Michelin 070 chosen by riders

danski said:

I don't have a bike now, haven't since my zx10r ten years ago. However I do remember the standard Bridgestone's were too hard and changing to Michelin pilot powers made it much easier to ride. I've no doubt those Bridgestone's would maybe have suited another brand better.

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Its funny but in all the years I've ridden I've never been on a Kwak, not even for a test ride. A friend of mine rides a ZX12R and he's said try it out, but I'd not do it justice now so won't, to frightened I'd drop it LOL. (not riding it but while stationary)

Tomorrow I'm going to see a Triumph 675, but I have a feeling its a little small for me.

J4rn0 said:

Lorenzo also tried Rossi's crowd-pleasing tricks, but that's not really his cup of tea. He always came across as contrived.

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Lorenzo was at it in 250cc. Many of his stunts were more amusing and creative imo.

J4rn0 said:

Don't you see? Pleasing the crowds and promoting the myth of themselves as the youngest/fastest riders (each in his own generation). They are very similar in that. That's also why, despite the initial friendship, they were bound to clash. Had Rossi retired in time, say end of 2014, they would have gone down to history as father and son, so to say.
Lorenzo also tried Rossi's crowd-pleasing tricks, but that's not really his cup of tea. He always came across as contrived.
This kind of considerations is not aimed at invalidating in any way the sheer talent of these riders, which is huge and has to be evaluated in its own merit.

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I don't agree with you on this.

Marquez is the most talented rider on the grid currently IMO. I stated a number of times that his 2016 title was the most difficult championship win since Casey Stoner on the GP7 a decade ago. Instead it was buried by the media who happily went back to the VR narrative. His ability to win a title on a horrific handling bike, to say nothing of how badly Honda got the engine was an incredible accomplishment that I suspect will not be appreciated by most till years down the road. Then again, given how people still like to argue about how supposedly unimpressive Stoner's win on the GP7 was, I'm not sure MM's title will ever get the proper recognition.

Mind you that was how he responded to everything post-Sepang 2015...and we know that what happened there in particular with the hostile crowds/fans and MM's home/family would have made lesser riders fold permanently...after all we saw it with Rossi's prior foes in bygone years. Instead he put his head down and responded by winning the world title.

In the beginning yes, I do think he was trying to pander to the crowds the way Valentino did and continues to do. But since 2015, that's not been the case from my vantage point. He does try to engage the crowd, but it doesn't have the feel it did in 2013 or 2014, and he seems more focused on doing the job at hand - winning.

Arrabbiata1 said:

Lorenzo was at it in 250cc. Many of his stunts were more amusing and creative imo.

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You mean like when he jumped in the pond and nearly drowned?

AntG said:

You mean like when he jumped in the pond and nearly drowned?

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That's exactly what I meant. Brilliant.

I liked the doppelgangers, even though they were different heights. I also appreciated riding the Fortuna fold up bicycle into parc-ferme at Phillip Island.

Ah reports that Lorenzo and Miller had words with regards the tyres with Lorenzo pushing one tyre and using his championships to indicate a higher degree of knowledge with Miller responding that 'opinions are like ........, everyone has one' to which JL has taken offence.

Jorge Lorenzo llama ?maleducado? a Jack Miller, y dice que ?Dios le ha cogido con pinzas? | MotoGP | Motociclismo.es

This is said to have been JL's response but not sure of the correctness (where I found this says that JL's response was after Millers crash) - reading it, I hope the information is wrong or poorly translated.

Lorenzo's response was basically: It was very rude. That should not be said to any rider in front of everyone and less to one who is five times world champion. I think that today God saved him, that today was not his day to really hurt himself. (reference to his FP4 crash) Today is a warning that MotoGP the sport has given him - that said to him that this is not a joke. It's up to him to take that warning or not. Miller is one of the pilots who is less aware of the risk and He plays it more.

Gaz said:

Ah reports that Lorenzo and Miller had words with regards the tyres with Lorenzo pushing one tyre and using his championships to indicate a higher degree of knowledge with Miller responding that 'opinions are like ........, everyone has one' to which JL has taken offence.

Jorge Lorenzo llama ?maleducado? a Jack Miller, y dice que ?Dios le ha cogido con pinzas? | MotoGP | Motociclismo.es

This is said to have been JL's response but not sure of the correctness (where I found this says that JL's response was after Millers crash) - reading it, I hope the information is wrong or poorly translated.

Lorenzo's response was basically: It was very rude. That should not be said to any rider in front of everyone and less to one who is five times world champion. I think that today God saved him, that today was not his day to really hurt himself. (reference to his FP4 crash) Today is a warning that MotoGP the sport has given him - that said to him that this is not a joke. It's up to him to take that warning or not. Miller is one of the pilots who is less aware of the risk and He plays it more.

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Think they call it 'dayus horribulus' in some parts.

Gaz said:

Ah reports that Lorenzo and Miller had words with regards the tyres with Lorenzo pushing one tyre and using his championships to indicate a higher degree of knowledge with Miller responding that 'opinions are like ........, everyone has one' to which JL has taken offence.

