You have probably heard that there’s a trade-off between a tire that offers excellent grip and a tire that will last. For the most part, that is true. However, Michelin has focused heavily on narrowing that gap, as evidenced by the new Power 6, a new addition to its Hypersport range. The Michelin Power 6 is a sporty and agile tire designed for sport bike riders who want optimized grip in wet and dry conditions without sacrificing longevity.
The Power 6 utilizes Michelin’s latest 2CT+ construction, the French brand’s proprietary term for dual-compound technology. 2CT+ refers to each tire using a harder mileage-focused compound that spans the entire profile, while a softer performance-focused compound is layered upon that to form the shoulders. The goal is that you have more grip available at lean and, thanks to the harder compound acting like a sturdy foundation, a more consistent feel when transitioning back and forth from the center to the tire’s edges.
Michelin claims significant steps forward with the updated Power 6 rubber, citing a 10 percent increase in wet and dry grip over its predecessor, the Power 5, thanks to a new 100-percent silica rubber compound and updated tread pattern. Michelin also cites notable improvements in handling and warmup times. According to Michelin, these tires are designed to offer good traction in variable dry or wet conditions and provide a stable ride with consistent feedback.
Stability is achieved with what Michelin’s marketers call its Aramid Shield Technology. It is an aramid weave laid at a 90-degree orientation to the tire’s belt, providing additional carcass support and delivering the brand’s typically firmer carcass feel. In addition, the aramid tech is designed to resist centrifugal growth, even at high speeds and temperatures. In other words, you can expect your Power 6 rubber to maintain its consistent profile shape regardless of your speed or tire temperature.
With all this effort to design a carcass that will provide a stable ride and resist deformation, what about bump absorption? It’s great to have a stable, consistent feeling tire, but the reality is that most of us ride on less-than-perfect roads, and we want a tire that can absorb bumps without sacrificing feedback. To address that, the Michelin Power 6 sidewalls use a ply fold called Radial-X Evo. It is designed to allow flexibility and bump absorption while maintaining responsiveness. Does it work as advertised? Yes, it does, and let’s explain why.
One characteristic that stands out is confidence when it comes to stability. While testing on both the road and racetrack, I quickly learned how this tire reacted to inputs at various speeds and road conditions. My test started at the famed 2.75-mile Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto, near Jerez de la Fronteria, Spain. It was a brisk 50 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing an excellent opportunity to confirm the cold performance of this Michelin Power 6. I followed that up with street riding in the equally entertaining hills near the circuit.
According to Michelin, the Power 6 is primarily a road-going sport tire (90 percent road/10 percent track). So, while circuit riding isn’t necessarily its forte, it’s still the best place to test the peak performance of any tire, so the first portion of my test was on 1000cc+ sport machines at Jerez. I’m the type of rider who would thrash knobbies on a racetrack, so I’m always open to experimenting.
I chose a KTM 1290 Super Duke R Evo for my first session. A torquey, large displacement V-twin that would demand a lot of the rear tire on the corner exit. It took me a couple of laps to get rolling at a respectable pace, and the Power 6 tires were ready to go well before I was, signaling that these silica-rich tires reached operating temp quickly. As I got moving, I was looking to gather feedback during corner entry on the brakes, at mid-corner, and when accelerating during corner exit. Michelin recommends setting cold tire pressures to 30.5 psi in the front and 27.5 in the rear for track riding.
We’ve established that the Michelin Power 6 is stable. No matter how hard (or light) I was on the brakes, I couldn’t sense any notable amount of tire deflection or excessive deformation. When at the track, that stability helped me feel confident enough to add additional brake pressure or steering input to correct lines or get the bike aimed in the direction I wanted.
The front tire has a neutral feel when initiating turns and changing direction. It doesn’t steer aggressively like a steep-profiled race tire, but it isn’t sluggish either. At mid-corner, the tire felt stable and connected. I could lean the bike as far as I felt confident, and both tires were ready for more. Corner exits were similar, except for a couple of tighter sections where I was heavier on the throttle. I felt the rear squirming in those areas, but the movement was predictable even when the Super Duke R’s might was challenging traction limits.
It wasn’t until the second session aboard more focused superbikes, including the BMW S 1000 RR, that I started to discover the limitations of the Power 6 on the racetrack. As my pace picked up and the track temp increased, the rear tire began breaking loose in several hard acceleration areas, specifically in turns 3, 4, 10, 11, and 12. Meanwhile, the front tire continued to offer plenty of traction and excelled.
If you are a novice or a conservative intermediate-level rider, the Michelin Power 6 tires will treat you well in terms of handling and grip. However, more seasoned track riders who still prefer a road tire should consider more track-focused tires, such as the Michelin Power GP 2 or Power Cup 2.
The road portion of my test took me from Jerez’s paddock to the streets of Arcos. Along the way, I rode through dusty, bumpy, and tight rural asphalt, as well as faster, flowing stretches, on an Aprilia Tuono 660. As I am currently racing an Aprilia RS 660, I am familiar with how this bike’s chassis behaves on various tires.
It bears repeating that the Michelin Power 6 is remarkably stable, no matter the road surface. Still, when mounted onto lighter middleweight bikes, the tire is more reactive to hard-edged bumps than the KTM and BMW superbikes I rode earlier; that’s likely a byproduct of a lighter bike not stressing the carcass as much. I will note that all the motorcycles I used for testing had stock suspension settings, so this characteristic could be tuned out with a basic setup or adjusting pressures. Regardless, the difference wasn’t unnerving enough to feel like I needed to adjust my pace.
Except for the occasional damp corner from a recent rain, I didn’t get to test wet weather performance. Michelin representatives strongly emphasized the improvement of wet grip over previous versions, so we’ll have to confirm that later.
The Michelin Power 6 is a worthy addition to the company’s well-stocked sport tire range, with tire sizes covering the most common middleweight and liter-class motorcycle tire sizes currently on the market. While not a track-specific tire by design, it leaves a positive impression. The Power 6s are a viable option for novice or intermediate riders, who will be able to lean into quick warmup times and stability; those needing more grip can look higher in the Michelin food chain. Out in the real world, the dual-compound strategy in the front and rear appeals to our wallets, as well as our desires for a tire we can trust in the twisties.
Michelin Power 6 Sizes
Front
- 110/70 x 17
- 120/70 x 17
Rear
- 140/70 x 17
- 150/60 x 17
- 160/60 x 17
- 180/55 x 17
- 190/50 x 17
- 190/55 x 17
- 200/55 x 17
- 240/45 x 17
All Michelin Power 6 tires are tubeless and ZR-rated.
