The first radial tyre for motorcycles
1983.
As always, competition is an accelerator of innovation: for the first time in 1983, Michelin develops the first Radial motorcycle tyre for the GP500.
The Radial is a type of tyre structure that Michelin invented for cars. It offers several benefits: the structure is lighter and the dissociation of the sidewalls from the tread makes it possible to design wider tyres.
The footprint of a radial tyre, which is shorter but wider than that of a bias tyre, provides a greater quantity of rubber in contact with the ground, and therefore increased grip.
As the number of plies is smaller, it also limits the heating of the internal components, enabling much higher speeds to be reached (over 300 km/h with radial tyres compared with a maximum of 240 km/h with bias tyres).
It should be noted that, while Radials are now widely used for road, sport and long-distance trail riding, Bias ranges are still available for certain uses (notably Cross, Custom and Scooter tyres), simply because this type of structure is better suited to these specific uses.