Jorge Lorenzo llama ?maleducado? a Jack Miller, y dice que ?Dios le ha cogido con pinzas? | MotoGP | Motociclismo.es

This is said to have been JL's response but not sure of the correctness (where I found this says that JL's response was after Millers crash) - reading it, I hope the information is wrong or poorly translated.

Lorenzo's response was basically: It was very rude. That should not be said to any rider in front of everyone and less to one who is five times world champion. I think that today God saved him, that today was not his day to really hurt himself. (reference to his FP4 crash) Today is a warning that MotoGP the sport has given him - that said to him that this is not a joke. It's up to him to take that warning or not. Miller is one of the pilots who is less aware of the risk and He plays it more.

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I sincerely hope Jorge is less prophetic than he was in regard to another rider 6 years ago.

I wasn't going to bother entering the fray on the "tyre wars" thing again, but yet again a rider with a different riding style has had a tyre which suits that riding style withdrawn. When done midseason this is blatantly unreasonable and unfair, regardless of majority opinion at that particular point in time, and imo when such a decision is made both tyres should continue to be available for the rest of the season concerned, to say nothing of my old hobby horse that a wider variety of tyres to suit a wider variety of riding styles and bike designs should be available in the first place.

It has been reported that the 3 dissenters were Lorenzo, Vinales and Baz

Will now be interesting to watch their results to see how much an impact the decision has had

As for the tyres, once again my take is the more choices, the better the racing will be, although as we also know, a number disagree with that train of thought




As for the prophetic comments Mike, I do not see Miller in the same mould as Simoncelli but rather see the comment from JL as different.

Whilst yet Jack crashes a fair bit he does not come across in MotoGP as being as aggressive as he was in Moto3 and nor do I see him with a 'win at all cost' attitude these days as now he is more upset with such riding (queue last race), so on that score I think JL is out of line if, and I emphasise if what was reportedly said is correct

michaelm said:

I sincerely hope Jorge is less prophetic than he was in regard to another rider 6 years ago.

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Yes, JLo has an eerie record on that. I share your sentiment. I think Jack does have to take more risks to compensate for the machine deficit but many do. Thank goodness he's not in the SIC class of unfortunate recklessness.

Gaz said:

It has been reported that the 3 dissenters were Lorenzo, Vinales and Baz.......

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If this is true, then Pedrosa had to be a dissenter in reality, if not in words. Dani's weight and his more gradual use of brakes would necessitate a softer carcass to heat the tire and trail deeper into the corner.

Immediately, the paranoid/conspiracy part of my brain went - "Ah-ha, Val knows Mav and Jorge don't like the tire." It is easy to create these Russian tire plots, I tell ya' whaaat.

Iamapony said:

If this is true, then Pedrosa had to be a dissenter in reality, if not in words. Dani's weight and his more gradual use of brakes would necessitate a softer carcass to heat the tire and trail deeper into the corner.

Immediately, the paranoid/conspiracy part of my brain went - "Ah-ha, Val knows Mav and Jorge don't like the tire." It is easy to create these Russian tire plots, I tell ya' whaaat.

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I hadn't realised Vinales was a dissenter. That makes it more like the 2012 vote, because JL is already not a contender for the title this year, while Vinales obviously very much is.

I really don't see how it is reasonable for him to possibly have to make major changes to the way he sets up his bike and possibly to his riding style mid season. What is the point of all the work he (obviously successfully) put in to pre-season testing if the tyre can be capriciously changed mid season, majority vote or not?

Just have both tyres available going forward this season, withdraw it for the following season. Whether or not Dorna were trying to finagle the season outcome this time, it is fairly obvious that tyre votes such as this and the one in 2012 are at least a possible mechanism for doing so.

Don't think 19 riders have chosen the 06 tire entirely because of Rossi's indication. Lorenzo is just being Lorenzo, as always.

But, anyway, Michelin could bring both constructions to the race and let it be.

Michelin sucks a lot.

michaelm said:

.........
I really don't see how it is reasonable for him to possibly have to make major changes to the way he sets up his bike and posssibly to his riding style mid season. What is the point of all the work he (obviously successfully) put in to pre-season testing if the tyre can be capriciously changed mid season, majority vote or not?

Just have both tyres available going forward this season,,,,,,

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I am unable to make sound arguments against your points. This seems similar to the 2012 scenario does it not? How is it even remotely possible that the primary construction of the front tire is being changed at this point in the season? It is very odd without disastrous incidents like we saw last year, where safety really was an issue. It is baffling to me, and I understand more all the time why the tire conspiracies germinate. The whole tire story in MotoGP defies logical thinking sometimes.

I think this comes down to Valentino originally requesting it. The other riders have struggled(and this includes Maverick) with the front tyre at times due to it truthfully just being a .... tyre for race distance.

I have to wonder if Mavs vote was because he prefers the 06 tyre or because he knows that the 70 tyre will allow Marauez to be more aggressive on the front end. I think it's possible it's a bit of both.

It's marvelous how this goes down. They (Dorna & Michelin acting as one entity) really do take all the spectators for fools.

