Michelin Anakee Wild review

The Michelin Anakee Wild tires were first released in 2016 as radial tire designed for big bikes travelling both on and off road. A true 50-50 tire if you will.

Its launch marked the first of a new bread of 50/50 adventure tire aimed at the growing big bike adventure market. Now we’re spoiled for choice, but back then the only 50/50 adventure tires from a mainstream manufacturer were the Continental TCK80, and the Metzler Karoo 3.

And let me give you a heads up. The Anakee Wild smokes both them, as I found out during this 20,000 km review.

Pros:

• Good road handling
• Excellent wet weather performance
• Easy to mount

Cons:

• Poor mileage

The test bike for this tyre was my 2019 SWM Superdual T. A 600cc single cylinder with a claimed 54hp. The testing ground, pretty much the whole of South America.

This trip covered jungle roads across Colombia, dirt roads through Ecuador, broken roads through Peru, and even Bolvia’s infamous Laguna route. I finally changed the rear tire out in Santiago, Chile.

On road performance

The Michelin Anakee Wild is a radial tire. That’s unusual for a tire of this type but it means that it flexes at little more, and is more forgiving over small inconsistencies in the road.

The knobs on the tires are pretty shallow at just 7.5mm not he front and 9.5mm on the rear. That stops them squirming around when the speed picks up on the tar, and offers a connected feel that rivals even 80/20 tires.

Add in a soft sidewall, and you’ve a tire that will happily spend days on the tar, in twisties, or doing boring highway work.

Much of the start of my trip was negotiating paved and unpaved routes through Colombia and Ecuador. That often meant steep ascents and even steeper downhill sections. At no point did I have any concern about the tires performance.

In Peru (photo above), the paved roads were faster and more predictable with a mixture of tight hairpins, and faster flowing corners.

They gripped when when getting on the throttle launching the bike out of corners in a predictable manner, were controlled under braking, and stuck like glue in both the tighter and faster flowing corners.

Even my girlfriend, a relatively noice rider found the pegs of her Versys X300 scraping the pavement at times.

Off road performance

50/50 tires are all about compromise, and while the Anakee Wild outshines much of the competition, I did feel a little of this comprise in certain off-road scenarios.

Airing tires down is par for the course off road, but radials typically don’t respond as well as bias ply tires in that regard. I found that I had to air down to around 25psi to get the best from the Anakee Wild. I did air down lower at times (and even ran the rear flat for 10 miles), but the soft sidewalls, mean 25 psi is the best compromise.

My Superdual had a 19″ front, common amongst larger adventure bikes. The biggest issue such bikes face is usually the wider front tire wash out on loose off cambered surfaces. Think, climbing out of ruts or having to switch track from one rutted side to the other.

Even on the soft sandy sections of Bolivia’s Laguna route, the front held up and did a good job, thanks to the lateral bite of the side lugs. It was the rear I was least impressed with.

Overall grip was good, and it tractor up anything I through at it. Rocky inclines, mud, sand, but I lost it on the ‘Jungle crossing’ between Ecuador and Peru. Minding my own business the rear broke away without warning and down I went. It was a strange accident, and I never felt the tire complaining. It just went.

I was also a little less impressed with the rear on the ‘Trampoline of death’ a heavy gravel road through the mountains in Colombia. The road was more large aggregate stones rather than gravel, but the rear never felt entirely at home.

Wet weather performance

The wet weather performance of the Anakee Wild is class leading. Michelin has taken technology from their award winning Pilot Road series, with spies and lines cut into the top of the knobs to help remove water from what is already a reduced contact patch.

It works fantastically well. The biggest testament is probably the fact that I didn’t see any rain on this trip until the tires were at least 50% worn (if not more), and even then I was never wanting for grip.

On a fully loaded bike, I was able to put the tires as much as wanted without worrying about the rear getting loose or ABS kicking in on the front. I can’t think of  another 50/50 tire where that was the case.

The Karoo 3 I’ve previously reviewed were good int he wet initially, but any wear would see that performance degrade fast. Popular 50/50 tires from Heidenau and Mitas, have tended to be a harder compound and as such struggled in wet conditions (Heidenau K60 SiO2 excepted).

Noise and comfort

With an open tread pattern you’d expect the Anakee Wilds to be a noisy tire, and while there is a light hum, I actually found the tires much quieter than 90/10 tires like Bridgestone AT41, and more on par the TKC70 Rocks.

Between the front and rear, it’s the former that makes the most noise, but honestly, the only reason I noticed it is because I was actively listening out for noise due to a comment from an ADVrider forum member.

On the street, I typically ran the tires at 35psi front and rear. I believe those who have experienced noise were often running lower pressures.

