Harley-Davidson & Michelin Scorcher Test Ride
Harley-Davidson & Michelin , these are two brand names with a concentrated tradition, each company has its own story. Who doesn't know him, in the early 70s he shined magnificently on every big truck that drove on our roads, the Michelin man !
And even today, it is still the trademark of the successful French company, which operates worldwide and will continue to expand its successful collaboration with Harley-Davidson next year. The Michelin Man is even a little older than Harley-Davidson ; it was founded in 1898 by the company's founder, Édouard Michelin.
What is the mascot for one person is the logo for another and that is why the Bar & Shield logo and the Harley-Davidson lettering shine on every Michelin tire that was developed together with Michelin according to the Harley-Davidson load catalog.
Michelin invests a lot in the development and research of tires, is present at many events, and has a special motorcycle team that takes intensive care of all aspects of motorcycle tires.
They travel a lot, including at Lake Faaker See for the European Bike Week, and are looking to be close to customers in order to find out their most important requirements, what criteria they use to choose their tires and what their experiences are. Customers expect a lot, the price, design, safety in wet conditions, grip and, if possible, long mileage.
Well, if we're honest, everything can't work and every model and every biker has their own specific tire requirements that should be met.
A Sportster is not a long-distance bike; it places completely different demands on the tires than a tourer that travels a lot on the highway.
But we know all this at Michelin and we also know that the Harley driver is loyal to the brand as long as he is satisfied and his requirements are largely met.
So you go to the events and just ask him, as the original equipment manufacturer for the Harley-Davidson ® Sportster ® , Dyna ® , V-Rod ® and Street ® models, many customers already use the Michelin Scorcher tire and that will continue to be the case in the future remain!
And whatever is done, you get salespeople and mechanics from Harley-Davidson who deal with customers every day, as well as experienced bikers from the Harley scene and get the SKS truck with the Harley-Davidson Road Show including the current bikes , put new Michelin Scorcher tires 11 and 31 of the respective models everywhere and off you go!
At the end of September, catch the last rays of summer sunshine and go on a beautiful Harley-Davidson motorcycle tour in Elsas, along the beautiful vineyards and Vosges, all the way to France.
Tom, Michelin's Develope Manager, drove in advance. After the first few kilometers we knew that no coffee driver was leading us, he knew the route exactly and his trust in the tires was quickly passed on to the people behind him, he pulled along like a locomotive His followers through the S-curves and bringing up the rear was Achim, from Michelin Product Technology, together with Christelle from Marketing.
You know that at the end of a group it will always be a little faster, especially if there is no loitering at the front, but Achim has already completed many corners on his bike in his life, as a successful motorcycle racer who also competed in the German Pro Superbike Championships and 24 Hours of Le Mans, he could probably have overtaken us with a pillion passenger if he had wanted to.
Really a great Michelin team with plenty of fuel in their blood!
Lots of curves, fast sections, up and down the mountains, we didn't want to race, but we wanted to look for the limit area of the tires in the curves, that doesn't mean that you only found it when you fly out of the curve. You can tell exactly whether the tire has grip or is lubricating.
The bikers, or rather the tires and the Harleys, had to deal with various road surfaces and challenging curves. After the first few kilometers something very important developed, that was trust! We pulled through the curves nicely and no matter whether it was the V-Rod or the 1200 Forty-Eight, every now and then a footrest would scratch the asphalt or the exhaust would spark something.
Nils, from Harley Augsburg, wanted to know exactly, he tortured her because he knows customers ask a lot of questions!), but the tires were never overwhelmed, the limit is set by the bike and not the Scorcher tire.
But we're not talking about Brenners here, we're talking about beautiful bikes with which you can have fun on the country road and also in the curves. The V-Rod and the Muscle, they are the faster variants from Harley-Davidson and are intended for bikers who occasionally need the torque kick and more speed, as can be seen in the photos, the combination of machine and tires brings big smile on your face.
We drove across the French border to Wissembourg, had a short coffee break and continued on, back to Germany. We had lunch in Climbach, where we were able to calmly exchange our first experiences.
A team from Harley-Davidson Germany was also on site; they are also very interested in the test riders' feedback, as the successful collaboration with Michelin is set to be further expanded next year.
Conclusion: What did we find? The Michelin Scorcher 11 and 31 have a lot of grip, a very high level of driving comfort and they also did their job perfectly when it came to braking.
In combination with ABS, it all fits together very well. We didn't have any rain, which is certainly an important position, but there are too many different situations that we couldn't recreate on one day. There will be more on that next year.
We also didn't want to ruin the beautiful day with bad weather and most bikers are out and about in good weather, so a tire has safety reserves even when it's wet - that's what Michelin demands of itself.
For the Harley-Davidson Fat Bob there is the Scorcher 32 at the turn of the year, it looks a little bit sturdier on the rim, the development is not quite finished yet, but you can already see it mounted on the Fat Bob in photos.
The tire on the front wheel makes a really fat impression, just like on the Forty-Eight, for example, that looks really cool. In the corners, the Forty-Eight doesn't fall into the corners as easily as if it had a slimmer tire, but it has a lot of grip thanks to the wide tread and that's really fun to pull out of the corners with the high-torque Sporty.
What was impressive to me was that despite the different Harley-Davidson model ranges, we all stayed together very well and test riders who usually drive a Street Bob or Fat Bob, for example, pushed a Muscle or Sportster through the curve without any problems.
Of course, each test driver got their own impression of the Michelin Test Ride; my impression was that our opinions were not far apart. The Scorcher tires definitely have their strengths on dry roads, they offer plenty of reserves in the corners and give a lot of confidence.
They are Harley-Davidson original equipment manufacturers and are also a very good tire choice, and are constantly being further developed to meet all requirements.
Take the opportunity and go to the Michelin stand at trade fairs and events, you will almost certainly meet some of the Michelin team with whom we drove and it is nice to know that they know exactly what they are talking about can speak from my own experience!
Beginning fall 2015, MICHELIN Scorcher ® will be available at authorized Michelin dealers in addition to certified Harley-Davidson ® dealers.
| Available dimensions | ||||
|
Michelin Scorcher 11 IN FRONT 100/80 - 17 M/C 52H TL |
REAR 140/75 R 15 M/C 65H TL |
Michelin Scorcher 31 IN FRONT 130/90 B 16 M/C 73 H TL/TT |
REAR 150/80 B 16 M/C 77 H TL/TT | |
|
Michelin Scorcher 32 IN FRONT 130 90 B 16 M/C 73 H TL/TT |
REAR 180 70 B 16 M/C 77 H TL/TT |
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