Michelin Road 5 tires opinions | GTAMotorcycle.com

Michelin Road 5 tires opinions

Sochi

Sochi

Well-known member
Forum Sponsor
I had great experience with Michelin Power and Road tires in the past, so I was dead set to get Michelin Road 6 set when my first oem tires are done, but this REAL life review video made me wonder.

I follow this guy from Spain so the video is in spanish but you can just look at images of his tires, especially the rear one - the sides are pretty much gone and the top is like brand new to the point so there is no smooth transition - looks almost like a diamond shape, or even to the point that sides are caving in!

He's sayin that he rides mostly twisty roads hard, plus he has heavy beast GS so it could be the reason but in general I don't like what I see in term of wear pattern...
He's also saying that Michelin "fixed" this issue in Road 6, but who knows...

What do you think - are Michelins Road 5/6 still "the best sport road tires money could buy"? they are sure the most expensive ones...

 
Sochi said:
I had great experience with Michelin Power and Road tires in the past, so I was dead set to get Michelin Road 6 set when my first oem tires are done, but this REAL life review video made me wonder.

I follow this guy from Spain so the video is in spanish but you can just look at images of his tires, especially the rear one - the sides are pretty much gone and the top is like brand new to the point so there is no smooth transition - looks almost like a diamond shape, or even to the point that sides are caving in!

He's sayin that he rides mostly twisty roads hard, plus he has heavy beast GS so it could be the reason but in general I don't like what I see in term of wear pattern...
He's also saying that Michelin "fixed" this issue in Road 6, but who knows...

What do you think - are Michelins Road 5/6 still "the best sport road tires money could buy"? they are sure the most expensive ones...

Click to expand...
any major modern tire brand will put out a great tire, michellin gets hyped (for good reason some argue)
They are more expensive, cashing in on the cache?


I think that sort of sums up the good roads in europe doesnt it? more wear around the edges?
 
Road 4s were great tires, these last couple of years availability on the 5s has been spotty. Are the 6s even available here now ?
 
TK4 said:
Road 4s were great tires, these last couple of years availability on the 5s has been spotty. Are the 6s even available here now ?
Click to expand...

yes, Road 6 available for order - Fortnine.ca has both 5 and 6 in stock in my bike size, not sure about other places..
 
I love the 5’s. Have them on my Versys 1000 and I’ve used that bike with those tires as my rain bike at Calabogie - didn’t miss a beat! I liked them so much I put the 5’s on my street Tuono and will be putting them on the CB1000R when the OEM tires need replacing.
 
Katatonic said:
I love the 5’s. Have them on my Versys 1000 and I’ve used that bike with those tires as my rain bike at Calabogie - didn’t miss a beat! I liked them so much I put the 5’s on my street Tuono and will be putting them on the CB1000R when the OEM tires need replacing.
Click to expand...

cool, are you planning to upgrade to 6's as they are available or would still buy 5's?
by the look of the thread pattern 6's should have even more wet grip - grooves are visibly deeper and longer...
 
Sochi said:
cool, are you planning to upgrade to 6's as they are available or would still buy 5's?
by the look of the thread pattern 6's should have even more wet grip - grooves are visibly deeper and longer...
Click to expand...

Honestly, I didn’t even know there was a 6 until this thread so I haven’t looked into them yet.
Really though, the 5’s are so good I don’t see a reason to switch. Besides, generally when a new generation of tire comes out the previous generation gets a little cheaper.
 
I've had both the 4's and the 5's. There was a lot of cupping on the front of the 4's which I'm not experiencing as much with the 5's. There was noticeable improvement in grip in the wet with the 5's. In my mind it was just the way it was supposed to be with improvement between generations.
 
thwak said:
I've had both the 4's and the 5's. There was a lot of cupping on the front of the 4's which I'm not experiencing as much with the 5's. There was noticeable improvement in grip in the wet with the 5's. In my mind it was just the way it was supposed to be with improvement between generations.
Click to expand...
Similar experience on 4 and 5s. Dry, warm grip was similar not as noticeable but cold and wet was better on the 5. Never tried the 6s
I've switched now to Conti Roadattack 3s. Like them better overall. Slightly less cold/wet grip but much better overall grip especially in the warm. They are supposed to wear more evenly than the PRs. Haven't had them on long enough for a full verdict.
 
Sochi said:
I follow this guy from Spain so the video is in spanish but you can just look at images of his tires, especially the rear one - the sides are pretty much gone and the top is like brand new to the point so there is no smooth transition - looks almost like a diamond shape, or even to the point that sides are caving in!

