Michelin's All-Mountain and XCR All-Terrain tyres are essentially the same, but in different sizes, so we're looking at them together. They share Michelin's Dual Compound construction, using a combination of soft and hard rubber compounds. In itself that's not a new idea, but rather than the traditional hard down the middle/soft at the edges combination, Michelin uses a thin layer of soft rubber on top of a layer of harder stuff. This means that you get the stability of a hard compound with the grip of a soft one.

The tread design is also the same on both tyres, using a combination of knob shapes. Down the middle there are staggered squarish knobs, while the sides carry a combination of well-buttressed trapezoids and an interesting serrated edge running all the way around the shoulder of the tyre. Between the two there are intermediate blocks, complete with siping to give extra gripping edges, plus some low-profile webs between the inner and outer blocks which both adds support and gives a hint of a paddle tread on softer ground.

The casing has a high thread count for light weight and suppleness, and both tyres are available with Kevlar beads only. They're certainly not too shabby on the weight front, with the 2.2in All-Mountain weighing 640g and the 2.0in XCR A/T coming in at 560g.

Out on the trail, both tyres are impressive performers. You're unlikely to notice much difference between them except the greater volume of the All-Mountain (although for a 2in tyre the XCR is decently comfy) and the slightly lower weight of the XCR. They're designed as all-rounders, and that's exactly what they are, turning in a creditable performance just about everywhere. Pick any particular condition and you could probably think of a tyre that's a bit better in it, but it's unlikely to be as good somewhere else. We're particularly impressed by the cornering - the Michelins are stable, confident and, when they do start letting go, progressive.

They're respectable in mud, with plenty of open space helping them to stay fairly clear. And while they're not super-fast they're not draggy either, certainly feeling usefully brisk considering how grippy they are.

What they're not is long-lasting, or cheap. We quite quickly started to loose odd corners of tread blocks and the soft outer rubber isn't wearing all that well. To be fair, Michelin's own useage charts don't rate them very high for "economy" either...

Good all-rounders, light, plenty of volume, plenty of grip, no vices

High wear rates and price

Verdict You've got a fairly simple decision to make here. These tyres are great all-rounders, scoring well on pretty much any performance axis you care to think of. The trade-off is that they're not the most durable, and they're expensive. If you're not scared off by the price, give them a go, but we suspect that lots of riders will prefer to stick to more affordable treads.

PERFORMANCE

VALUE

OVERALL