[Quattroa4m]

Several people have gone to the trouble to have suspension, alignment (as it were), etc. verified as well as tires swapped to no avail ( this also applies to other bike makes). The problem appears to resolve itself by swapping to another brand of tire.

 

[bosnjo]

Means the tires are not centered to the zero/center point of the frame/bike. Usually not a mechanical issue but an installation oversight.

Why don't you take time and read through this thread and other threads about the same subject? You're new member and you're very welcomed into this community but try not to simply jump in as a "saviour" thinking that no other members have knowledge about mechanics. Some of the members (and two of them wrote their words of wisdom in this thread) are hugely experienced motorcycle mechanics.

 

[bosnjo]

It's been 5 months since I started this thread and Michelin still hasn't come forward with the solution (like it did with some other owners). So far, the Michelin representative in Portugal collected all the data of the front tire (date, serial #...) and said they've never heard of the problem (what a surprise). They are sending all the data back to France to see what main Michelin dealer has to say about the sublect. I was informed of this today by the shop that originally instaled my Road 6 tires. I told them, every manufacturer may have faulty product. Nobody's perfect. But if they don't step forward before next Spring with a solution, that would be enough for me. I will replace the tire on my own cost and not only that. Right now between my own vehicles and the company (I own) vehicles, I have 26 Michelin tires installed. Well, the first 4-wheeler will need new tires in Spring time, the next one in Fall time. And guess if those tires are gonna be Michelin... Or any other tires I pay for in future...
However, as I said, I'll wait until next Spring for them to correct the problem before I move to other manufacturer.

 

[docyvette]

Sorry were the Anakee's worn down? In the name of safety, I would've let the shop put the old tires back on till spring when you get your new tires. You did such amazing work, with the mom and pop shop to figure it out. Inspiring really. I'm curious to know the end result with Michelin, in the future. Too bad they just don't refund you or provide you new tires. Sometimes one person can make a huge difference and clearly, they are not thinking straight. Good luck!

 

[EAGLEASIS]

Glad to put the time in before jumping at a new pair of Michelin Road 6 tires for my GS LC. Read the posts here and decided to honor the efforts of those taking their time by sending the below to Michelin. Will they have the respect to respond?

"Please - what is the update on Pilot Road 6 motorcycle tires? I have been a dedicated Michelin satisfied customer in the past, yet will not purchase Road 6 tires as replacement for my BMW R1200GS LC until I know that Michelin has reclaimed the integrity and safety of the past. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

 

[bosnjo]

Sorry were the Anakee's worn down? In the name of safety, I would've let the shop put the old tires back on till spring when you get your new tires. You did such amazing work, with the mom and pop shop to figure it out. Inspiring really. I'm curious to know the end result with Michelin, in the future. Too bad they just don't refund you or provide you new tires. Sometimes one person can make a huge difference and clearly, they are not thinking straight. Good luck!

Thanks for bringing it into my attention. I forgot completely to mention here that my old front Anakee is back onto the bike and the bike behaves perfectly. I'll have to stand the noise from the front until next Spring. The old tire is half worn and I replaced it to get rid of that horrible noise and Road 6 solved it, the noise. But everything else went wrong way... So, my old Anakee is back on waitng for the response from Michelin or me braking off any relation with Michelin (that lasted for 20 years).

 

[Scarfall]

My Road 6 started to get squared off at the rear at about 3k miles.

My Road 6 tyres have now done 12k miles! They still have plenty of thread but the rear is so squared off, it feels unsafe when leaning over. I ride over 100 miles everyday, half of it on the highway, almost always exclusively on the road.

From day 1, the bike leans to the left as soon as I let go of the handlebars. The BMW dealership that fitted them insists the tyres are well balanced and nothing wrong with the tyres. They are noisier than the Roadtec 1 I had before. They are grippy in the wet, as long as it isn't cold. These tyres are not meant to be ridden on a British winter.

It's time to fit new shoes and I don't know what the next tyres will be, but I don't think they'll be Road 6s, only because of the lack of confidence when it's cold. I used to love the Anakee Adventure on my F800GS, but I haven't tried them on the 1200GS yet. They're very popular here.

 

[bosnjo]

My next set will be Scorpion Trail 2

 

[Rick92040]

My Road 6 started to get squared off at the rear at about 3k miles.

My Road 6 tyres have now done 12k miles! They still have plenty of thread but the rear is so squared off, it feels unsafe when leaning over. I ride over 100 miles everyday, half of it on the highway, almost always exclusively on the road.

From day 1, the bike leans to the left as soon as I let go of the handlebars. The BMW dealership that fitted them insists the tyres are well balanced and nothing wrong with the tyres. They are noisier than the Roadtec 1 I had before. They are grippy in the wet, as long as it isn't cold. These tyres are not meant to be ridden on a British winter.

It's time to fit new shoes and I don't know what the next tyres will be, but I don't think they'll be Road 6s, only because of the lack of confidence when it's cold. I used to love the Anakee Adventure on my F800GS, but I haven't tried them on the 1200GS yet. They're very popular here.

