I’ve got a confession to make… I’ve been riding Specialized tires for years but I’ve got two friends who swear by their Michelin Pro 4 tires. One day, perusing one of my favorite cycling shop websites, I happened upon 23mm Pro 4 Endurance for $30 each. I snapped up four without thinking twice, a heck of a bargain.

I am limited to 23mm tires on my Trek 5200, so when my last set wore out, I tried the new Michelin tires. They’re fantastic.

I don’t quite know how many miles I’ve got on that set in the photo, but it’s a lot – enough I’ve already rotated them once.  The Endurance tires are a touch heavier than the Service Course as the flat protection covers the entire tire – bead to bead.  Whilst I’d never go for the extra weight on the race bike, on the rain bike it just made sense.  I’m exceptionally pleased with the performance of the tires.  They’re supple, quiet, fast, and the flat protection, wet or dry, is fantastic.  No flats.

This post isn’t just about the Endurance tire, though.  The Title says Service Course as well.  My buddy, Chuck, decided he wanted to go tubeless on his race bike, so he just happened to have a brand new set of 25mm Service Course Pro 4’s.  I snapped them up in a heartbeat for the Venge:

They’re a little more supple than the Endurance model, which is to be expected without the extra Kevlar lining and the 25’s on the carbon wheels are mind-blowingly smooth.  Now, with the 25’s above, I’ve only got 1,000 miles on them since September because I don’t put many miles on the Venge towards the end of the season.  The miles I do have on them have all been enjoyable.  Also, I put a set on my wife’s bike a while back, too so figure another 3,000 miles on hers without a problem.  My friends, add them all up, that’s a lot of perfect miles.

While the review of the tires has been glowing thus far, they’re not quite perfect.  My wife’s Ultegra wheels are tubeless ready, so tires are already going to be a tight fit.  My Ican wheels are a tight fit as well – I couldn’t get them on the wheels without a tool.  In fact, they were tight on my Velocity wheels as well, and tires are never tight on those wheels.  In other words, they fit snug.  You’d better have some strong hands if you’re going to change a flat with those tires.

That said, if the only thing I’ve got to complain about is the wheels being snug, well I’m a happy guy.  They’re broken in enough now, I should be able to work around them easily enough…  Of course, they don’t go flat so I probably won’t have to worry much about roadside tire changes.