 How they look before fitting to your bike
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It's about a month ago that we were flown down to the Micheln headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand, the reason, the launch of the brand new Pro2 Race Service Course tyre. You'll no doubt have seen our First Look, but after several weeks of riding on them we're able to bring you a first impression on their performance.
Before we go any further though, we should just outline the background of the Pro2 series of tyres. Introduced in 2005 the Pro2 range was the result of two years of research and an impressive 600,00km+ of testing, the intention being to produce a tyre that would be suitable for the demands of the pro riders, as well as all the racers among us.
Three slightly different models, the Race, Grip and Light covered the differing requirements of pro riders. We really liked the previous incarnation of the Pro2 Race, but the 2006 model raises the bar several notches. Briefly, a new Silica compound allows for a thinner tread, taking the weight down to 205g. As well as weight savings, the new Silica is claimed to offer 40% more grip, even in the wet, an increased camber angle so you can lean the bike right over, and lower rolling resistance.
Impressive claims indeed, but how do they stack up in the real world. It's too soon to comment much on durability, but we have been riding them through London (not an ideal place to test tyres) and so far so good. Straight line speed and acceleration is impressive, as is the cornering grip - we've had several scares on fast corners by just getting too cocky with the tyres.
As for their wet weather performance, we had a thorough drenching at the Michelin test track in Ladoux, more of which later. The test track has sprinklers all over it, so they were switched on for several corners laying down a good couple of centimetres of wet stuff, the heavens also opened and it chucked it down. How did they perform then? As impressive as they do in the dry, quite simply. You can corner almost as fast as you would in the dry, lean angle was great and braking performance through the water was reassuringly good.
These are just our first thoughts, we'll bring you a full review once we've put in a few more miles on them. Though in that time they'll probably have sold out, only 700 pairs are coming to the UK, so best be quick if you fancy some.
- Price: £64.99
- Colour: Light blue
- Weight: 205g
- Sold in pairs
- 30,000 production run (only 700 to the UK)
- Website: two-wheels.michelin.com
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Jonathan lanham-cook
