

The Road 6 front is dramatically better.  It's a very different tire, and solves what was IMHO the biggest weakness of the Road tire line, at least over the last decade or so - as far as my experience goes. 

I gave the T32's a run between my Road 5's and 6's, and while I felt the T32 was a good value tire, it wore down WAY faster, and was nowhere near as good in the wet and cold as the 5's, let alone the 6's which get purportedly 10% more wet/cold grip than the 5's.  I took mine for a ride in -15C a couple weeks ago, and was genuinely impressed at how much I had to work on it to trigger traction control. 

And that's my Road 6 fanboying for the day. 

[dazzler24]

2 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

The rear is about the same (6 vs 5) imho, but the front is substantially improved vs the 5.  I find you get much better feedback thanks to the much stiffer sidewalls, particularly on the side of the tire. Also, better wear characteristics.  The 4 and 5 fronts tended to wear in a /-\ sort of pattern(think the top of an octagon); flat angled sides, flat top, with a weird pointy transition where the harder center compound meets the softer sides, resulting in fronts that you'd swap out with rears where normally you'd run 2 rears to a front.  Of course, it wasn't that bad, because you'd get around 10k out of a set, but still.

The Road 6 front is dramatically better.  It's a very different tire, and solves what was IMHO the biggest weakness of the Road tire line, at least over the last decade or so - as far as my experience goes. 

I gave the T32's a run between my Road 5's and 6's, and while I felt the T32 was a good value tire, it wore down WAY faster, and was nowhere near as good in the wet and cold as the 5's, let alone the 6's which get purportedly 10% more wet/cold grip than the 5's.  I took mine for a ride in -15C a couple weeks ago, and was genuinely impressed at how much I had to work on it to trigger traction control. 

And that's my Road 6 fanboying for the day. 

Good write up Winters 👍.  Yes, that shape of wear was what I experienced as well on the 5s.  Especially on the front.

The 5s had a 2CT+ compound in the rear and a 2CT in the front. The front tyres of the 6s also now have the same construction as the rear tyres.  That's the 2CT+ construction where they state that the sidewall is now stronger and from what you're saying and backed up through your experience, is living up to the promise of more stability.

I'm excited by your italicized "dramatically better" description of the front.  I did feel that I had to input mini adjustments to maintain a line when cornering hard on the 5s so am keen to see if the front is as good as you describe.

Here's the 2CT+ blurb from Michelin (7 years ago!)

I still haven't had a chance to get out there on the new rubber yet - family commitments! - but am keen to see if the front tyre feedback lives up to the promise.

On a related side note, what pressures are you running in your 6s?  I know you are in a significantly cooler climate from what I am but am curious to see what you're running in your summer and if I may ask - riding weight?

[miweber929]

8 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

The rear is about the same (6 vs 5) imho, but the front is substantially improved vs the 5.  I find you get much better feedback thanks to the much stiffer sidewalls, particularly on the side of the tire. Also, better wear characteristics.  The 4 and 5 fronts tended to wear in a /-\ sort of pattern(think the top of an octagon); flat angled sides, flat top, with a weird pointy transition where the harder center compound meets the softer sides, resulting in fronts that you'd swap out with rears where normally you'd run 2 rears to a front.  Of course, it wasn't that bad, because you'd get around 10k out of a set, but still.

The Road 6 front is dramatically better.  It's a very different tire, and solves what was IMHO the biggest weakness of the Road tire line, at least over the last decade or so - as far as my experience goes. 

I gave the T32's a run between my Road 5's and 6's, and while I felt the T32 was a good value tire, it wore down WAY faster, and was nowhere near as good in the wet and cold as the 5's, let alone the 6's which get purportedly 10% more wet/cold grip than the 5's.  I took mine for a ride in -15C a couple weeks ago, and was genuinely impressed at how much I had to work on it to trigger traction control. 

And that's my Road 6 fanboying for the day. 

Had the same experience with the Road 4s and 5s and am also finding the Road 6s to be the best yet of the bunch. Hard to fault this tire except for the price. 

[texscottyd]

11 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

And that's my Road 6 fanboying for the day. 

Maybe I need to buy a set of Road 6s for the FJ, and save these Road 5s for my XR?   All I need is a set of these special adapters… 😃

[betoney]

9 minutes ago, texscottyd said:

Maybe I need to buy a set of Road 6s for the FJ, and save these Road 5s for my XR?   All I need is a set of these special adapters… 😃

Those "might" be a necessity, I'm not sure of new tires are compatible with old rims... just sayin' 😎👍🏻

[2and3cylinders]

Would the road 5GT Not necessarily triangulate versus the standard five even though it's just a 2CT?