Give the Conitrailatack3 tires a try. I only have around 2k miles on mine but I'm surprised how good they are. https://www.continental-tires.com/m...cycle-tires/off-road-enduro/contitrailattack3

 

[Tim86]

Registered just to pitch in, I have a 1250 adventure with anakee adventures fitted by bmw, but I felt the canting to the left on these tires as well. Not as bad as you describe here with the road 6's.
It's gotten a whole lot less noticable after breaking it in, but when I turn on cruise control and let it roll it does still slightly pull to the left. Maybe a coincedence, but maybe theres something different on michelin's new production process for the new type of tires?
Also I read on the dutch GS club forum that most LC's tend to pull left slightly. Maybe the michelin tires are easier to tip into a corner causing the effect to be more noticeable?

 

[Rick92040]

Registered just to pitch in, I have a 1250 adventure with anakee adventures fitted by bmw, but I felt the canting to the left on these tires as well. Not as bad as you describe here with the road 6's.
It's gotten a whole lot less noticable after breaking it in, but when I turn on cruise control and let it roll it does still slightly pull to the left. Maybe a coincedence, but maybe theres something different on michelin's new production process for the new type of tires?
Also I read on the dutch GS club forum that most LC's tend to pull left slightly. Maybe the michelin tires are easier to tip into a corner causing the effect to be more noticeable?

Welcome to the forum Tim. I've had a lot of different tires on my GS and have never had it pull to one side or the other. Michelin tires are easy to tip into a corner? Yea, that's not it. Personalty I think they just made some bad tires because some people are not having problems. The people over on the 1600 forum love the Road 6 but maybe that tire size is made someplace else. In any case when I look for new tires I skip right over the Michelin road 6.

 

[Tim86]

Welcome to the forum Tim. I've had a lot of different tires on my GS and have never had it pull to one side or the other. Michelin tires are easy to tip into a corner? Yea, that's not it. Personalty I thing they just made some bad tires because some people are not having problems. The people over on the 1600 forum love the Road 6 but maybe that tire size is made someplace else. In any case when I look for new tires I skip right over the Michelin road 6.

I agree, I used to prefer the michelins because they were pretty neutral when cornering, I felt like it took a little more effort but it's planted in the corner as if on a traintrack. I just mentioned it because to me their newer anakee adventure showed similar behavior as the issues mentioned here. But, I should add that when I hold the handlebar I can't sense any pulling towards the left at all. So it's extremely subtle. And even though the issues reported here sound bad, I just can't think of a different 100% road tire I'm going to like. I used michelin on al my bikes I previously owned, and my car, and it's the only one I liked. Tried bridgestone, continental, and hated those (tkc80 for offroad is great though). So I'm going to ask my bmw dealer to order me a set of road 6's to be mounted the second week of April, and I'll be sure to let you guys know what happens.

 

[bosnjo]

The end of my saga with Road 6

So, at this point, I'm closing this saga. I have decided to bring it to an end.

I'll try to quickly resume my experience with front Michelin Road 6 tire, since the day I started this thread.

• On October 2022 mounted Road 6 front and rear and removed original Anakee's
• Quickly noticed if I let go the handlebars, bike puls hard to the left
• On speeds of more then 80 mph the rear of the bike starts swerving
• I had none of these problems with Anakee's
• Back to the shop, front tire removed, reinstalled, recalibrated - the problems persist
• Back to the shop, reinstalled old Anakee at the front - all of the problems gone
• Back to the shop, reinstalled Road 6 at the front - all of the problems came back
• Contacted Michelin in Portugal - they have never replied
• Contacted Michelin (factory) in France - they have never replied
• Back to the shop, they have already contacted Michelin - no reply
• Shop offered the refund but as I knew they're small family bussiness, I refused as it would come out of their own pocket
• Reinstalled Anakee at the front
• The shop requested portuguese Michelin dealer to come to talk with them when he passes in the area
• Portuguese Michelin dealer stopped by the shop, talked with them and said will contact Michelin in France to solve the problem
• Stopped by the shop yesterday and they said portuguese Michelin dealer is still waiting for the answer from France (it's been 2 months already)

So, I've had enough.
I still don't want to get the refund from the shop as I know them very well. Husband and wife with their young son, very nice, hard working and honest people, making just enough money with the shop to survive but not more then that. I will take the hit by myself.
Ordered front Scorpion Trail 2 and will mount it in month or two.
Now, I've been a fan of Michelin for the last 30 years. I made some rough calculation of the Michelin tires I bought in all those years for my bikes, cars and bussiness vehicles. The count is around 300 tires I bought in that period. This year I will replace 12 tires and they were supposed to be Michelin.
Not anymore. I'm done with Michelin, forever. I know that product of any kind can be faulty but when brand ignores the customer, it's rude. It's wrong.
End of story.

Just as a side note, my rear Road 6 is squaring quicker then it should. Road 4 took much longer (on VStrom 1000) to square.

 

[Quattroa4m]

The end of my saga with Road 6

So, at this point, I'm closing this saga. I have decided to bring it to an end.

I'll try to quickly resume my experience with front Michelin Road 6 tire, since the day I started this thread.

