The Michelin E-Wild Rear Racing Line tyre is an e-MTB-specific designed for traction and crafted to deliver traction while climbing. Grip is plentiful and there’s a tonne of support built into its sidewalls to improve support under the weight of modern, full-fat e-MTBs. However, the tyre isn’t quite as capable under braking and prone to wear.
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Michelin E-Wild Rear Racing Line tyre – Technical details
The Michelin E-Wild Rear Racing Line tyre is one of a few tyres designed to be mounted onto the rear wheel on an e-mountain bike. It’s designed to improve grip on technical climbs found on the EDR circuits.
Coming as part of Michelin’s Racing Line range, the E-Wild Rear dons the brand’s tackiest Magi-X rubber compound, which somewhat compromises durability and rolling efficiency in pursuit of grip. It’s a compound developed through Michelin’s experience in MotoGP which the brand claims works down to three degrees centigrade.
It’s a suitably protected tyre, featuring special pinch protection strips around the beads, and a bead-to-bead shield with extra protection around the tread. There is a two-ply 55 tpi material built into the tyre, too.
The E-Wild Rear’s tread pattern is one of the most unique patterns on the market, utilising staggered blocks across the carcass. They’re widely spaced which suggests ample space for the knobs to dig into softer surfaces but because of the staggered layout, there should still be plenty of surface area in contact with the ground. The shoulder knobs are much more uniform, although there’s still some alternation between every other knob, where one’s slightly larger in width than the other.
Choosing your Michelin E-Wild Rear is a simple task as there are only two options available, 650b or 29-inch. Both come in 2.6in widths, which makes sense for a tyre designed for climbing traction.
Michelin E-Wild Rear Racing Line tyre – Performance
Inflated onto the rear of the Merida eOne-Sixty 875 test bike, it grows to a plump but round profile. But that pattern is where the magic lies because it delivers plenty of traction when firing a big heavy e-bike up a hill. The hair-brained, asymmetrical spacing of the knobs gives each one plenty of space to find their foothold in a trail’s surface. With that, it blends the character of a tyre with a widely spaced pattern, in that it hunts for traction with ease, but enough knobs are biting into the ground to keep that traction consistent.
And I’ve been incredibly surprised by the amount of bite that the tyre offers. I’ve been able to crank up steep gradients without as much as a hint of slip at the rear wheel.
What’s helped this is the super burly construction of the tyre’s carcass. Michelin certainly hasn’t held back in upping the protection and the heft of stiffness in the carcass allowed me to run low pressures without making a fuss or sacrificing puncture resistance. It’s given the tyre an extra edge when conforming to a trail’s imperfections, further boosting grip.
Again, because of the tyre’s asymmetric tread pattern, it’s a very consistent tyre in the corners. Grip is reliable and the Wild Enduro Rear does little to throw a spanner in the works, even when the trail is particularly soft and wet. Its tread isn’t super tall, to keep the tyre versatile and, in the wet, it is overwhelmed under the larger power loads delivered by 85m of torque. This only happens in especially wet scenarios where most tyres would struggle for traction.
Under braking is where I found the tyre to suffer a little. The tyre is keen to lock up and requires a very considered approach on the rear brake lever which, over steep trails, isn’t the most confidence-inspiring. It is a trade-off, however, as grip everywhere else is more than enough.
As its name suggests, the Wild Enduro Rear Racing Line is a race-specific tyre that utilises Michelin’s softest Magi-X rubber compound to eke out all of the available adhesion but it doesn’t last long. Over an 80km weekend of riding wet trails, there are some signs of wear present, so if you’re looking for longevity, this isn’t the tyre for you. However, if you’re looking to minimise compromises for race situations, it’s well worth a look at least.
Michelin E-Wild Rear Racing Line tyre – Verdict
Electric mountain bike-specific rear tyres are few and far between at the moment. A notable option is Schwalbe’s Eddy Current Rear which uses large, square knobs. It’ll set you back £65, which is a significant saving against the E-Wild Rear’s £85.
Pirelli’s Scorpion E-MTB S is a valid option, as is the rest of the brand’s e-MTB range. The S is better suited to soft conditions that provide good stability and grip but it’s not rear-specific.
So the Michelin E-Wild Rear Racing Line is an investment but delivers bags of grip on the climbs. It’s pretty good when it comes to cornering loads, too, thanks to the heft of support built into the sidewalls. It isn’t without negatives, however, as it wears quickly and braking traction isn’t quite as rich.
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