Michelin’s renewed focus on mountain biking continues into 2016 with the arrival of their latest 'enduro specific' tire, the Wild Race’R. If you’re in a drier climate, and spend the majority of your time on dirt, you’ll likely appreciate the Wild Race’R Enduro Rear.With a foldable bead and built around a tubeless ready, reinforced carcass, the Wild Rock'R is ready for both the aggressive terrain encountered on the Enduro World Series and the trails back home. The Wild Race’R Enduro Rear certainly rolled quickly, offered surprisingly strong cornering characteristics and came wrapped in a durable casing. For around these parts where we spend more time on wet, slippery, roots and rocks, I’d prefer to trade off the longevity for a stickier compound. The tire wore gracefully despite my efforts to smudge off the side knobs at every opportunity. If you’re looking for a longer lasting, semi-slick type tire, I’d say this is an option worth considering. That said it’s now done a few months of hard service.įor an asking price of $76 USD (we couldn’t track down pricing in Canadian, but should be similar to other Michelin tires here in Canadaland) the Wild Race’R Enduro Rear tire is an interesting option. The Wild Race’R Enduro Rear is starting to look a little tired. Overall I’ve been impressed with the longevity of the Enduro Rear tire, and while the braking traction has fallen off significantly, the side knob traction remains surprisingly good. The firmer compound rubber has resulted in relatively slow tread wear, albiet at the cost of traction in wet conditions. I’ve had no flats during the review period, and the carcass shows no signs of wear or degradation, even as the tire nears worn out condition. Braking traction was on the low side, as to be expected from a fast rolling semi-slick. While the rolling resistance was low, climbing over wet roots and rocks was tricky, and careful line choice was required. When the trails were wet the firm rubber made its properties apparent. I rode this tire through a wide variety of conditions from wet and muddy, through to dry, firm and fast, from new to worn out. The Enduro Rear would lose traction in a graceful manner, which made it relatively easy to ride fast. The Enduro Rear initially surprised when on the side knobs, which offered good support and good grip in a variety of dirt conditions. In these conditions the Wild Race’R Enduro Rear offered up ample cornering traction. Those characteristics are not unusual for this type of tire. I felt noticeably fresher at the top of long climbs, and the bike seemed to hold mega speed when the brakes were off. Photo – Tim ColemanĪfter only a few pedal strokes it was obvious this is a fast rolling tire. The Wild Race’R uses many small knobs down the center, with relatively meaty side knobs. The Michelin Wild Race’R Enduro Rear Tire. In both cases the tire seated up nicely, and ran true on the rim. I ran the tire tubeless, and it inflated easily on both a Stan’s Flow EX and Alex Volair 2.7 rim. I measured the tire durometer to be roughly 58 Shore A down the center, and 55 Shore A on the sides. The casing measures 60 mm wide, with the outer edges of the side knobs sitting a hair narrower at 59 mm. Tire construction seems to be high quality, and the tire weighs in at 950 grams. The tire I tested is 27.5 diameter by 2.35” width in the Gum-X compound. Michelin promised we’d get to test the new tire, and to their word the Michelin Wild Race’R Enduro Rear tire arrived at my front door a few months ago. Unfortunately the new tires didn’t make it in time, but we tested some of the current Michelin range in Squamish. During Crankworx I met with the Michelin folks to test a new tire.
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