Description
The Two Tyres 1-minute guide to the Michelin Road Classic
What is it: Michelin’s Road Classic is a retro-styled road tyre designed for classic and modern retro motorcycles. It blends period-correct looks with modern tyre technology, offering strong dry grip, impressive wet performance and excellent stability. If you want classic aesthetics without sacrificing contemporary performance, this is a serious option — and it’s even capable of handling the odd trackday.
What tyre it replaces: The Road Classic replaces the long-standing Michelin Pilot Activ and represents a significant step forward in grip, stability and overall handling.
Who is it aimed at: The Road Classic is aimed at riders of classic and modern classic bikes running 17″, 18″ or 19″ wheels who want modern levels of performance from a tyre that still looks right on the bike. It’s ideal for everything from weekend blasts and summer touring to everyday road riding. Thanks to its 100% silica compound and directional tread pattern, it offers confident wet-weather grip alongside excellent dry-road feedback.
Typically seen on: We fit these to a wide range of retros and classics — from air-cooled Japanese fours and restored 80s machinery to modern classics like Triumph Bonnevilles, Kawasaki Z900RS models and similar retro-styled roadsters.
Road Classic highlights: A 26% groove ratio gives a strong contact patch with slick-style shoulder sections for excellent dry grip. The 100% silica compound and chamfered grooves improve wet grip without compromising longevity. Michelin’s Bi-NST and Bi-NC casing plies control centrifugal growth at speed, improving straight-line and cornering stability while maintaining comfort. Tubeless-compatible on suitable rims but can also be used with tubes where required.
Road Classic tyre sizes: Available in a broad range of 17″, 18″ and 19″ fitments to suit both classic and modern retro motorcycles.
The competition: We see the Road Classic competing with tyres like the Pirelli Sport Demon, Metzeler Lasertec and Bridgestone Battlax BT46.
MICHELIN SAYS:
Michelin has launched its new MICHELIN Road Classic range of retro-look tyres designed specifically for classic and modern classic motorcycles running on 17, 18 and 19-inch wheels. Replacing the successful MICHELIN Pilot Activ, the new MICHELIN Road Classic combines an attractive retro tread design with the latest materials and technologies.
The directional tread pattern of the MICHELIN Road Classic range, with a groove to tread-rubber ratio of 26%, strikes the perfect balance between performance and aesthetics by employing slick centre and shoulder areas for optimum contact with the road and excellent dry grip.
In wet conditions, the 100 per cent silica rubber compound and chamfered groove edges, which break through surface water, offer high levels of grip in these difficult conditions, with no compromise in terms of longevity. The casing of a motorcycle tyre must provide a reliable and durable solution to the complex equation of carrying the load of the bike and rider/pillion, being comfortable, maintaining high speeds without deforming, and limiting the heat generated between its different components to reduce wear rates.
The casing design of the MICHELIN Road Classic manages all of these requirements by using two Bi-NST plies directly beneath the tread rubber to reduce centrifugal growth at speed, which in turn maintains a constant and optimum shaped contact patch with the road. Under these two top plies, two Bi-NC casing plies are rigid enough to support the load and provide stability in all situations, yet are supple enough to allow the rider and pillion to enjoy a comfortable ride.
Finishing off the casing of the tyre is an airtight butyl rubber liner, meaning the tyres can be used tubeless when fitted to suitable tubeless wheels or with inner-tubes if required on a tube-type rim.
The result of these design elements and technologies is that compared to its predecessor the Road Classic offers better performance in all areas, with particularly large improvements in straight-line and cornering stability, and grip in both wet and dry conditions. In addition, comfort and general handling characteristics are also improved.
The entire MICHELIN Road Classic range comprises nine front tyre sizes and ten rear sizes:
Front Fitments:
90/90 B 18 M/C 51H ROAD CLASSIC F TL
100/80 B 17 M/C 52H ROAD CLASSIC F TL
100/90 – 18 M/C 56H ROAD CLASSIC F TL
100/90 B 19 M/C 57V ROAD CLASSIC F TL
110/70 B 17 M/C 54H ROAD CLASSIC F TL
110/80 B 17 M/C 57V ROAD CLASSIC F TL
110/80 B 18 M/C 58V ROAD CLASSIC F TL
110/90 B 18 M/C 61V ROAD CLASSIC F TL
3.25 B 19 54H ROAD CLASSIC F TL
Rear Fitments:
120/90 B 18 M/C 65V ROAD CLASSIC R TL
130/70 B 17 M/C 62H ROAD CLASSIC R TL
130/70 B 18 M/C 63H ROAD CLASSIC R TL
130/80 B 17 M/C 65H ROAD CLASSIC R TL
130/80 B 18 M/C 66V ROAD CLASSIC R TL
130/90 B 17 M/C 68V ROAD CLASSIC R TL
140/80 B 17 M/C 69V ROAD CLASSIC R TL
150/70 B 17 M/C 69V ROAD CLASSIC R TL
150/70 R 17 M/C 69H ROAD CLASSIC R TL
4.00 B 18 64H ROAD CLASSIC R TL
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