Michelin’s newest high-performance tire, the Power One, slots in perfectly alongside a growing line of premium race-derived motorcycle tires. The Power One utilizes dual-compound technology, a term now somewhat commonplace in performance and sporting tires. Michelin lays claim to utilizing multiple compounds as early as 1994, but the most recent tire from Michelin to receive dual-compounds billed as a key feature was the Pilot Power 2CT.

For the uninitiated, a dual-compound is just what it sounds: one level of rubber hardness/grip in the center, with a softer, grippier compound on the sides. Typically the front often has a nearly equal, if not greater, ratio of soft compound on the tire’s shoulders when compared to the harder center compound.

It’s not unusual to see a rear tire contain more of the harder compound when compared to the front tire’s dual-compound ratios. This is usually due to the simple fact that the rear tire has more available real estate, and it’s the bun that gets all of the abuse from the engine, so a greater area of harder, longer-wearing compound is necessary to keep the wear rates as equal as possible.

In addition to 2CT tech, the Power One employs what Michelin calls MRSE (Michelin Racing Synthetic Elastomers) compounds combined with HTSC (High Tech Synthetic Compound) resins. The general idea behind this tire jargon is that Michelin’s particular cocktail of compounds is aimed at providing fast warm-up times while offering good grip characteristics.

Finally, we get one more acronym: NST (Near Slick Technology). The minimal tread grooves cover only 5% of the tire’s surface, maximizing rubber contact with the road. Michelin claims the resulting traction helps facilitate lean angles approaching 60 degrees.

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