Michelin Anakee 3 Review | Adventure Motorcycle Tire Test

December 1, 2017

Try a simple search for “Which adventure motorcycle tires are best for the (insert your adventure bike make/model here)?” and you’ll be inundated with hundreds of results from Internet tire experts claiming they have found the only tire worth your time and money.

Why is it so difficult to get a consensus from adventure riders on which tires perform best? It is because we have chosen to ride a “crossbred” motorcycle—a Frankenstein’s monster, if you will, or a mash-up of street, touring, and dirt.

After 10 years of exclusively riding the streets of Southern California, I made the decision that it was time to take my passion for the open road beyond the pavement. Adventure riding caught my attention back in 2014, and I was finally in the position to pull the trigger on the perfect adventure bike. At that point, there had been many aspects of riding that I hadn’t yet experienced.

My longest ride had only been a few hundred miles around the local canyons, and I was never equipped to wander off-road. I was ready to plan a multi-day tour throughout the West Coast and experience my first stretch of dirt roads. After reading nearly every Adventure bike review I could get my hands on, I purchased a 2014 BMW R1200GS Adventure (GSA).

When it came to tires, BMW offered the street-biased Michelin Anakee III or the knobby Continental TKC 80. With no previous experience on the dirt, the Michelin Anakee III seemed like the perfect balance of street-oriented performance and off-road grip. The TKC 80s seemed a bit too aggressive, knowing I’d be spending more time on the street.

So how well do the Anakee IIIs perform? Well enough that I didn’t hesitate to purchase another set. In fact, I logged almost 30k miles on my 2014 GSA using strictly Anakee IIIs. I had the opportunity to experience them through all sorts of conditions, including aggressive off-road trails littered with rocks and deep sand.

Starting off with grip, the Michelin Anakee III tires didn’t have any issues keeping all 125 horsepower of the water-cooled boxer engine firmly planted to the ground. The more confident I became with the GSA, the harder I pushed the Anakee IIIs, blasting through Southern Californian canyons. Grip was fantastic in dry conditions, as well as during a heavy downpour.

For light off-road jaunts, the Anakee III rubber gripped very well, considering the street-biased design. As expected, riding through sand or any kind of mud made for a very bad day.

With respect to handling, the Michelin Anakee tires did make for quite a workout flicking the GSA from one corner to the next. The turn-in with the front tire was very slow, and required considerable effort to stand the bike back up. The GSA’s weight exacerbates the problem, and I usually rode with about 30 pounds of cargo in the panniers.

The only real annoyance with the Anakee tires is the loud howl from the front tire, especially when the tires are new. You’ll need earplugs and a communication device blasting your favorite tunes to drown out the noise.

I’m fairly hard on the tires with my day-to-day riding. The GSA is a well-balanced bike that is always begging me to push a bit harder in the canyons; most of the time, it’s difficult to say no. Lastly, my daily 100+ mile commute on the harsh roads of Los Angeles chews through the tough silica compound of the Anakee III.

Last year, I decided to part ways with my 2014 GSA and picked up a better-equipped 2016 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure, again shod with Anakee III rubber.

After burning through seven sets of Michelin Anakee III tires between the two bikes, I was still averaging about 5500 miles per set. Overall, the Anakee is a great all-around tire that offers terrific grip and decent mileage.