Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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M ichelin's 19 95Tire Introduction • By Paul Carruthers ix different motorcycles. Six different sets of new tires. One race track . A variety of public roads. Cold min i pi zzas and fin e wine. And a little jet lag. Is there a bett er w ay to s pen d two d ays in Italy? Ap pa rently , Michelin didn ' t think so becau se th at' s exa ctly w h a t the French tire giant arranged for dozens of jou rnalists from all over the w orld totake pa rt in at the end of March.The qua int lit-: tIe town of Rimini, se t righ t on Italy's Adriatic Coas t, was th e local e for Michelin's 1995 Motorcycl e Tire Introd uction - chosen not for the sun (of whic h there wasn 't a ny) and sa nd , bu t becau se the seaside town is only a few mil es fro m th e Misano Adriatico cir cuit, a inte rna ti o na ll y famou s r ace tra ck used for both Gran d Prix and World Superb ike competition . S ROUND AND BLACK 24 Mich elin's "motorbike " tire lineup for 1995 has been d rastically expa nded, . With six ranges of tires for use on practically all classes of street-going motorcycles. As Michelin spokesperson Claude LeRoux said : "These new tire lines show tha t we a r e very committed to th e motorcycle mar ket - it shows a world w ide, a nd N orth Am er ica n co m m it men t." That commitme n t sta rts Mich elin' s newes t ge nera tion o f H i-Sp orts, th e TX15 (fron t) and TX25 (rea r) high-pe rformance radials, The TXs are availa ble in both race and stand ard compounds, with the harder stan da rd- compoun d Hi- , Sp ort naturall y pro vid ing h igh er m ileag e ratings tha n th e r ace com pou nd. The TX25 has its crown ply laid at zero degrees, in an effort to cou nteract the effects of centrifugal force at high speed 'and a larger contact patch tha n past Hi-Sports. Michelin also claims tha t its crisscrossed tread pa ttern in the center of th e tir e help with wet -w eather traction, so me thing th at is also helped by the tire's 6.5mm-d eep grooves. Next up for '95 is the new Macadam 90 X, Michelin 's sport and sport touring tire . Built for big-b ore motorcycles like Kawa saki's ZX-ll and Suzuki ' s GS XR11 00, the Macadam 90X was d esigned for tw o-up riding while also pro viding high-speed durability for high mileage. The Macadam 90 X's sibling is the bias-ply Macadam 50, Miche- li n 's best grip vs . wear co mbina tio n - the rep lacem ent tire for the Michelin A-49. The Macad am 50 uses a ringed diagonal rear envel op e design with three radial body pli es and tw o crossed breaker stri ps, a design sa id to reduce flat tread wear. The fron t tire featu res a tread de p th of 4.5m m while the rear has 7mm-deep grooves, ensuri ng grip on wet su rfaces. The tubeless tire is ava ilable in a wi de va rie ty of sizes with H and V. speed ind exes for fitmen t on all modem street bikes, according to Michelin. With th e cus to m market growing into one of the largest segments of the mo to r cycl e ma r ke t, Michelin h as jumped in wi th both feet by producing it s fi rs t-ever cruiser-market tire d ubbed the Tarmac. The Ta rmac goes d irectly for the cru iser look - skinny up ' front, fat in the rear. Bu t Michelin is tryin g to provide mo re th an jus t cruiser aes thetics, but "also improve s tab ility and comfort to en ha nce the enjoyment of these users." The Tarmac gains some of its stability thr ou gh the use of twi n circumferential grooves on the front tire, while the rear boasts a large tread pattern with open spaces in the cen ter. The Tarmacs are available in sizes to fit both Japanese and Harley-David son cruisers. Michelin has introduced two touring tires for 1995 - the High Tour 79 and the High Tour 79X. The 79X is a rad ial tire de veloped solely for th e Honda Gold Wing GL1500. Michelin claims that the radial 79X cou nters the discom fort which can result from the low sidewall dimension (70 series fron t, 80 series rear) and th e low volume of air contained in the tire. The sta nd ard 79 fea tu re s a Z-sh aped tread design (open in the center) and an ultra -la rge contact patch. The bias-ply 79 is designed for wha t touring rid er s require more than any thing - comfort. Michelin's 1995 dual-purpose tire has been d ubbed the Sirac for 1995, rep lacing the 266 X which was d esigned mainly for the street. BURNING RUBBER For all that the Michelin pr ess introd uction lacked in length, it more than made u p for with inten s it y . Afte r a quick bus ride to Mis an o in the early hours of the morning, we wer e gree ted b y a parking lot full of motorcycles, enthusiastic Michelin employees and the cold chill of an Italian winter d ay. Our gro u p of laid -back jou rnalis ts from the U.S. and Can ad a wer e the only ones on the bus not already wearing our lea thers as we left the hotel. And we paid the price for it as we were hurrie