As you can read elsewhere in my blog I was initially less than impressed with a pair of Michelin Anakee 3 tyres. Good wear rate, wet weather grip, and longevity were the main highlights of any comments from owners that had fitted a pair. I didn't like the feel of them though.
The front tyre appears to be the biggest problem. Well, the profile of the front tyre. It is very square looking. And, this is how it feels when riding. The tyres seem to grip well enough, as all modern tyres do. The front tyre, being only a 90/90x21 is a skinny tyre to start with. When the tyre profile is shaped so that the edge of the tread area is reached very easily in a turn, this does not inspire bucket loads of confidence. I feel like I constantly going to loose the front end grip, even at the more sedate speeds I ride at these days.
And, when you add in the fact that the rear tyre is starting to square off, and feel it at 2000 miles, the Michelins would not of last the duration of the trip.
The Dunlop Trailsmarts were a revelation. I am very used to Dunlop tyres, as they are used on the majority of the motorcycles I work on. We fit Dunlop Roadsmart and Sportsmart tyres to the bulk of the fleet with a scattering of Bridgestone and Michelin tyres fitted on certain models.
As soon as the Dunlop Trailsmarts were fitted on the rims, I could tell I was going to prefer them to the Anakee 3's. They had a much rounder profile both front and back. The rear tyre also looked a little wider. It is well known that Dunlop are generally generous on their tyre sizing.
That looks better!
Well, I didn't have to ride far to realise that the Trailsmart's were the tyres for me. Instantly I felt confidence inspiring grip, with good initial turn in and stability through corners. And, more importantly the annoying tyre roar noise I got from the Anakee's was gone.
If the Trailsmarts can cope with 5000 miles of a fully laden adventure trip on the Tiger then I may of found my new favorite tyres.
Well they did cope. More than cope. That confidence inspiring grip was just what was needed on the endless mountain passes. This was all edge of the tyre type riding, flicking left and right for often sixty kilometers at a time. The sheer drops at the side of the road were enough to concentrate my mind, without having to worry about what the tyres were doing beneath me.
The tyres also didn't square off as quickly as I thought they would. The first few days of the trip consisted of riding up through Sweden and Finland on endless straight roads.
This type of straight road riding would of killed the Michelins before the trip had properly started. It wasn't until reaching Germany and Holland near the end of the trip that the Trailsmarts felt and looked a little square. By then the tyres had covered nearly 5000 miles of fairly intense riding, in all conditions, and on all tyres of surface including gravel roads. I was even unfortunate to have to ride through the worst rain storm I have ever experienced on the way through Denmark. The tyres were fairly worn by then. But, the confidence and grip the Dunlop's gave was very welcome.
Once back in the UK, I covered another thousand miles of commuting before I had the time to change the tyres. As you can see in the following photos, the tyre still had lots of tread left on them. But, the profile had gone and the riding experience was no longer the same. The front tyre was also developing cracks around the tread blocks. This just shows how much the tread blocks move around to generate grip on modern tyres.
I have now refitted the Michelin Anakee 3's I had on the bike before my trip. They feel horrible. Wooden and lacking in the confidence inspiring feel of the Dunlop Trailsmarts, I can't wait to wear them out during winter commuting. I will then be fitting another set of Trailsmarts, which for me seem to be the best tyres currently on the market for my Tiger.
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