Feeling ripped off by the tyre manufacturers who want you to take out a mortgage for a set of ordinary Michrellilops these days I decided to throw caution to the wind and try out the latest offering from our brothers in the east. £120 for a pair of new tyres , how bad can they be? I've put about 500 miles on them now , mostly in the dry , but this morning in the wet during my commute I pulled off a double scalper on a downhill off camber left and those wee beasties did not even blink. There's a sweet wee hairpin and some gravel ridden twisties later in the run too. Seriously , I cant fault the tyres so far . The only scare I've had was remembering what I had fitted during an in the trees moment , dry to wet transition, but that was all in the mind. Anyone else tried these ? God , the wife left the tools out again
I'm back to post an update on the Ride Migras. As above the tyres have performed well but now for the bad news , although there is plenty left on the front , the rear needs changed and that's just over 2000 miles . 2163 to be exact. My dilemma now is what to fit on the back to see the front out. I could fit another one to get the match right but that will be £90 for another 2000 miles. Since I'm going to Austria next month that will be it done in one trip. Anyway , if you are thinking of fitting these I would summarize as great performance as far as grip and handling are concerned but obviously pish miles per rear. Cheers
I have one on my monster at the back. I really like it. I'll be using them more. They also own MAXXIS I believe. By the way, Pirellis are also made in China. At least mine are.
I didn't expect to be coming back to this post much. The original intention was to do a quick review on the tyres because I couldn't find one. However , it seems the guys who import these took notice and amazingly offered me a new tyre to review on my trip. To update on the old tyre, which I have removed a little earlier than I might otherwise. It's done about 2800 and I'm guessing I would have done a couple of hundred more before changing it so I'm calling it 3k miles new to bin. The new rubber is on now and it's first use will be to the ferry. Excited.
I looked at Mezzies at the the start of all this but no way I was getting a pair for £120 Today I drove Innsbruck to Graz South through the Brenner pass. It’s been 30 degrees plus all day , hard work. Last 120 miles we picked up the pace a bit and I have nothing but praise for these tyres. Looove my Monster
Looks like a good trip - enjoy. But on the tyre side, wouldn’t Metz work out cheaper per mile even at list price than the CST at £120 a pair from your experience?
My experience with MAXXIS isn’t great no longevity and the grip in the wet I found wanting, 1800 miles and a rear was goosed. MAXXIS do however make excellent mountain bike tyres.
I imagine tyres are like oil. We like what we like and it's very subjective. I doubt many of us can really really tell the difference between them. One slip on a wet road that may or may not have other factors like a film of oil etc and that tyre isn't good in the wet. Perhaps one runs the wrong tyre pressure and it doesn't feel as good at that point, etc etc. To me, subjectively, this tyre feels really good. I have zero data to back this up. Longevity is about the only objective parameter. We all have different needs so I don't mind if this tyre doesn't last quite as long as a more premium priced product. Saying that, It doesn't appear to have a faster wear rate than a Pirelli but if it does I might even get to wear it out before it's only fit for Fred Flintstone's car.
Not so much in my experience. Multiple clear tell-tales shout out loudly how much grip you are working with on any set of tyres; from cold, when up to temp, in the wet, on different road surfaces etc. But there again, I do know there are also riders who, for example can’t tell when they have 15psi in their front tyres, or any damping in their rear shock, so… umm.. limited feel for what is happening… but surely, they wouldn’t bother to ride Ducatis?
Thanks for everyone's interest and comments. The trip was fantastic. My intention was to post along the way but limited 4g and wifi and being constantly on the go made that difficult. Ok so the moment you have been waiting for . Total miles from Drymen to Newcastle , Ijmuiden to Stuttgart to Lindau to Innsbruck over the Brenner pass to Maranza to Graz to Red Bull Ring to Graz to Red Bull Ring to Graz (twice) to Wurzberg to Arnhem to Ijmuiden and From Newcastle to Drymen. The answer is 2339 miles which puts my new tyre close to where the old one was when I started considering changing it. However I am happy to report that the new rear is still in pretty good shape and nowhere near as worn as the original. (excuse the dirt , young lad nicked my parking space and I had to chuck it on the grass) OK , so I guess I'll be back to report on the final total mileage I get out of this at the end of it's life to tie up the review. Just a quick note about the front though , it's obviously over 5k now (obvious to the mathematicians I mean) and doing very well keeping its shape and still lots of grip on there. I'm sure I will be changing the pair next time so I'll chuck a bit in about that too.
Hi Jon I haven't tried the Z6 pair but they were one of the options I was looking at before this kicked off. There wasn't much under £200 at the time so I took a chance on the CSTs at £120. Even with the first tyre's wear over such a short range I was thinking it was still not bad for the price but the second tyre is doing much better and if it gets close to what I would call normal miles then I would say definitely worth it. Ironically the CST price has gone up now too though. Aaaagh too many variables fizz pop bang.
