Singletrack

BEST SUMMER TYRE
MICHELIN
WILD ROCK’R GUM X 2.35IN
Price:
From:
£46.99 (Softer Magi’X compound is £56.99) each
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Designed with input from legendary French downhiller
turned enduro racer, Fabien Barel, the Michelin Wild
Rock’R2 is a solidly built tyre for riding hard in dry, rocky
conditions. Two versions are available – a softer Magi’X
compound, and the ones we have here, with a harder Gum’X
compound that weigh in at just over 1kg. With reinforced
and sturdy sidewalls, the tyres are a tight fit, but once on
they easily went up first time on a variety of rims (DT Swiss
EX471, Spank OOZY 345 and Mavic Quest XA Pro Carbon)
using just a tubeless pump and we didn’t suffer any air loss or
burp the sidewalls at all during the test.
The flat-topped centre knobs give a narrow contact patch
with the ground, which goes some way to reducing rolling
resistance. But there is no denying the fact that they’re a
pretty slow tyre. Then again, the Michelins are unashamedly
all about riding the descents as hard as possible, and the extra
drag isn’t an issue at all once up to speed and having fun, and
is a small price to pay for better grip and the reassurance of a
more durable tyre. The tyres offer great climbing traction on
most surfaces, and the only place we ran out of traction was
on smooth rock steps where we found them quite slippery
under power. However, this was an incredibly steep and
technical climb that was really testing the limits of both the
tyres and the other riders around us too.
Once you’ve reached the top, you’ll be grateful you
dragged the Wild Rock’R2 all that way. With its nice big
side knobs and beefy casing, you’ve got a tyre that just loves
cornering hard – we were able to really crank the bike over to
some pretty extreme lean angles in the turns, and when it did
eventually slide out, it did so in such a controlled fashion that
we were able to hold drifts with ease. At times we thought
they were almost too grippy, as we couldn’t feel the tyre slide
at all and were left wondering when it was all going to go
wrong. On more than one occasion we were convinced we
were going to crash and got ready to bail, only for the tyres to
dig in and pull us back upright before racing on to the next
corner. If you find yourself having to brake mid-corner, then
the Wild Rock’R2 copes admirably, and gets you slowed down
without any fuss.
On smoother rocky surfaces (think well polished steps)
they slid about a tiny bit, but as soon as the rock was more
natural and had a rougher texture the grip levels returned to
normal. At this point, it’s worth remembering that we only
had the harder compound tyres on test – if you need even
more grip and control, it would be worth trying the Magi’X
compound on the front.
Even though they are billed as a dry condition tyre, we
had no problems with them in the mud, slop, and over roots
or off camber trails – the huge side knobs do a great job of
guiding you down all but the steepest and gnarliest trails. On
such super-steep trails (think Grisedale Forest off-piste and
the wilder trails found in the Tweed Valley), they don’t clear
brilliantly, and braking in a straight line is uncontrolled as the
flat centre knobs just don’t dig in enough.
In a moment of pure bad luck, we managed to put a
screw through the rear tyre on one road section, and we put
a hole in the front tyre on another occasion, but we were
running crazy low pressures (sub 20 psi) when it happened.
Both of these issues were easily fixed with tyre anchovies and
have been running absolutely fine for the remainder of the
test, and the tyres aren’t showing very much tread wear at all.
Overall
Michelin has done a really great job with these tyres.
Compared to this tester’s favourite front tyre (Schwalbe Magic
Mary), the Michelin Wild Rock’R2s roll faster, corner better
and have more grip on roots. They don’t brake quite as well
in the damp or on the steeps, but this is really splitting hairs.
We’re impressed.
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