Michelin Pro Race 4 Endurance Review

Happy New Year!

I thought I would try to start the year off right and actually get an adequate number of reviews written this year. I have 10 in the queue right now, but finding the time it tough. Since we are in the early to middle portion of winter I have decided that the most appropriate topic would be endurance tires as most of us have the racing rubber hanging on the walls this time of year.

Context

As I normally do, here is what I personally look for in this type of tire so the review is set in this context. When I look for a training tire priorities 1 and 2 change with the seasons.

Priorities:
1. Puncture resistance
2. Ride Quality
3. Ease of change / Pliability
4. Wear Resistance
5. Weight

From late fall through early spring I am pretty set in this order. The reason that puncture resistance is so important to me is that I ride many rural routes and changing a tire on the side of a non-shouldered road with nightfall rapidly approaching in the freezing cold is something that I avoid at all costs. As the temperature rises I am a little less concerned about puncture resistance as heat and daylight tend to make this a less stressful situation.

For several seasons I have been very happy with the Maxxis Re-Fuse for winter training and the Maxxis Detonator as my warm-weather training tire. However, I was looking for a new clincher race tire this year and decided to give Michelin another shot. I  hated absolutely everything about the Pro Race 3. Puncture resistance was terrible, I could barely get the tire on Campy rims, the wear resistance was terrible and on top of that they were not light and had marginal rolling resistance performance. Anyway, I was looking for a new tire and my local shop got their first set of PR4's in and I made a leap of faith and gave them a shot. I love this tire! More on that in another review.

So it came time this fall to begin sorting out my winter kit and the venerable Re-Fuse tires were starting to wear a little so I gave the Endurance tires a shot.

My 700X23 Endurance tire came in a box about 50% larger than the Service Course. There are 4 or 5 tires in the Pro 4 line depending on what you count. I have not had a chance to mess with the Comp Service Course or the Comp Limited which I would assume would be best used for Time Trials where the value of low rolling resistance is at a maximum.

(Image from michelinbicycletire.com)

Weight:

This 700X23 Endurance tire came in at 236 grams. I threw away the box before writing this, but I think the claimed weight was 225g which is a pretty bad miss.

For comparison a 700X23 Service Course tire is 204g vs. the claimed 200g on the box.

Ride Quality

The first thing I noticed about the Endurance version of the PR4 was how similar the ride quality is to that of the Service Course Tire.

The big difference between the two tires is that the Endurance tire is a dual compound tire with a wear and puncture resistant middle section (black) with a softer, grippier compound (grey) on the sides to improve cornering. Overall, the tire has a really nice feel to it when using the Michelin recommended pressure. The softer compound on the sides is noticeable as the tire corners very much like the Service Course and far superior to any other endurance type tire that I have tried. I would be comfortable racing a crit on these tires. The tires have an almost tacky feel to them, even after  hundreds of kilometers they still feel much like they did out of the box.

Puncture Resistance

I've had these tires on through varying conditions (hot/cold, wet/dry), but almost always on roads with lots of sharp objects. I have a tendency to cut tires quite frequently, but the PR4 Endurance tires have held up incredibly well. In fact, I looked at the back tire and could not find a single cut. The only tire that I have seen work this well is the Re-Fuse. There is no doubt that the heavier center compound contributes to this great performance.

Wear Resistance

At this point in time I may have 1,000 miles on the tires. What I can say is that the tires I have been running are nearly indistinguishable from the new tire that I mounted for the review. The Re-Fuse has a proven track record with me so until I get a full season on the Endurance I am not ready to make a call on durability, but it certainly looks promising.

Ease of Change / Pliability

As I stated above, I primarily run Campy or Fulcrum rims which are typically tighter with tires than most rims which can make them difficult to change. The Pro Race 4 Endurance tire is fairly pliable for an endurance tire. It is a little more difficult to take off and put on a rim than the Service Course tire and similar to other endurance tires. However, it is much better than the PR3 which was a terrible tire for me. This may not matter to most, but it does come into play when you are forced to replace a tube on the side of the road. With the PR4 E, I had to use gloves to push the last bit of tire over the rim on the initial install, but after they have some miles on them I can get them on without gloves and certainly without the need for a tire lever.

Cost

Expensive. Yeah, these things are way up there for endurance tires and they are not tires you will likely find in the discount bin. I think retail for these things are somewhere between $70 and $75. As of this writing I saw a few on e-bay for around $55 plus shipping compared to $38 shipped for the Re-Fuse.

Conclusion

The Michelin Pro Race 4 Endurance tire is an outstanding tire for my needs. It has a nice supple ride quality, corners well, has good traction, and is both puncture resistant and durable. It has a really high price tag though. This is certainly the best endurance tire I have every ridden, but at the cost of a full-on race tire I am somewhat hesitant to recommend them. If price is not an issue, I would certainly put them at the top of the list. Below is a ranking of the tires I have tried recently with the lower score being better. I did not assign a value to weight since it is an objective rating while the others are subjective.

Next up, TRP 960 brakes.

-Tony