The "Special" Tire 70 (ah the irony) 'has won by democratic vote'! Ah well then, it's as legit as Kim Dong Un's "election" (officially an actual democratic event). Isn't 'democracy' grand? Let's remember, this is the democratically introduced tire, by 1 vote (see Rossi’s own admission in the pre-event press conference) thus tire---forcefed in the 11th hour at Argentina, surrounded by multiple shifting explanations and debunked half truths that trickled out and with the aid of Kropotkin's piece which could have been titled: 'no, no, no, no, this isn't a tire conspiracy, trust me'; this tire which the riders at the Safety Mutineers Commission rejected because it was, oh how did one rider put it...'hey Capirossi, you don't help me when I have a .... day' ...obviously a tire intended to favor a one Valentino Rossi, democracy folks!

SportRider's Manuel Pecino was correct in asserting after the tire debacle of Argentina, that this wasn't the last we'd hear about "special tire" code 70.

Here you go boys, we got 2 tires for you to test. Now ya'll get to "vote". Because we love democracy, and so when we announced on our PPV channel, limiting the press release but being shamed into releasing it, whilst trying to suppress scrutiny (oh as if the GP media are investigative reporters) we shall announce to the world, democracy has prevailed.

The Democratic Process 101:

So here are your choices:

A: "special tire 70"

B: "a tire that's almost identical but ever so slightly inferior to 'special tire 70".

Ok, please submit your votes.

The results are in: "special tire 70" WINS by democratic vote!

It's not a (moto) matter of Rossi already now having an unsuitable tire, he will rarely be off the podium by design. It's a (moto) matter of fine tuning, or as one Safety Mutineers Commission member said "he (Rossi) already has enough here to do what he wants.”!


Jerez 17 was not an M1 one problem as many hypothesized, it was simply Michelin not nailing the tire intended for Rossi. Maverick had to bite his tongue (in quite stunning fashion, yet the message was deafening) about the tire manipulation! We should remember, as did Marquez on a previous occasion "we all know why", it's something that Lorenzo knew all to well and alluded to it in a feature video. Miraculously the M1 err is suddenly fixed just in time for the 'French' GP.

Carmelo is calm. If Rossi isn't issued this year's title, it's not for Dorna trying. It's not enough that RD has shifted the paradigm of what it means to conduct 'racing' (shelve the Sepang debacle) looking no further than COTA where a penalty is no longer a deterrent but rather as Kropotkin put it, "a time correction" (because everyone knows that's how they 'correct' the nanoseconds gained in a jump start, right? Rossi has skewed the very acceptable perceptions of what it means to race: cutting the track to avoid overtaking, acceptable. Notch up another erosion to racing, add in one more not-so-subtle advantage on the track. It's the same with this ever-changing tire, "democracy" at its finest. The great thing is Rossi has found ways to screw up his accumulated advantages since Carmelo acted as his sport agent and signed him up to Yamaha, subsidize salary and all.

J4rn0 said:

True for Lorenzo, and yes, Dovi is always honest as well. Valentino and Marquez are actually very similar in their ways, whatever you want to associate them with. Actually the young champ (whom I also admire wholeheartedly as a rider) has probably surpassed the old master in more ways than one.

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J4, with due respect...

This is a thinly 'Val'd attempt at suggesting Marquez is far more MachiaVALlian than Rossi. Because...Marc turned up with doctored papers in hand to prove the wily young faux had helped Lorenzo at Phillip Island by...taking points away from Jorge. Ah yes, Marc, that real crafty genius that deceitful 'smiling' lad. Surely Marc faked those fan pics of VR in his bedroom as an alibi many years into the future.

Rossi admitted in the past to misdirection in tire preference to thwart his rivals-FACT. Misdirection, a skill used by magicians to fool people. You may perceive Rossi's misdirection as a fantastic coup that he pulled off, but I ask you a serious question: do you see that by knowingly using his considerable influence to pick an inferior tire that he put less experienced fellow competitors in danger? You probably have never looked at it in these terms. Probably many reading this post have not considered the unintended subtle consequences and real potential in Rossi’s decision to pick an inferior tire because he made the decision based on a Machiavellian scheme.

call me a fool, but I think "70"tyre vote is fair, no doubt about that. There isn't Carmello and Rossi's threesome with Uccio.

If so, then Uccio must've been busy serving 19 more guys at once.

HelloMars said:

call me a fool, but I think "70"tyre vote is fair, no doubt about that. There isn't Carmello and Rossi's threesome with Uccio.

If so, then Uccio must've been busy serving 19 more guys at once.

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I don't because it screws Vinales for being better at utilising the tyre they mostly all voted for the first time, pre-season.


Have both tyres available for the rest of the season unless there is a genuine safety issue is the only fair thing imo as I and others have said. I have no problem with the new construction tyre being the choice for next season as a result of a pre-season majority decision, but not after a season has started when a contending rider has proven more proficient at utilising the existing tyre.

If you want a series where they handicap bikes as the season progresses like WSBK prior to DORNA buying that series fine, but that is not my idea of premier class gp bike racing, and handicapping riders/riding styles is even more malodorous, again imo.