Michelin on Indian Roads
MICHELIN entered the Indian twowheeler market with the Pilot Road 2 and Pilot Sporty tyres for motorcycles in January 2014. They have gradually entered other segments as well: the response to their presence in the entry bike segment has been good. Furthermore, the growing popularity of the 110/70 and 150/60 17-inch ‘Z’ radials, used on the KTM Duke and RC pairs, among some other models as well, has seen Michelin also introduce their rubber ( pictured above). More recently, Michelin India began selling scooter tyres and the response was good. As of today, there are roughly 3,000 dealers across India. For now, bias tyres are being made in India, while the radials are imported.
Michelin work with BMW Motorrad, Harley-Davidson (with the Scorcher tyre line), Yamaha (for the YZF-R3 and scooters), and Honda in some global markets. Says Christophe Duc, Michelin’s Marketing Director for Motorcycle and Scooter Tyres, “In 2011, Michelin were not seen in the cruiser segment. Fast forward to 2016 and we’re in the top two with OE supply to HarleyDavidson.” And that’s for over a third of their cruiser models, including the iconic Softail and Touring ranges.
Bike India caught up with Christophe at the Catalan GP in Barcelona. We had a quick chat.
BikeIndia ( BI): How has the journey been thus far? What sort of technology transfer do you see in the future of road tyres now that you’re in MotoGP?
Christophe Duc (CD): Michelin PowerCup started in racing. The dualcompound was first used in racing before becoming street-legal. We’re happy to be here and it’s going to be a busy weekend. The technology transfer is going to be a lot more now that we have 17-inch wheel sizes. As far as technology transfer goes, the inters are more all-weather but we also have racing slicks with five per cent tread on them for maximum dry-weather grip and they’re road-legal.
BI: Are you planning some sort of racing series, maybe along the lines of a ‘one-make’?
CD: You mean original equipment?
BI: Maybe original equipment, but a series wherein you run the same bike. So you have a few guys on, say a Honda CBR 250R.
CD: Does it exist in India?
BI: We have Honda and Suzuki with their one-make races and Gixxer Cup races respectively at racetracks in south India. Yamaha also have the potential to do something. KTM have Orange Day events often around the country that are usually held on go-kart tracks. Most run MRF tyres — the ‘Revz’ line — but, of late, we’ve seen the entry of Pirelli and Metzeler. The tyres they run are stock often enough.
CD: We are bringing our latest generation tyres: Power Street. So far we haven’t decided to take the ‘Power Cup’ to India because it was not clear what the potential was for people using the tyre on the track. We would be interested in looking at one-make races. More trackdays would be interesting.
BI: A lot of people like to upsize their tyres. Ever since the Yamaha FZ came around, the 140-section has been on many people’s radars. The 160 is gaining share with the TnT 300 and the Kawasaki 650s. Do you see any potential there?
CD: Putting wider tyres doesn’t give better performance. A lot of people move from 110/120-section to 140 and from 140 to 150/160.