Michelin’s latest dirt hoop has arrived in New Zealand with the official debut of the Starcross 6 taking place at September’s Berm Buster near Taupo. We were at the event to put the Michelin Trackers on the On Throttle CRF250 Rally to the test, but we couldn't help ourselves when it came to checking out Michelin's latest knobby tyre.
While technically the Starcross 6 has been quietly arriving in dealers for the past 6 weeks or so, the full range was on display at Berm Buster with multiple options to serve the needs of dirt riders.
As the name suggests, the Starcross 6 replaces the Starcross 5, with Michelin going all in with a full silica build, and a directional redesigned lug pattern. In fact, the only thing shared between the Starcross 5 and 6 is the two-ply casing. The rest has been a complete redevelopment from the ground up.
According to Michelin, the new design translates to up to 19% more traction than the Starcross 5 while the 100% silica construction helps the Starcross 6 last 11% longer than its predecessor.
We had a brief introduction to riding with the Starcross 6 and were impressed by the intuitive nature of the new tyre.
Aboard a KTM 300 EXC, the Starcross 6 was planted and intuitive to the point where it was a point-and-shoot affair. The wet conditions really worked in the silica tyre's favour, and we quickly got into a rhythm compared to the hard slog on the heavier and less powerful Honda.
The Tracker is a great road-legal dirt tyre, but when it came to the wet mud and ruts the Starcross 6 on the KTM 300 made life so much easier and allowed me to ride around ruts rather than charge right into them.
The Michelin Starcross 6 is available now at all good motorcycle tyre retailers in a variety of sizes and compounds.