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The Michelin Pro5 Competition Line tyre’s party piece is noticeably lower rolling resistance than its competitors.
This has been corroborated by experts in the field, bicyclerollingresistance.com, which found a 35mm Pro5 to exhibit only 13.8 Watts of resistance losses, compared to 15.6W for a 35mm Continental Grand Prix 5000 AS TR tyre.
This places it incredibly close to some of the best all-round tyres on the market today, and well above most ‘training’ tyres. It's priced at £59.99 / €64.99.
At 309g per tyre, the Michelin tyres are the lightest of the group I tested, and only 25-30g shy of top-tier rubber, making them a great match for lightweight wheels and bikes. Low weight isn’t the biggest factor affecting speed, but it does help these feel particularly zippy.
Michelin Pro5 Competition Line key specs
- Weight: 309g
- Size tested: 28mm
- Available sizes: 25, 28, 30, 32, 35mm
- Carcass (threads-per-inch): 3x120
- Compound: Michelin Gum-X
- Puncture protection: Bead2Bead Shield layer
I enjoyed the sense of grip eventually, but it took a few rides to feel them performing at their best. Michelin’s releasing agent (the white deposits sometimes seen flaking off tyres when new) is particularly tenacious, meaning care was needed for the initial couple of hundred kilometres to allow it to run off the compound.
This is a shame, because I fear many might decide they don’t like the Pro5 when trying it out for the first time. If you’re patient, I assure you, there’s lots of grip on offer. If you’re not, rubbing them with light sandpaper will help scrub the agent away – but that’s an extra step not needed elsewhere.
Suppleness is decent for a tyre of its type, albeit the Continental Grand Prix TR and the latest Vittoria Rubino offer a greater sense of feedback through the bike, and feel a little more comfortable too.
It helps comfort that the tyre inflated to 28.7mm wide at 80psi – such pressures aren’t necessary for most riders, but the volume is a useful antidote to pimply road surfaces even when supporting my nearly-90kg body.
The tyre is compatible with hookless rims, but you’re limited to the ETRTO-mandated pressure of 72.5psi / 5 BAR.
How I tested
I tested the four sets of tyres on a set of Hunt 50 Carbon Disc wheels, chosen for their established performance benchmark. The rims have a 22mm internal width and a hooked bead, enabling me to test the 28mm-wide tyres on rims that should make the most of the nominal size.
I ran an initial tubeless-installation test for each tyre, before installing each set in turn for testing (totalling three setups). I recorded weights and inflated widths at 80psi / 5.5 BAR.
Tyres tested
- Continental Grand Prix TR
- Michelin Pro5 Competition Line
- Vittoria Rubino V Tubeless
- Pirelli P Zero Road TLR
I experienced one notable cut to the Pro5 during testing, albeit it’s worth noting my local roads are as flint-strewn and mixed-quality as they come. This, therefore, bodes well – assuming average luck and generally good line choices – while the bead-to-bead puncture protection layer should help protect the sidewalls, too.
Should you puncture by the side of the road, unseating and reaseating the tyre might prove a challenge if your technique isn’t practised (we recommend a tubeless repair kit instead).
This is one of the tighter-fitting tyres I’ve tested, which is great if a secure fit to a hookless rim is what you’re after, but less good if you don’t need that specifically.
When it’s new and fresh out of the box, the bead also has a tendency to twist the tyre on itself, and it’ll easily roll out of the rim bed, but this isn’t an issue after the tyre has been fitted for a while and settled into the shape it’s supposed to be in.
Michelin Pro5 Competition Line bottom line
The Michelin Pro5 Competition Line isn’t without flaw or foibles, but if you can put up with an ‘awkward first date’ (or two), you’ll have an impressively fast all-rounder for less outlay than a top-tier tyre.
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