MICHELIN POWER RS
Game changer; class leader; market beater; the buzzwords were out in force during the presentation of Michelin’s all-new Power RS, which the French brand claimed to be a ‘watershed moment’ in the evolution of sporty, road rubber.
You’ve got to love a bit of fighting talk, and there was plenty to go around as presentation slide followed presentation slide, trouncing the opposition on grip, wet performance and durability. Oh, and let’s not forget to mention that agility levels had also been cranked through the ceiling, and knocked seven bells out of all worthy rivals during that ascension. It was a sales pitch Lord Sugar would have approved of, rendering these hoops the most essential of fitments to those looking to blitz along B-roads and nail the odd trackday. Or, at least in theory…
Power to the patent
Under a roasting Qatar sunset we would eventually get the chance to savour the offerings on tap, but not until our brains had been neared to bursting point by an overload of the complex features that had gone into making the next generation rubber so worthy of endless superlatives. Chief among which was a new carcass design called ACT+, which is really much more simple than I’m likely to explain it.
Basically, the carcass ply is single thickness (like any other tyre) in the middle zone of the RS, but the shoulders see the ply doubled back on itself to form a second layer of skin on the edge zones of the hoops. Why bother? Well, by doing so, the tyre has two differing levels of stability. The central zone is suppler and aids hard acceleration, while the shoulders are more rigid, which offers added stability at high lean angles. Makes sense? It seemed such an obvious thing to do when the tech was explained, but Michelin is the first brand to pull off such a design. Of course, not all bikes have the power to warrant the ACT+’s prescience, so for the pea-shooter size bikes out there (like Yamaha’s R3 and KTM’s RC390), the tech isn’t incorporated – which also helps to keep the costs down. Everyone’s a winner.
Another key feature is the new compound makeup. Like most Michelins, the RS features a dual-compound of rubber, with a harder wearing and wet weather friendly all-silica compound in the centre, while its super sticky shoulders are produced from all-carbon black, meaning you can give it the berries in the bends, but still achieve high mileages from the central band. Beautiful stuff.
Getting to grips
Our first outing on the RSs took place on small capacity bikes on the periphery of the Losail circuit. Complete with sufficient sand to build a beach, the coned track also had a wet testing zone where we’d get the chance to feel for wet weather grip after three laps of the dry handling course. I hopped on a KTM RC390 and headed out for a blast. The first thing to hit me was how neutral the bike’s handling felt.
The tyres seemed to pitch into bends without hesitation, but didn’t force the bike to drop in either. Knee down was achieved by the second corner, with no questions of grip prompted, which highlighted the fast warm up time promised to us during the rubber’s presentation. Well, I say plentyplenty. After a few laps, I got a bit carried aw way and passed a rider in a precarious mann ner. A handful of throttle should have assur red my hasty exit from the scene, but the rea ar just let go and began chattering sidewayss in a hunt for grip. Oooh feck! The thought o f highsiding such a small bike wouldn’t have done my ego much good, so I was thankful to o get away with just a warning. By this point I was already on my last lap so I continued ont to the wetted zone, where a big handful of bra akes did nothing but prompt the bike to sto op hastily on the slick surface. Of that, I wa as impressed.
Out with the old
If you really want to gaugee improvement, the best and only way is to o ride a product against its predecessor. Th hat’s what Michelin had arranged for us aroun nd the full Grand Prix circuit, pitching the PowerP RSs against the last generation Pilot Po ower 3s. We rode the latter first, which were e fitted to a drool-worthy range of spo rtsbikes. I hopped on an S1000RR and heade ed out behind our Michelin guide, who was controllingc our pace and showing us which wa ay the track’s twisty bits went.
Within a couple of laps the pace was half decent, which highlighted d how naff the Pilots were. They felt unstable, asa if wandering relentlessly, and unsettled my Beemer in the sketchiest of ways. Eventu ually, the host rider did one and we were left tot our own devices. With half an idea of which h way the track went, I cracked open the t throttle and found myself staggered by the lo ow grip on tap from
the old rubber. It felt as if I was riding around on wets, which was not my idea of fun. Under braking, cornering and drive, the Pilot Power 3s failed to impress me and they only got worse with added laps, as their temperature increased. The chequered flag couldn’t come quick enough.
Next level
After that ordeal, we then had three sessions on bikes kitted with the new RSs, which are set to be sold alongside the Pilot Power 3s (although the Power Supersport Evos are being dropped).
I’ll be honest, I’ve not done a lot of riding on Michelins but I was immediately impressed with the new offerings. To get a proper gauge, I’d hopped out on an identical BMW and I couldn’t believe how much better the new rubber performed.
The biggest difference was the stability, which was there in abundance and gave me bucketloads of confidence. In the first few sessions I was still learning the track, which meant on occasion I’d overcook it into a corner and have to throttle off abruptly. The sudden weight transfer to the front occasionally had me bricking it, and the thought of losing front tyre grip was palpable. In fact, on other tyres, I’m pretty sure I’d have lobbed it at this point, but the Michelins did a great job of taking my abuse and keeping the bike shiny side up. There was sufficient feel to know that the front was working hard, but at the same time the feedback wasn’t as pronounced as I’ve known on tyres like Bridgestone’s R10s or Pirelli’s SuperCorsas; everything felt a lot more subtle, from the way the rubber turned to the way it reacted under pressure.
Worthy contender
Come the time of my last two sessions, I’d really got a flavour of the Michelins. They weren’t perfect, but I liked the precision they offered; always finding an apex and being open to line alteration mid-corner. I trail brake a lot, and the RSs never reacted badly to this habit or gave me any sign that the front was set to wash.
At the end of the start straight I was hitting 300kp/h on an R1M I was riding. With plenty of run-off into the first corner, I was all up for pushing my luck and seeing how much abuse could be loaded onto the front tyre. No matter what I did, or how late I braked, the Yamaha always made its apex, and the tyre’s sidewall always felt firm and consistent.
Going through corners, the stability of the tyres was always pretty decent and I was also impressed by the agility of the rubber, which made light work of fast paced direction changes. But, and it is a big but, the Achilles heel to the Michelins was the rear tyre’s grip levels. I had to keep reminding myself these hoops were aimed at the road market, and therefore not a track focused product, but time and again I found myself frustrated by the rear end breaking traction and causing my bikes’ traction control systems to go whappy. On those last two runs, riding an R1M and ZX-10R, I actually took to switching the systems off completely and got on much better with the rubber. Yeah, the slides were greater, but they were at least predictable and manageable by moderating the throttle. It made my riding a lot more enjoyable, and helped to round off the test in a much more positive light.
As already mentioned, these tyres weren’t built to go silly fast around racetracks, but they proved they had the ability to be more than just a sporty road tyre. What’s unquestionable is the gargantuan leap Michelin has made against its preceding products. Man alive! If you’re used to Pilot Powers, you’re going to be absolutely buzzing when you give these a try. See for yourself.