Overall, I found the tires quieter than the AT41, Karoo 3, and Mitas E07+. If you’re sensitive to tire noise, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised here.

The comfort of a tire can be more difficult to gauge, terrain, pressure, and suspension setup all come into play. The radial profile certainly helps here, especially on the road, where it would glide over imperfections, and offer a smooth comfortable ride.

Off road though, the soft side wall meant that I couldn’t air down as much as I might with a bias ply tire to increase comfort. There were times on stony tracks where I wanted a little more comfort that comes from dropping the pressure, but had be wary of dinging my rims.

Don’t get me wrong, the comfort was fine, but I’m always chasing more.

Mileage, wear and longevity

This is where praise for the Anakee Wild typically starts to wane, perhaps a little unfairly.

With a soft compound, and lugs of just 9.5mm high at their deepest, the Anakee Wild tires are never going to be mile munchers. And yet I was still disappointed by the extent at which they wore.

Michelin designed the Anakee Wild for big heavy adventure tourers like the 238kg BMW R1250gs, or the Triumph Tiger 1200, and KTM 1290 Super adventure. Kyle Bradshaw, claimed a 5,000 mile (7,500) life for tires. He’s a well known destroyer of tires, especially on his Super Enduro.

As such, I expected that my 190kg Superdual, and perhaps a lighter touch on the throttle would allow me to extend this range, but that wasn’t to be. Even by 3,000 miles the rear was entering end of life stage (if it still wanted to be used off road).

By 5,000 miles the rear was finished, the centre practically a slick. At this stage the front was perhaps half worn but already cupping.

Typically, you’ll get through two rears to one front, but since you the front is directional, you can’t flip it to even out the cupping.

I changed the rear out in Santiago, Chile, and had plans to swap the front out in the next 2,000 miles.

That never happened. In fact the front Michelin Anakee Wild took me from Bogota, to Ushuaia, then back up to Iguazu, and finally on to Buenos Aires. With 15,000 miles on it looked worse for wear, and yet still didn’t feel like it was giving away any grip. Pretty remarkable.

Who are these tires for?

Let’s start by saying who they aren’t for. They aren’t for mile munchers or those who usually get through a set of tires in a couple of thousand miles.

The Anakee Wild might have been designed for big heavy tourers in mind, but the rubber compound is soft, the carcass is soft, and wear is high.

I believe they are best suited to those on shorter trips of around 3,000 miles (5.000km), with a good mix of twisty road riding and hard pack and loser dirt. Think a two week jaunt from Spain to Morocco, or doing a 7-10 day BDR trip.

They’d be great on something like the new KTM 390 Adventure R, the Beta Alp X, or CF Moto 450MT. On bigger bikes like the KTM 890 Adventure R, T700, or larger, I think the torque, and weight is going to accelerate the wear.

That being said, the front in particular would work well on a the big R1250gs. The telelever suspension, is particularly hard on front tires, and it just so happens that front Anakee Wild wears pretty well.

Conclusion – would I recommend them?

If I test a tire and would consider buying it again myself, that counts as a solid recommendation. Yet on I’m on the fence when it comes to the Anakee Wild.

They are great on the road, good off the road, excellent in the wet, and they are well priced. Ordinarily that would make them a shoe-in for recommendation. Yes the wear is high, but it is of all their main competitors too.

On balance, I’d recommend them over most of their 50/50 competitors, but the problem the Anakee Wild has, is that everything it does well, the Bridgestone AX41 does just as well or better.

Alternatives – What to buy instead

The Michelin Anakee Wild is a great tire, but if you’re looking for something a little different yet in same 50/50 class, here’s what you should consider.

Bridgestone AX41

The AX41 is Bridgestone’s answer to the Anakee Wild, and is arguably offers a tiny bit more off road, without giving up much on road performance (vs. the Anakee Wild).

The AX41 is even softer than the Anakee Wild, in fact it must have the softest side wall of any tire I’ve ever come across, and is on average 20% lighter than the Anakee Wild too, making it good choice for small bikes like the CRF300 Rally where power is limited.

It’s a bias-ply construction with 10mm of tread depth, but the life expectance is just 3,000 miles (5,000km).

Dunlop Trailmax Raid

Not to be confused with the Trailmax Mission, the Raid is new 50/50 adventure touring tire from Dunlop. The rear boasts a tread pattern stolen from the wildly popular Dunlop D908 rally raid tire, albeit with shallower tread.

Think it as Dunlop’s version of the Pirelli Scorpion STR in that it’s a tamed version of their more aggress pure dirt tire. The Trailmax Raid offers far better performance off road than an STR could hope for, and arguably better teadlife than the Anakee Wild.

Unfortunately, where is falls down (literally in some cases) is the front tire. Many users, and reviewers alike report the font slipping and gripping on loose surfaces.