• On October 2022 mounted Road 6 front and rear and removed original Anakee's
• Quickly noticed if I let go the handlebars, bike puls hard to the left
• On speeds of more then 80 mph the rear of the bike starts swerving
• I had none of these problems with Anakee's
• Back to the shop, front tire removed, reinstalled, recalibrated - the problems persist
• Back to the shop, reinstalled old Anakee at the front - all of the problems gone
• Back to the shop, reinstalled Road 6 at the front - all of the problems came back
• Contacted Michelin in Portugal - they have never replied
• Contacted Michelin (factory) in France - they have never replied
• Back to the shop, they have already contacted Michelin - no reply
• Shop offered the refund but as I knew they're small family bussiness, I refused as it would come out of their own pocket
• Reinstalled Anakee at the front
• The shop requested portuguese Michelin dealer to come to talk with them when he passes in the area
• Portuguese Michelin dealer stopped by the shop, talked with them and said will contact Michelin in France to solve the problem
• Stopped by the shop yesterday and they said portuguese Michelin dealer is still waiting for the answer from France (it's been 2 months already)

So, I've had enough.
I still don't want to get the refund from the shop as I know them very well. Husband and wife with their young son, very nice, hard working and honest people, making just enough money with the shop to survive but not more then that. I will take the hit by myself.
Ordered front Scorpion Trail 2 and will mount it in month or two.
Now, I've been a fan of Michelin for the last 30 years. I made some rough calculation of the Michelin tires I bought in all those years for my bikes, cars and bussiness vehicles. The count is around 300 tires I bought in that period. This year I will replace 12 tires and they were supposed to be Michelin.
Not anymore. I'm done with Michelin, forever. I know that product of any kind can be faulty but when brand ignores the customer, it's rude. It's wrong.
End of story.

Just as a side note, my rear Road 6 is squaring quicker then it should. Road 4 took much longer (on VStrom 1000) to square.

If everyone did what you did, post their experiences, it might make a difference in the long run. Maybe manufacturers would be a little less likely to take customers for granted.
Meanwhile, this forum and all those who read it, will have benefited from your thread.

 

[Tim86]

If everyone did what you did, post their experiences, it might make a difference in the long run. Maybe manufacturers would be a little less likely to take customers for granted.
Meanwhile, this forum and all those who read it, will have benefited from your thread.

Yeah this is pretty much spot on. The reason Michelin won't respond is probably liability. If they would admit there's something wrong with the tire, anyone that crashed their bike would blame it on the tire and a lot of lawsuits would follow, even in europe where these are less likely to occur than compared to the US. I had a similiar experience with the Continental road attack 2 evo on my 2008 GSA, the tire squared off at 2300 kilometers, and I crashed the bike at 30 km/h on a roundabout in the rain, just gently went around the round about, no excessive amount of gass, but as soon as I passed the created "corner" on the tire, no grip and slip. Managed to hold it once, thought it might have been oil or whatever in the rain, but a few kilometers later I slipped. Sent the tire over to continental to check, they replied to my complaints up until that part, then, radio silence. To me that means they saw some issue and couldn't say anything anymore to me to avoid responsibility.

 

[venramus]

squared off at 2300 kilometers, and I crashed the bike at 30 km/h on a roundabout

 

[venramus]

This thread is much appreciated. I am about to replace the anakees and the shops are recommending Michelin Road 6. I mentioned about the problem and they are brushing it aside saying Road 6 is great. I am going to insist on that I do not want Road 6. Perhaps the Dunlap RoadSmart III. What other modes is good for road? I like something that is quiet.

 

[Quattroa4m]

This thread is much appreciated. I am about to replace the anakees and the shops are recommending Michelin Road 6. I mentioned about the problem and they are brushing it aside saying Road 6 is great. I am going to insist on that I do not want Road 6. Perhaps the Dunlap RoadSmart III. What other modes is good for road? I like something that is quiet.

The good news is, there are a lot of good choices out there. Continental, Bridgestone, Dunlop, etc. all make great tires. Typically if I was going for a more road biased tire...I would have picked the Road 6. Now I'd pick the Continental TrailAttack3, but that's just me.
There's a lot of good information here on tires. You're bound to find the tires that speak to you and your needs.

 

[bosnjo]

Me too, I had a big dillema about what brand to choose. As I said previously, the Michelin was my choice in last 30 years. As I always wanted road tire, the choice was (Pilot) Road series.
Few months ago, at the tire shop, talked to the guy that rides GS's for 25 years and owned many of them. He rides 95% on paved surface and swore about Scorpion Trail 2. He said it has excellent grip and it's not noisy. Not easily punctured (like Road series) and the ware is normal. Still, if I need to go light offroad (nothing serious), the tire is good for that.
I thought it's worth a try.

 

[BillB]

Chipping in late here but just want to share that I have had the same experience with Michelin road 6 on my 1200 GSA. Bike was straight as an arrow until I replaced the Anakees with new Road 6s, the bike immediately pulled left. In fact “pulling” is an understatement, the bike turns left dangerously. Replaced the 6s after a couple of weeks with Metzelers and the bike is straight as an arrow again. The 6s are back with Michelin for investigation but, funny old thing, it was the first they’d heard of the problem.