Tyres

Michelin Power Endurance tyre – review

Hards as nails member of Michelin's new Power tyre range impresses with great feel and grip

Michelin launched their new flagship Power tyre range to replace the Pro4 line-up last year, and the Power Endurance is the third and final member of the new range to get put to the RCUK test.

Where the Power Competition is Michelin’s performance-bred tyre and the Power All Season proved itself a great winter training tyre – being both long lasting and resilient – the Power Endurance is exactly as it sounds: a reliable, durable, puncture-proof rubber, built to endure.

– Michelin launch new flagship Power tyre range –

But with the Power All Season already covering those bases, is there really need for a dedicated Power Endurance tyre too?

Michelin’s Power range includes three tyres: the Competition, All Seasons and, this, the Endurance

One of the headline claims Michelin makes with the Endurance tyre the tyres have withstood 200,000 kilometres of riding between 200 riders before experiencing a puncture. Clearly, by the time we cover that kind of distance on our own, Michelin will probably have managed to develop and launch a whole new set of rubber for us to test, rendering this review nearly pointless.

Specification
Price: £34.99 each
Sizes: 23c, 25c, 28c
Weight: 230g (25c tested)
Website: Michelin

So, in the interests of time and relevancy, taking our own (approximately) thousand kilometres, we can report the following: zero punctures, and remarkably little wear to the tread or compound with only one piece of flint that had become embedded into the rubber.

That’s probably down to the use of the X-Miles compound, which is tougher and harder wearing than the compound used in the All Season tyre, and in terms of visible wear matches up with the resilience this reviewer has experienced with Continental’s Gatorskin and Gator Hardshell tyres. They’re easier to fit than those tyres too – even the folding versions – which is always a feather in a tyre’s cap.

What’s impressive, though, is the fact they weigh relatively little too, with a 230g claimed weight – closer to the Competitions than the All Seasons. This feeds into a lively ride, all things considered, and shod onto a Mavic Ksyrium Pro Exalith wheelset felt right at home.

No, they aren’t quite on a par with the Competitions for overall liveliness and feedback, but they’re very similar in feel to the All Seasons.

The Grip Design of the tread helps the tyre bed into the road under load, and keeps grip levels high even in the wet, even though it’s visibly less treaded than the All Seasons. Subjectively, we think the compound isn’t quite as grippy as the All-Seasons either, but the upside is greater longevity.

The Endurance is designed to offer long-term durability – and we’ve been wholly impressed in that regard

For tyres that you might fear would be skittish in cold wet weather, there’s nothing of the sort either. Without getting bogged down in marketing claims of grip improvements, we can say this: the Endurance tyres are all the tyre you’ll ever need for anything from long sportives to winter commuting – and the chances are you might be able to use one set for an entire year, too.

On fast descents in less-than-perfect weather, you feel stuck fast to the road, while they’re not dull when the road tips the other way either.

On top of that, with no punctures experienced, we rate the Aramid Protek+ layer very highly, while the 3x110tpi carcass construction is tough as well.

The Endurance also impressed when it comes to rolling resistance and grip, making it a great all-rounder

But perhaps the standout feature, interestingly, is the way the tyres roll. At launch, the entire Power range was claimed to offer low rolling resistance across the board – it’s a family trait that has been passed down to this, the ‘endurance’ tyre, and Michelin claim an 8.6 per cent improvement over the Pro4 Endurance rubber.

We can’t speak much for the numbers, but suffice to say while riding the Power Endurances we never felt we were being held back in any way. In fact, at times we forgot we had tyres that are designed to cover mega miles installed, which is about as high praise as we can give them.

Conclusion

We asked at the beginning of this review if we really needed the Endurance tyres, and we have to conclude that yes, we do. They seem practically bullet-proof, and while not ultimately as fast as the Competitions or grippy as the All Seasons, they roll incredibly easily and could legitimately run for an entire year before needing attention.