Michelin S12XC's / M12XC's

[geraldo]

Michelin released 2 new dirt tires in Aus on the 1st of April , S12XC and M12XC , I have used them and found them awesome , was just wondering if anyone else had given them a go and what they thought of them

[evo550]

I found the Michellin to have great grip, but low wear rate, fronts always seemed to peel outside knobs off, use dunlops now.
.....why would they release a tyre on April fools day

[bigk]

From the reports I have the new, made in Spain, XC's have much longer life compared to the old, made in Taiwan, S12's. One reasonably well known race team used only on set of S12 XC's for the entire A4DE, on hard rocky terrain, which is not the MO for the tyres. They were very happy and pleasantly suprised. The price is still up there though compered to some of the others. I Use Metzler MC5 intermediates most of the time, but have guys using MC4 soft terrain tyres in the wrong conditions who are rapt in both performance and life of the tyres. Mezlers on average are about $10-$15 cheaper than Michelin and on par with Bridgstone & Dunlop. I've used them all and they are all good. It's a bit like being a Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha man etc. You tend to stick with what you like and know.
Cheers,
K

[geraldo]

evo550 , the new XC's are designed to stop exactly those problems , now have 3 ply carsass and updated compound , now 25% more durable than the old ones and work better in firmer terrain . I've always liked dunlop rears but hate the fronts , dunlop couldn't make a good front tire to save themselves
bigK - yes the feedback from users has been amazing , the factory teams have been using the pre production ones for some time and love them !!

[evo550]

Might give them a crack next time I need a new set of hoops, although I believe that a tyre that works great on one bike, could well be shit on another.
Why? Buggered if I know.