Which motorcycle tyre has the quietest road noise?

The honest answer to this question is: we don’t know which motorcycle tyre has the lowest road noise.

However all motorcycle tyres make a noise, it’s just we struggle to percieve it against the sound of an engine but if you’ve ever had an electric motorcycle ride past you. you’ll know the sound a tyre makes on the road.

Manufacturers don’t publish any data about noise and it would be impossible for them to do this with any meaningful accuracy, as no bike weighs the same or works its tyres in the same way.

However we can talk about the types of tyres that are likely to be the quietest and the ones that are no-doubt noisier than others.

Noisy motorcycle tyres

Any knobbly motorcycle tyre is going to be noisy. Think tyres like Continental TKC80, Michelin Anakee Wild or Bridgestone AX41. These tyres have been designed for mud-plugging in mind and those huge tread blocks ensure the tyre can bite through the mud or broken rocks and find traction.

Those same tread blocks will strike the road hundreds of times a second at normal road speeds and cause the tyre to be noisy. In fact one of the main complaint that riders of big adventure bikes have when fitting serious off-road tyres is the sound of the tyres, often more than the fact they tend to wander on the road, again due to the tread blocks.

That low-pitched drone can be really grating after a while.

How to minimise motorcycle tyre noise

One of the best ways to reduce any tyre’s road noise is to run the correct tyre pressures. An underinflated tyre will produce more noise than a properly inflated one. Wheel alignment can also cause noise from the tyres, as they aren’t running completely in line and are working against each other.

We have also seen cases where a tyre has been fitted the wrong way around and this is causing the tyre to create excess noise (not to mention, not perform the way it’s designed to).

Other issues that can cause excessive noise are a dry chain and sprockets or an incorrectly adjusted chain and sprockets – which is by far the most common cause of excess noise. Lube your chain regularly and ensure it is correctly adjusted.

Quiet motorcycle tyres

Generally speaking the less intricate and pronounced the tread pattern the quiter the tyre is. Two tyres in our range that we think ride well and make the least noise are the Metzeler Roadtec 01 SEs which are excellent Touring tyres and the Continental ContiSport Attack 4, a quality Sports road tyre.

Have you tried earplugs?

One of the best ways to reduce how noise affects your motorcycle riding is to wear earplugs. Sure, this won’t stop anything from causing noise but it will affect how you are affected by that noise. Prolonged riding over time without ear plugs will destroy your hearing, take it from us, we’re all half deaf.