He's sayin that he rides mostly twisty roads hard, plus he has heavy beast GS so it could be the reason but in general I don't like what I see in term of wear pattern...
He's also saying that Michelin "fixed" this issue in Road 6, but who knows...
Click to expand...
I can absolutely say that it happens but why it happens is something entirely preventable. I did the exact same thing to a fresh PR5 rear. Got the tire put on, went to the gap for 2 weeks. Came back with a rear tire that was scary to do easy intersection turns with cause it'd just tip into full lean the moment you were off the center line.

The centre tread lasts a long time while the sides are very sticky. Bottom line, don't take sport touring tires dual compound tires to the track and expect the tire wear to be even.

After the first of 2 weeks. Unfortunately no picture of after the 2nd week and how they looked when they were taken off. This tire was replaced in less than 5000km (was too stubborn to get rid of it at first and didn't think to even it out via burnouts).
1649113516158.png
 
Last edited:
Sochi said:
What do you think - are Michelins Road 5/6 still "the best sport road tires money could buy"? they are sure the most expensive ones...
Click to expand...
I pretty much only ride with the PR4's or Road 5's now after trying a bunch of brands and models. I'll try the Road 6's at some point, but I just bought a set of Road 5's for the FZ1 and am buying another set for my trip down south on the DL650. The grip is outstanding. As mentioned, the cold weather grip is also excellent. The warm up time feels great too.

When I have ridden them on very twisty roads at a very hard pace, they have performed flawlessly for me from the beginning to end of life. The turn in is very predictable and I personally haven't experienced any cupping on the 4's or the 5's. I know there are other tires out there that are also really good, but I'm not willing to buy a set and then ride with them for 15k, all the while wishing I was riding on my Road 5's.

This rear PR4 is from a Deals Gap trip in 2019. The wear is really nice and even all the way around, with no diamond or strange profiles in the middle. For me, the Road 5's wear the exact same way too.
2019071819443964-IMG_2741-4K.jpg
 
shanekingsley said:
I pretty much only ride with the PR4's or Road 5's now after trying a bunch of brands and models. I'll try the Road 6's at some point, but I just bought a set of Road 5's for the FZ1 and am buying another set for my trip down south on the DL650. The grip is outstanding. As mentioned, the cold weather grip is also excellent. The warm up time feels great too.

When I have ridden them on very twisty roads at a very hard pace, they have performed flawlessly for me from the beginning to end of life. The turn in is very predictable and I personally haven't experienced any cupping on the 4's or the 5's. I know there are other tires out there that are also really good, but I'm not willing to buy a set and then ride with them for 15k, all the while wishing I was riding on my Road 5's.

This rear PR4 is from a Deals Gap trip in 2019. The wear is really nice and even all the way around, with no diamond or strange profiles in the middle. For me, the Road 5's wear the exact same way too.
2019071819443964-IMG_2741-4K.jpg
Click to expand...
showoff
 
shanekingsley said:
This rear PR4 is from a Deals Gap trip in 2019. The wear is really nice and even all the way around, with no diamond or strange profiles in the middle. For me, the Road 5's wear the exact same way too.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I should fill in some details too. I'm on I think my 5th PR5 rear for this bike. Normally they wear evenly with spirited riding on public roads. Works great in the cold (once it warms up just a bit it'll grip in as low as -10c weather). It works in rain in all reasonable conditions (yes, it aquaplaned a little in 10cm standing water puddles on the 401), grip for days, very good center line tire life.

My front has only another 2-3k km left in it so I'll probably have the PR6 front on it to try.
 
Put Road 5's on my Multistrada 1200S when the stockers wore out and they were excellent over 15,000km of spirited riding and still looked great when I sold that bike.
My BMW came with S22's on it that I've worn out in 5,000km and I've got a set Road 5's at Ken's waiting to go on it when the weather is better. Road 5's were around $150 a set less than the 6 which is why I went with the 5. Dry, wet, sport, commute they just work great.
Roadsmart 2 and 3 are excellent as well and I recommend those as well (I just like the look of the tread pattern on the Road better so that's why I pay a bit more for the Michilin).
 
I have a new Road 5 Trail on the front, and a Road 5 on the rear of the Wee.

The only things I don't like about them are the price and the wear speed.

I've had tires that felt like you were riding on wet newspapers before. Never again.

The Triumph has Metzler Tourance Next. But I haven't tried them yet.
 
Last edited:
Baggsy said:
I have a new Road 5 Trail on the front, and a Road 5 on the rear of the Wee.

The only things I don't like about them are the price and the wear speed.

I've had tires that felt like you were riding on wet newspapers before. Never again.

The Triumph has Metzler Tourance Next. But I haven't tried them yet.
Click to expand...
I've had one set of the Tourance Next and really liked them. The grip was excellent. The only thing I didn't like about them was that the front tire started to cup pretty bad when it still had around 5000km left on it. Even their previous version - the EXP had a fair bit of cupping on the front tire well before they were done. But they are much cheaper and they do grip very well and are better for gravel than the Road 5's.
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom