Michelin Road 6

[SaferRides]

I fitted a set of these to the R1 last April. They've now covered 11,000 km during all 4 seasons and now is probably a good time to post a few comments.

Like me, you may have assumed the Road 6 is simply an evolution of the 5, as they look similar. But they feel very different on the R1. The front now uses Michelin's 2CT+ construction, which has the softer shoulder compound underlaid by the harder centre rubber.

It feels more stable when braking, especially trail braking into a corner, and also under cornering loads. The steering is still light though.

The rear now uses a silica compound on the shoulders and you no longer feel the transition onto the softer, carbon black rubber as you lean. Maybe slightly less grip when dry but I don't push hard enough for this to be an issue.

Both tyres have worn evenly with very little wear on the front and the shoulders on both tyres holding their shape, unlike the Road 5. The rear is down to 2.5 mm in the centre after a recent trip around Northland in quite warm weather. I'd guess it will be down to the wear bars at about 14,000 km.

Very happy with the tyres. The rear moves a little under power on tar snakes and shiny bitumen when it's warm, but all tyres do that in my experience. Otherwise no issues with grip on the variety of road surfaces and conditions typical of NZ roads.







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[Laava]

Wow, how the fuck does anyone get that much out of a rear tyre? I dont think I have had a rear last longer than 7000km, ever!
And I have had Road 6’s as well on mu Multistradas…

[release_the_bees]

Wow, how the fuck does anyone get that much out of a rear tyre? I dont think I have had a rear last longer than 7000km, ever!
And I have had Road 6’s as well on mu Multistradas…

It doesn't surprise me. I consistently got 20,000km out of a set of Road 5s on the Street Triple and 30,000 kms out of a front on my R3 (20,000km out of the rear). Those tyres may be pricy, but they get incredible mileage.

Even with six track days, I got 16,000 kms out of my most recent set of Road 5s on the R3.

I'm currently using hypersport tyres on both bikes now, because due to reduced riding time, the tyres were lasting forever between changes. (Also, I needed new tyres around the time of the Michelin tyre shortage and wanted to try something different.)

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[roogazza]

I only do about 4000 kms a year.
R6's are bloody brilliant sticky wise and bonus is , they last !

I keep the pressure up on the gsx1400. 36/39 .

Just checked, yes , I've done about 5000kms on this set. They look like new !

[SaferRides]

Yeah, I was very surprised how much longer the Roads last after only using sports tyres for years. If anything, I ride faster now as not much seems to unsettle the Road 6. Definitely could do with a suspension upgrade though.

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[R650R]

Wow, how the fuck does anyone get that much out of a rear tyre? I dont think I have had a rear last longer than 7000km, ever!
And I have had Road 6’s as well on mu Multistradas…

What tyre pressures do you run?

TA is prob spending lot of km on good motorway surface getting to and from the twistys so that prob helps.

[SaferRides]

TA is prob spending lot of km on good motorway surface getting to and from the twistys so that prob helps.

True. Often half the ride.

The recent 1,500 km trip around Northland wore about a mm from the rear. If that was typical wear, the rear would last about 7,500 km.

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[SaferRides]

I checked the tread depth on the front. It has worn very evenly with 3 mm remaining in the centre and shoulders. Absolutely no sign of the typical Road 5 flattened shoulders.

The tread depth when new was 4.5 mm, so the front should last 20,000 km!!! A very different story to my Road 5 experience where the front usually wears out first.

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[Laava]

Wow, how the fuck does anyone get that much out of a rear tyre? I dont think I have had a rear last longer than 7000km, ever!
And I have had Road 6’s as well on mu Multistradas…

Decided to revisit this thread as I am the process of fitting a pair of road 6’s.
I had Continental sport attack fitted and did 7500 km on one front and two rears with the first just starting to chunk out the middle and the second I estimate has 100-500km max left. The front has worn the shoulders away completely. The rears did however retain their shape perfectly.

[Moise]

The front looks like my last Road 5 after 12,000 km.

Should be interesting, what are they going on?


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[Laava]

Ducati S4R

[SaferRides]

The rear is down to 1 mm after 14,000 km, so time for a new one. I could run it further but the puncture risk seems to increase as the tread wears. Tyre life seems about the same as the Road 5 although the shoulder compound hasn't worn nearly as much.



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[F5 Dave]

Well and 1.5mm is legal still yeah? Was 2mm at one stage. I tend to ditch mine by then as wet weather performance has to be less.

[Kickaha]

I could run it further but the puncture risk seems to increase as the tread wears.

The statistic in the industry often quoted was 90% of punctures in the last 10% of tyre life, whether it has a basis in fact I couldn't tell you, there's simply less material for something to penetrate

[Gremlin]

The statistic in the industry often quoted was 90% of punctures in the last 10% of tyre life, whether it has a basis in fact I couldn't tell you, there's simply less material for something to penetrate

And anything in the tyre and being forced into the compound is more likely to push all the way through.

Last rear on the Hornet, I'm in the middle of the North Island, oh crap, pick up a puncture, get it properly repaired. Once home, realise I've picked up a second... short tyre life that