The Grip/Wear Conundrum

By Dain Zaffke

WHAT: Michelin XCR All Terrain HOW MUCH: $59 WHERE: www.michelin.com

The folks at Michelin know a thing or two about tires. More than 100 years ago they invented the first detachable bicycle tire, as well as the first pneumatic car tire. They’ve been rolling out innovations ever since, but their high-end mountain bike tires have fallen a little flat in the past few years.

While many tire makers embraced dual-compound treads, Michelin stuck with older designs. But with this year’s introduction of dual-compound technology, Michelin is back in the race.

Here’s the deal: Soft rubber offers a significant advantage in traction, but is prone to folding over or squirming when cornering on hard-packed surfaces and asphalt. To combat this dilemma, Michelin starts with a standard, hard tread pattern, then adds a soft surface. The two densities work together—the sticky surface offers traction and the firm foundation protects against flats and keeps the tread in line.

The star of the new six-tire line is the XCR All Terrain. The 2.0-inch XCRs rolled crazy fast, were adept in the sand and clung to wet rocks like a pair of salamanders. Michelin’s engineers attribute this behavior to their patented mud-shedding silica-reinforced rubber.

While I can’t report on the tire’s performance at the molecular level, I did roll through some thick mud throughout the spring and summer and the tires came out clean and clear.

But they’re far from mud tires. The same goes for speed and sand and rocks. Although they were well mannered and predictable in each of these elements, they weren’t exceptional in any one terrain. Mud-specific tires are better for extreme slop, lower-profile knobs are faster, and full soft-compound tires still rule gravel and rock.

Lucky for Michelin, the old adage, better to be great at one thing than good at many, doesn’t really apply to mountain bike tread. Unless you’re pedaling across the sands of the Sahara or the bogs of Louisiana, you want a tire that can do it all.

Are the tubeless XCRs worth $60 a piece? If you’re looking for performance, they’re a great value. If you’re looking for durability, however, keep searching. After a few weeks of hard riding—through jagged granite, miles of sandstone, and commutes peppered with broken glass and road shrapnel—the dense casing protected against flats, but a handful of the knobs started peeling off.

Accelerated wear is to be expected with a soft-compound tire, but when the whole knob shears off, it’s disappointing. And that’s the main dilemma with the XCRs: with such strong performance, I was sad to see them wear out.

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