Subject says it all - what sort of milage do you typically get out of these tires? And how many flats? I’ve heard they are fairly fast tires, but I am leary about getting buckets (yes, buckets) of flats with a ‘fast’ (which can mean thin) tire.
I’ve had really good success with these tires. I put on a new pair in february and have been riding 200+ miles/week on them with only 1 flat. I live near some nasty roads too.
I used to use conti’s and they flatted all the time.
Our customers are averaging ~3000 miles to a set of tires.
I personally ride them, but have never managed to get the full mileage. I am constantly putting nails through them. Once I even put a nail through my rim. Don’t ask. It must be the morning rides and my lack of focus.
Otherwise, ride and performance are great. It’s their F1 tire for bikes.
I put my first set on last October before IMFL and have only had to replace the rear tire which was starting to square off. Front is still okay. I don’t ride a ton, probably about 100-150 miles/week during my HEAVIEST training, and more like 75 miles/week during the off-season. I’ll replace both tires probably in June or July. Only one flat with these tires and yes, they ride smoothly and fast.
They’re my favorite tires. I’ve been using them for the past 5 years. I probably get about 2500 miles out of a set before needing to change them. Keep in mind that I also run my training wheels with Mr. Tuffy’s to help reduce flats but don’t feel that they change the ride quality of the tires much.
For my road racing wheelset I’ll run them without tire liners to save a little weight.
For my road racing wheelset I’ll run them without tire liners to save a little weight.
Well, looking at my records, I had to replace a Michelin Pro 2 Race rear after 4777 km (2968 mi) The tire was showing some signs of wear but looked like it had some useful life. In the last couple of hundred miles, however, I started getting larger cuts on it - still nothing to worry about. Yet, last week I got a flat (an extremely rare occurrence around here, compared to, say, NYC, where I’d get a flat every 250 mi on avrg.) and I was able to see light thru the tire when held against the sun. This is a tire replacement trigger for me.
Exactly the same thing happened with my previous Michelin P2R at 5040 km (3142 mi)
So, yes, I’d say around 3000 miles, even though they still look good, Michelin P2Rs become prone to flatting.
I’ve never run one as a front - I stick to a Vittoria Open Corsa Evo CX, since it gives me the feeling of better grip and has lower RR. When run as a rear,however, I can only squeeze about 2k miles from the Vittoria.
Nick.
How durable are Michelin Pro Race 2?
Very durable from my experience. Yes it’s their top of the line tire and yes it’s fairly light and yes it has no tread, but I have beaten the crap out of these tires on lousy roads( sometimes dirt and gravel) for two years and had no problems.
In my book there are only two clincher tires that one should consider, the Michelin Pro Race 2’s and the Vittoria EVO CX’s.
Durable compared to what? As a race tire I would rate them high. As a training tire, middle of the road.
So, no I wouldn’t buy Pro Race tires to use primarily for training. Buy something cheaper, and more flat resistant for that. I can get 5000 miles out of $12 Michelin Dynamics.
They are fantastic race tires though and the best option is to reserve them only for racing. I try to limit my race mileage to about 500 miles with them. After that I may use them up in training, but I don’t expect them to last as long as some other tires in training. I’m noticing some squaring off of the Pro’s after about 1500 miles.
I’ll ditto what Steve said…Great tire that is ultra durable and on par with the Vittoria EVO’s…
Bob
rotate… I get about 5k a tire… that is 3k on rear another 2k on front… and that’s being cheap…
3,436 miles and counting with no f****.
I was hit by a car which destroyed the frame and the wheel, but the bikeshop just moved the tires over to a new rim. Note: It is possible the tube was replaced in the rim change, but I would not call that a f****.
I do NO trainer miles and roads in Chicago suburbs very prety dang poor.
I think this depends where you live and what kinds of road hazards you have to deal with. Here in Northern Co. we have a pretty bad goathead problem. Those thorns are the perfect size to puncture most race-quality tires. I’ve found that around here, the Mich. Pro Race and Krylons don’t fair very well as training tires. I was averaging about 1 flat/week with my Michelins. Almost always it was the thorns that were getting me. Liners might help but I switched to Specialized Armadillos for training and I haven’t had one in 3 months. For me, a training tire is more about keeping me going, I’m not worried about weight or rolling resistance.
For what its worth, when I lived in Cincinnati, I used to swear by the Pro Race and Krylons and had good luck with them.
-David
Ive put at least 2k on mine which has included running over small pieces of broken glass many times, countless rocks, sticks, whatever debris is on the road…not one flat. Im still not sure how i havent flatted yet(especially with the glass) but they still look/work great!
one season. The tires look ugly at the end of the season as they seem to embed a lot of grit but no more flats than others. I had a horrid time with Vittoria Rubino Pros, and found GP3000’s harsh. I got GP4000’s last year but rarely rode them since it was raining so much (I use my “junk” bike in the rain) and this year one of the tires is already squaring off so I’m very unimpressed. I’m going back to Michelins as soon as I destroy these puppies.
That said, its also about if you mount tires properly and pump your tires before every ride. One of my friends rode his GP supersonics which are very thin tires for a whole season with zero flats.
Have you tried the Michelin Ironman?
“Have you tried the Michelin Ironman?”
I could be wrong but my understanding is that the Ironman tires are rebadged Pro Race 2’s.
I have used the pro races and the ironmans, I think they are the same tire, however I have heard people say that the Ironmans are more durable. They are the smoothest riding tire ive used but I have found them to be not very durable or punture restant.
Mr Tuffy’s - what’s that?
Reading through this thread (and every other tire thread for that matter) it seems like for every post that says “this tire is great” there is another that says “this tire sucks.” I can’t find any consensus!
As a few others have said, I find them to be good race tires but, from my experience, they cut very easily. I only use them on race day.