Anakee 2's are no longer available according to my Canadian supplier. I have two sets of the 3's coming in tomorrow for a F800GS and a F650GS. I look forward to trying those out soon, once the snow is gone.
According to the guy in the video they are a lot quieter. The video review is very interesting. Makes me think about trying a pair. I'm not an aggressive off road rider anyway, I'm probably the 80/20 or even 90/10 rider these are aimed at.
I have a Anakee 3 rear pending spooning on for my DL1000 that I will be running some dirt roads and such in North Texas this weekend. On the front, I still have the old Anakee 2, as I am a cheap bastard, and it still has some tread left. Plus this way I can see how the rear slides around if any. I know when you get into clay mud, the 2's are rather lacking after any distance because the sipes get all clogged up. In regard to the tread design, from the look of the way the sipes are at 45 deg to the travel of the tire, I would expect that to give you your lateral traction. As my front goes and if I like the way my rear handles I may pick up an Anakee 3 front. If not, The Metz Next looks like a viable option. During the work week, I'm 100% on the road. On the weekends, I don't really care where I end up so sometimes its 50%+ gravel and dirt.
Ok, so I'm the rider in the video. Figured I'd answer the question about how quiet the tires are: I don't know. Why? I ride a 990 Adventure with dual Akrapovic exhausts. I physically cannot hear the tires on my bike. That being said, I wasn't able to hear any hum/droning on the GSA. Going by the shear vibrations within the tire themselves, the A3's feel smoother so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they will be quieter. No evidence to back this up other than my gut feeling and 26 years of riding experience. I really and truly do think they are a better tire. They feel better on road than the A2's and I was amazed at how well they gripped off road. Michelin got this tire right IMO. But remember, it's all down to your personal preference. However, if you liked the A2's you'll like the A3's more.
So here is my problem. Testers are saying that it is better than the Anakee 2, Tourance... Well most every tire I have tried new felt better than my old flat-spotted tire I had previously. If any vendor is serious about testing these things they will take out at least 2 bikes, one with the Anakee 3s and one with a new Tourance or similar. Only then can we get a reliable opinion.
I do agree to some extent, but if you ride a lot, you go through tires frequently and you can tell subtle differences. Plus if you demand a lot of your bike, it becomes an extension of you. I have had a couple punctures over the years, and I could detect a 5 psi loss of pressure in the rear tire just by the seat of my pants.
As PFFOG mentioned, if you frequently go through tires, one can easily tell differences, as it wouldn't have been too long since the last set of tires. I sell, mount, and balance tires out of my home shop. I've been messing with this, ~10yrs. I've ordered in various tires, just to try them. If I don't like 'em, I flip them to someone at a discount. Most people truly don't know one tire from another; they just want something to replace the worn out tires. Doing this, I've pretty well figured out the better performing tires. The locals know this and appreciate my efforts. Is an opinion reliable? Agreed, especially if one has higher-level track experience.
I started thinking that I might be wrong about the silica. Here's what I found. http://www.tirereview.com/article/59410/sand_man_we_see_it_everywhere_but_what_does_silica_do.aspx
I agree 100%, so I did just that. I had my 990 with A2's and the GSA with A3's. The A2's only have about 1000 miles on them. I would ride one, then hop directly onto the other bike, and did this a few times over the course of a few days before doing over 400 miles solely on the A3's.
I do agree with you in that tires are never compared oranges to oranges. Everyone always loves their new tires and it's impossible to properly remember & compare that same feeling from the last tire (when it was new). Some mags, in the past, have tested the same bike with all new tires to compare riding aspects. I've yet to see a reseller do this. I'm sure the price sure adds up real fast. As far as mileage out of a tire compared to others, NO one has ever properly done that with controlled variables. Having 2 different people compare is impossible as everyone accels, decels, brakes and corners different not to mention different road conditions & weather/temps. They only way to compare mileage, and get it even close to accurate, is the same bike, rider, weather conditions/temps, weight of the bike, roads chosen and riding the same way/speed. With this, you put X brand of tire on a bike and start riding. You ride 1000s of miles until the rear tire hits a set point, such as wear bar or the 1st flat spot (past the rain grove) seen. Then a trailer picks you up and return back to the same start and repeat (make sure the weather is matched too) with a new brand of tire. You could make it work but changing the tires there and riding the route in reverse and see if you can make it back to the start and if you have rubber left keep going to at that same end variable. That's alot of work and commitment and probably why no one has done it yet. That's why users accts. of different mileage results are going be the best we can all expect. Now having the same bike, with different tires and swapping riders, to compare paved and dirt aspects is completely do-able. My guess is German Mag Motorad will do a followup test like this with all the new tires being released. I'd be impressed if a reseller did this, but i'm not holding my breath.
close and i'm sure accurate enough, but different bikes = different suspensions, weigh and such, plus 1000 miles is not at the end but is still worn for the A2. The nice crisp biting edges are not so crisp like on a new A3. michelin is staking their well earned reputation on the 3s so they had to do alot of 2 & 3 testing. thanks for the feedback! can you comment on how the bike felt when pushed into a corner hard in the dirt as far as the tire being able to bite when on the side edges? did it hold an edge when pushed like a knobby would? that is the big question everyone has in their head? how is that possible with this design??? being you were on an immensely heavy bike with less suspension, the GSA, did you truly corner it and ride it hard like you could have on the KTM??? i question that as the GSA is not a dirt railing machine, like the KTM. the only way to truly tell is 2 990s one w/ a A2 and 1 with a A3 and 2 riders who can go back and forth.
good read. guaranteed Michelin Michelin has known/tested for awhile that silica is there answer for better grip (the velcro effect) when coupled with smoother tires like the A3 (and all sport touring tires), but it took them awhile to hit upon the (silica & other) technical solution & tire design to also produce better better mileage than the previous generation (A2). I'm sure in the past they ramped up silica content and got great grip (that riders would love) but worse gas mileage (that rider would hate) and they deemed that not acceptable as a whole package.
True, but with as many miles as I've done off road on A2's in the past I have a general expectation of what's going to happen. Does the bike/my memory/weather/road conditions have an affect on this? Absolutely. Has Michelin done a lot more tests than I did? Oh yeah. and if they didn't think it was better than they wouldn't have put it on the market. The tire actually bit well. Knobby well? No. Better than the A2? Yes. The GSA was my dad's and he had just bought it. So, I didn't really care if I crashed it. When I rode the trail going in I took it pretty reasonable to figure out what was going to happen. On the way back out I TRIED to make the front end slide and wasn't able to; you're going to have to really do something stupid or hit something really slick for it to slide. THAT BEING SAID, REMEMBER, THIS ISN'T A 250cc DIRT BIKE. If I laid the bike over, leg out, pulling a Ricky Carmichael it'll drop like the 500 pound pig it is. I did intentionally try to lose the front so I could see how far it would go before it broke loose. Did I ride it as hard as my 990? Hell I tried but it's not near the dirt bike that a KTM is, just like the KTM isn't near the street bike the GSA is. Overall, this is my opinion, same as you'd get from the guy you see on the road and ask him if he likes the tires. If they were shit I'd say, "They're shit. Don't waste your money on them." They're not. They're good enough for me to buy 3 sets and plan on running them to Alaska this summer. They're good enough and I trust them enough I'm going to put my wife on the back seat and ride all over Alaska. If I had ANY doubt about these tires I would have already bought every set of A2's I could find and moth ball them until we left.
