Michelin Road 5 review

Long-term user review

Michelin Road 5

With o75’s Michelin Road 5 sport-touring motorcycle tyres due for a change, what are his thoughts? Did he stick with Michelin’s Road 5, or did he choose something else?

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Tyre treads on a pair of Road 5 are, shall we say, somewhat unique using technologically advanced Sipes.

As the tyre is worn, it continues to displace the same amount of water in the wet, and the outer edges remain soft to give you exceptional grip in the dry. Even when 50% worn (at 3500 miles), Michelin Road 5s offer the same confidence and stops the bike as quickly as a pair of brand new Pilot Road 4s — its predecessor and my previous choice of tyre.

Interestingly, compared to the PR4s, the Sipe technology is away from the edges. Michelin realised riders wouldn’t generally lean that far in the wet, instead offering up more soft grip for the dry.

Using the combined technologies of 2CT and 2CT+ with the latest generation of compounds and evolutionary XST Evo Siped tread, Road 5 does offer excellent continuous grip across many road types and conditions.

During my tyre’s life, I only had three twitches from the rear (which you will see in my video above). The Road 5s immediately regained grip, and the bike was back under control. In short, it did its job.

Wet-weather riding? Flawless and confident. They behave as if you were riding in the dry. I remember one hard day’s riding back home through France, pushing hard through torrential rain and facing strong headwinds for several hours, killing 20 miles of fuel out of my tank. Never a concern to knock my confidence.

With around 7000 miles on the tyres under my belt, I noticed a humming from the rear. Instinct said bearings, but it was only noticeable intermittently at certain speeds above 50mph. Not really a complaint, but it was a niggle. I noted a couple of other users commented similar experiences suggested reinflating to the correct tyre pressure. My rear was only a couple of PSI under; I inflated and not had humming since.

As tyres wear, many square – even at the end of its life, Michelin Road 5s compound showed no signs of squaring, continuing to offer wellrounded grip. It is consistent even though, for some reason, I was losing a little confidence.

So, with 1.5mm tread depth and probably another 1000 miles left in available legal rubber, taking them to around 8500 miles, I changed them a little earlier than I would have liked – only because my bike was due its MoT. Other users claimed mileages vary greatly between 4500 and 11500 miles. Less mileage will be expected with heavy-going riding, while those reaching 11500 are more likely to be city-based commuters riding lighter motorcycles. It seems, then, I’m an average rider with expected average mileage. There is a GT version designed specifically for certain heavier motorcycles such as BMW’s RT for example.

Still, overall, for a mixed-road use, whether doing long stretches on the motorway or navigating the Picos de Europa’s fast twisties, I can wholeheartedly give this tyre top marks.

So then, what did I change them to? There was only going to be one choice as a new set of 5s were fitted for another reassuring 8500 miles ahead of me. Confidence-inspiring, solid in the wet, and even though I had those minor twitches, it was how the tyres reacted to prevent the incident from continuing that my decision to choose them again was a very straightforward one to make. It really is an exceptional tyre.

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