Good tyres (Michelin Anakee)
 

Have to admit, I was a bit nervous after getting a set of these fitted to our V-Strom650 in Greece in October. Mostly because I´d never had these tyres on this bike before, and we were about to head east to Turkey, Iran, Pakistan & India.

Today we changed both tyres again (same make and model again). A good 2 1/2 months has passed since Greece, and we´re now in Thailand. The bike has seen 13.600 kms of road during that time.

And you know what? We could´ve gone even further with the tyres we had!! We only decided that now is a good time to change, because we have been carrying an extra set with us all the way, and are now staying in a place, where theres plenty of service available.

Our trip continues towards Malaysia and hopefully Indonesia and Australia, and we will from now on carry the used ones with us, as they can still be fitted again in emergency, like if we get a big puncture in the middle of nowhere.

I would believe the front has 3-4 thousand kms of life left, and the back has some 1-2 thousand, so will probably be enough to get somewhere, where help is available. Another plus of carrying the used ones will be that we dont probably have to worry about them getting stolen, can leave them on the bike for the night, etc.

I´ve read many comments about these tyres lasting only some 7-8 thousand kms (especially on the back), but our experience is that they last much longer. It is even more impressive, because our bike has 2 persons on board, plus all luggage & equipment for 6 months travel. Very rare to see a bike thats loaded as heavy as ours has been.

And even though we have ridden more or less straight highways at least 90% of the time, with high ambient temperatures, the back tyre profile is STILL quite ok, has not been worn badly from the center like they normally seem to do. That is remarkable; every back tyre I´ve had before, has been much more wasted from the centre (and probably changed before 13.600)

I have kept 2.6 bar pressure in front, 3.0 back, a bit higher than they recommend, because we have such a heavy load, and I believe this has contributed significantly to their long life. Bikes and riding styles of course do differ a lot, but I believe those who are getting significantly under 10.000 out of these, are using too low air pressures, thus heating their tyres too much.

Ok, maybe higher pressure will mean a little less maximum grip, so if someone´s anxiously after that, then they may have to accept quicker wear. For a long trip, I would choose the best tyre life.

Havent done much ´offroad´ with them (and dont want to, not with this load!)... but the little we have, tells me theyre not made for that, nor is our bike and with all the load its even worse!

On asphalt, they feel very stable & predictable, and handling is good if not excellent (though not as good as the Metzeler Z6 street tyres I had before, which were bloody perfect!) and offer plenty of enjoyment on the more curvy bits of the road. Havent had much rain on our trip, but when we have, they have felt ok by then, no surprises.

Of course we havent really tried to find their limits, for obvious reasons, but I believe they offer enough performance, at least for the average rider. Combined with such a good tyre life, I am convinced that I want to use this same tyre again.

So, even though Michelin seem to have lost their way in MotoGP, that doesnt mean they dont know how to build tyres for us mere mortals! :thumbup1:

Anakee
 

Hi, interesting thread on the Anakee, I have them on my Africa twin and are very happy... later in the year I'll be heading off to Jordan, 90% road use ... but a little off road / gravel roads... how did your tyres hold up off road, I understand it was limited ?? did you reduce the pressure ?

Comments welcome, thanks Matt

As I understand it a lot of tyre wear is from wheelspin during acceleration. Not smoke pouring off the tyres wheelspin but minute movement of the tyre over the surface. It makes sense that when your loaded up there is less wheelspin as you need more power to break traction. Carrying a pillion too means that you're probably not as agressive with the throttle either so the outcome is better mileage. High speed wrecks tyres too. It seems for once when you need good mileage from a tyre things conspire in your favour.

Someone will probably tell me that this is just bo***x but it makes sense to me.

Flyingdoctor

its also to do with the torque your bike makes that also contributed to the wheelspin.

But tyre wear is down to alot of things

torque
power
speed
accelration
milage
(burnouts)

excellent tyre
 

i too like the anakee it's a great tyre on the road wet/dry and giving superb mileage! i ride an AT and their superb on there going round the twisties,no-one can stick with me! people come up behind me sometimes thinking boring AT on their hooligan bike and i whip their arse!!:cool4: for a laugh.
goodwoodweirdo- i took mine into morocco on anakee's doing some gravel track's and they were great and the gravel did'nt even rip up the tyre! it was superb and i was amazed how it went. did get into some deepish stuff later along one trail (not by choice) and they were absolutely s**t! they were'nt made for this though. personally though if i was doing your trip 90% on road i'd use them providing the other 10% is just rough track and gravel and not mud/grass.

for road-use i find the anakee the best, as mentioned before, it really does have excellent grip in the dry, as well as the wet. i have them fitted to a 650gsd, and live in the uk, so lots of wet weather around, and they really stick to the road. i now have ridden around 6500 miles on them, and i still have around 30% life left on the rear, and a bit more on the front. I would say though that for off-road riding they are not suited at all.