Michelin has an unrivaled brand presence and reputation. Everyone has heard of them, whether it be for their motor and cycle tyres, or their restaurant and chef star ratings, or the ubiquitous Bibendum - aka the Michelin Man.
For those unfamiliar, Michelin's infamous mascot was a touchstone for old-school bullies - a sort of pre mass-media Mr Blobby, but without the calamitous slapstick or Noel Edmunds.
Of late, I have been less haunted by playground trauma and more foiled in my attempts to embrace the concept ot tubeless tyres for road bikes. I used to marvel at how easy it was to set up higher volume tyres on chunky MTB or gravel-specific set-ups, yet I was constantly thwarted in my attempts to confidently ride out on skinnier, slicker, road-specific rubber.
I had resigned myself to either daily reinflation or continually carrying tubes and CO2 for the inevitable roadside, tubeless sealant-slathered swearfest when the pressure in my tyres returned to atmospheric.
I was about to give up for good when I was offered a pair of the new Michelin Pro5 tyres to test, a brace of tan-walled beauties just skinny enough for the clearances of my Genesis Volare.
I'm a big fan of girth, and the 700x32c Pro5 actually look bigger than they are - even more so than the Spesh Turbo I used to run, which always seemed to have a wide-low profile. The Pro5 tyres look proper round and this filled me with more confidence that I wouldn't be running out of shoulder when cornering.
I bit the bullet and easily eased them onto my Fulcrum 4 wheels with an overly healthy dose of Peaty's Biofibre Holeshot sealant - damn good stuff that claims to fix porous tyres and beam/rim gaps.
I also wanted to make sure the maximum volumes of air blasted into the tyres to help them on by installing some freaky-looking MucOff Big Bore valves, an innovative solution that basically abandons the Presta valve in favour of a manual ball-valve. You just have to remember to turn it to 'sealed' before removing the pump head. Guess who forgot...
Overly plenished with Peaty's, I took the precaution of leaving the wheels off the bike for 48 hours to let the gloop do its magic. Initially, one looked like it had failed but it has stayed up on reinflation for nearly a fortnight, so I think it was just a greater challenge to seal what needed sealing. I resisted the temptation to add more sealant as it felt like I might be bordering on running on liquid tyres.
Conference restored (for now), I took the Pro5s out on a multi-hour jaunt through the Surrey Hills: an area of outstanding natural beauty and outstanding negligible road surface quality. The 80psi I had pumped them up to made them roll exceptionally fast, but on sketchier, pot-holed descents, hard braking, and the choice of cornering line became a major concern.
I found that a little too hard for comfort and reduced front and back to nearer 70psi. Ultra smooth and reliable road surfaces may not yet be as common as you're likely to find on the Continent, so I think they'll stay at that level for the foreseeable future.
Firmness issues aside, I like the grippiness, and that's probably down to the stick of the Gum-X compound they're now using as an upgrade from the Pro 4. Michelin also claims they've enhanced airtightness and mounting operation with a 'revamped architecture' design.
I've yet to see what their longevity is like, but Michelin boasts they've improved this with their Bead-to-Bead Shield technology. They certainly seem to have fared better than the GP5000 I have run before, which looked tired and shredded long before their first 1000km.
For those with different desires or clearances, the Pro5 is available in the now seemingly standard 28c and range in width all the way up to 35c.
My advice and preference would be go as big as you can, but if using tubeless, knock 10psi off your usual running pressure to enhance the comfort in areas where road surfaces aren't much better than a council car park.
The tan walls look amazing and I rely on them to distract casual onlookers from the old man in the saddle trying to go as fast as he used to 20 years ago.
I think these Michelins have finally resolved my flat-phobia and I need to keep going out to carry on with this aversion therapy. Maybe one day I'll have the confidence to leave my inflator and spare tube behind.
Michelin Pro5 Tyre, £59.99 from www.silverfish-uk.com
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