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Michelin’s Wild Enduro MS Racing Line’s aggressive tread pattern and super-sticky Magi-X compound make it one of the grippiest and most predictable tyres you can buy.
Designed to work best in mixed to soft terrain, hence the MS designation, it’s a great all-rounder, excelling on a wider range of terrain types than you’d expect.
This dual-ply 55 TPI tyre is incredibly tough and puncture-resistant, weighing 1,329g and costing £84.99 as a result.
On the trail, carcass support and damping are exceptional, no matter how hard you’re loading it up into turns or how rough it is.
Michelin Wild Enduro MS Racing Line 29x2.4in specifications
The Enduro Racing Line tyre is Michelin’s second toughest and heaviest model, boasting a hugely protective and stable carcass.
Reinforced in two ways, the sidewall is claimed to reduce pinch flats, with an insert near the bead and another section under the tread to help prevent rips or tears.
The Magi-X compound uses tech derived from MotoGP to enhance grip in damp, cold (3-10ºC) conditions, while reducing rolling resistance compared to the outgoing model.
It uses a two-two-three centre-block pattern, alternating between square, rectangular and three smaller blocks (made from a combination of one square and two rectangular knobs).
The pair of square blocks have horizontal siping, while the pair of rectangular ones have vertical sipes. Chunky shoulder treads are there to provide cornering stability.
The 29x2.4in tyre measured 60mm/2.36in wide when inflated to 25psi on a 30mm internal-width rim. At 1,329g, the Wild Enduro MS Racing Line is the second-weightiest tyre in Michelin’s range.
Michelin Wild Enduro MS Racing Line 29x2.4in performance
Installation
Thanks to its incredibly malleable casing and very tacky rubber, it’s possible to stretch and manipulate the tyre’s bead onto the rim without tyre levers.
But to do so requires plenty of force; the sticky tread and sidewall ‘grip’ the rim’s lip as you’re manipulating it.
The moulding’s shape means its beads splay outwards, away from one another, making it hard to keep the bead partially fitted to the rim’s hook during installation.
At times, I felt I needed more than two hands.
But that same moulded shape pushed the bead against the rim’s hook and meant it inflated quickly with just a few light pumps of a high-volume track pump. By 25psi, the tyre had fully seated on the rim.
While the Wild Enduro was tricky to install and required plenty of hand strength, it’s quick to inflate and seat.
Profile and shape
Across the centre blocks, the Wild Enduro MS is flat; the blocks have no outward camber or angle.
In contrast, the side knobs are angled outwards significantly, helping reduce the sharpness of the tyre’s edge.
This increases potential rider and bike lean angles in turns before it breaks traction – and makes the transition from grip to slip less abrupt.
Feel and grip
Cornering grip is immense on soft, loamy and fresh trails.
It sticks to the trail, gluing you to your chosen line regardless of whether it’s across a camber, over slippery, polished roots and rocks, on hardpack or ultra-soft forest floor fluff.
There’s no unpredictability or vagueness; you point, it goes.
On the brakes, there’s loads of traction that’s easy to manage, but there isn’t quite the whiplash-inducing stopping power of the Continental Argotal or Schwalbe Magic Mary I've also tested.
That super-sticky rubber compound clings onto the mud, not clearing as well as others. This is only an issue at lower speeds in boggy, gloopy conditions – and as soon as it’s rolling quicker, the tyre clears.
At high lean angles, it remains controllable and predictable. You can right the bike easily; it doesn’t get ‘sucked’ into a turn radius, something the stickiest-compound tyres can suffer from.
Transitioning from riding straight to turning is smooth, upping predictability and inspiring confidence.
Venture onto hardpack or greasy ground and performance improves again. Here, the chemical traction of the Magi-X compound’s knobs smothers the ground as they bend, stretch and deform.
Their desire to attach to the trail’s surface can be heard; you’ll rip and tear your way down the hill – it’s very impressive.
Carcass support complements the mechanical and chemical traction.
Harshness and buzz aren’t registered by your hands; the tyre eliminates vibrations at their source. Its soft and muted performance is akin to Maxxis' heavier DH-casing tyre, rather than the harsher-feeling Continental enduro rubber.
There’s little to no steering vagueness in high-load turns, and at my usual tyre pressures it didn’t burp air, squirm or bottom out onto the rim on high-load impacts.
How we tested | winter enduro tyres
All six of these tyres were tested back-to-back on both the front and rear wheels of our test bike.
Alex used the same 30mm internal-width rim for each of the tyres and inflated them to the same or an equivalent pressure, allowing for small differences in tyre volume (higher-volume tyres require slightly lower pressures).
Alex rode a wide gamut of terrain types – average trail-centre laps to get an idea of rolling resistance, down muddy, boggy and rocky and rooty descents to test grip, and on high-load, high-speed downhill tracks to test for carcass stability.
Tyres on test
- Schwalbe Magic Mary Radial Gravity Pro Addix Ultra Soft 29x2.5
- Maxxis High Roller III 3C MaxxGrip DH Casing 29x2.4
- Michelin Wild Enduro MS Racing Line 29x2.4
- Continental Argotal Enduro Soft 29x2.4
- Pirelli Scorpion Race Enduro T 29x2.5
- WTB Vigilante SG1 Tough/High Grip 29x2.5
Michelin Wild Enduro MS Racing Line 29x2.4in bottom line
Michelin’s Magi-X compound is perfectly mated to the Enduro carcass, providing smudgy, squidgy traction with a robust and confidence-inspiring feel.
The tacky rubber helps you stick your chosen line with virtual impunity, regardless of whether it’s across roots, rocks, hardpack, grease or soft ground. The downside is the tyre doesn’t clear mud as well as some of the best mountain bike tyres.
As an all-round winter tyre, there’s a lot to love about the Wild Enduro MS Racing Line.
SQUIRREL_13162432
Product
| Brand | michelin |
| Price | 85.00 GBP |
| Weight | 1329.0000, GRAM (29x2.4in) - |
