Ebike tire showdown. Michelin E wild vs Schwalbe Eddie Current

Flatslide

E*POWAH Master
Jul 14, 2019
265
250
Dunedin NZ
Michelin has supplied me with two 29x2.6 E-wilds to throw down the mountain and write a few reviews on. They just came today so i be mounting them up on two different rim widths. 32 internal and 35 internal to start!
I don’t ever run any type of cores up front so they just be tubeless installs. even got a set of socks to go with them.

View attachment 23412
My buddy is the Michelin rep here in the SI. Whilst gaming together he was asking about mtb tyres as his company has been receiving enquiries about importing them for the NZ market. We might see them on bike shop shelves in 2020.
 

renedis

Member
Jul 17, 2019
46
51
The Hague
Michelin has supplied me with two 29x2.6 E-wilds to throw down the mountain and write a few reviews on. They just came today so i be mounting them up on two different rim widths. 32 internal and 35 internal to start!
I don’t ever run any type of cores up front so they just be tubeless installs. even got a set of socks to go with them.
First glance. There is a front and rear and the rear tire shares the same tread profile but the tires casing is considerably stiffer and heavier tire. for the weight weenies
Front tire is 1058g
Rear tire is 1318G

They shipped me the normal Wild Enduro’s 2.4. The patern looks 100% identical to your e-wilds to be honest. Only my front tyre middle patern looks thicker?

Left is rear, right is front.

9C5CF403-0DC8-4307-BC25-E9514055C0D5.jpeg
 

Jeff McD

Well-known member
Aug 5, 2018
345
376
Kona, Hawaii
Michelin has supplied me with two 29x2.6 E-wilds to throw down the mountain and write a few reviews on. They just came today so i be mounting them up on two different rim widths. 32 internal and 35 internal to start!
I don’t ever run any type of cores up front so they just be tubeless installs. even got a set of socks to go with them.
First glance. There is a front and rear and the rear tire shares the same tread profile but the tires casing is considerably stiffer and heavier tire. for the weight weenies
Front tire is 1058g
Rear tire is 1318G

View attachment 23412
That front E Wild looks perfect for my conditions, rear wheel. Don't need heavy casing and only weigh 145lbs w/ kit so can't wait to hear how it works for you Tim. Hoping you will test it on wet greasy trail on rear wheel as well as obviously on front. Will be putting a MM 2.6 on the front as well. Tired of the DHF & DHR II sliding too much on wet greasy roots/rocks after they are only half worn out.
Thanks for all your insightful evals of these tires. Agree that they are the prime component of any bike at speed.
 

#lazy

E*POWAH BOSS
Oct 1, 2019
1,413
1,547
Surrey
Does anyone use the e wilds2.6 rears on the front and rear . Might sound silly but as the tread is the same and grip is good , could you use the e wild rear on the front and rear ? Cos when the front is abit worn you stick it on the rear and put on a new rear on the front ! Confused ? Or am I just being a tightass ?
 

Tim29

Well-known member
Jul 10, 2018
421
549
Left the building
Does anyone use the e wilds2.6 rears on the front and rear . Might sound silly but as the tread is the same and grip is good , could you use the e wild rear on the front and rear ? Cos when the front is abit worn you stick it on the rear and put on a new rear on the front ! Confused ? Or am I just being a tightass ?
Although the front and rear share the same tread pattern the tire compound is softer on the front and the tires case is considerably lighter. in the 29er the front is 1300g and rear is 1018 g plus or minors a few G’s each.
I have run them swapped and destroyed the rear quite quickly with front mounted in the rear. I recently did a test on this you can find on here. i really liked the rear up front on an Ebike with 180m travel and on my 200m bikes. maybe little heavy for smaller travel bikes.
 

#lazy

E*POWAH BOSS
Oct 1, 2019
1,413
1,547
Surrey
I ride a 180m kenevo 27.5 so a tougher rear could ride well on the fr and r ! If the front rides better than the standard butcher diamond then it’s all good ?
 

Tim29

Well-known member
Jul 10, 2018
421
549
Left the building
I ride a 180m kenevo 27.5 so a tougher rear could ride well on the fr and r ! If the front rides better than the standard butcher diamond then it’s all good ?
I put a butcher on front of my bulls evo and took it off two days later 27.5x2.8. Put it on rear and it died the same day. I didn’t mind it on rear was little weak in side wall which is what failed. but was not a fan of any kind of it on the front. member crashed so much as i did with that tire up front.
 

Wernher

Active member
May 30, 2019
180
181
Cape St Francis
Nope,

I’m just gonna stay away from that tire, there to many options available that mount right up and shred!
I wait for mich to send me the 29er to test :)
I have two Hans and Mary’s mounted on 35 alum and 36.5 carbon wheels.
And a 2.35 Hans super gravity on a 32 for rear and a 2.35 Mary on a 30 for the less pitchy segments with no chunk where rolling speed means everything.
Front
2.6 Mary on 35 29er
2.6 Mary on carbon 36.5 29er
2.8 Ewild on 36 27.5
2.35 Mary on 30 29er
Rear
2.35 Hans SG 32 alum 27.5 cc
2.6 Ewild on 35 alum 27.5
2.6 Ewild on 40 alum 27.5 CC
2.8 Ewild on 38 carbon 27.5
2.8 Ewild on 40 alum 27.5 CC
2.8 Ewild on 43 carbon 27.5 CC
2.8 Eddie on 43 carbon 27.7 CC
2.8 DHR2 on 32 alum Died
2.8 DHR2 on 40 alum Died
Both the DHR2 evo vase tires tore on edge of rim as the rubber ripped from the threading and wouldn’t seal one cut through on rim edge.
DHR2 evo case failed as a suitable ebike tire and that’s the oem tire to the bike.
Oh both the other test riders where big fans of DHR2 and DHF COMBO, until end of second day and they both took them off there bikes and went with Mary up front and Eddie or Ewild on rear.
@Tim29 glad I came upon this test of yours. I'm 63 years old and my brother 59. We're both on the heavier side (between 110 and 120 kilos) and riding eMtb's with a sort of mild Enduro style of ride which include mostly drops climbing rocks and some mild jumps. Both of us had bead failures on the DHR II 27,5 x 2,8 EXO+ 120 tpi tyres (25PSI front 30PSI back). Funny enough both failures happened while doing just normal flat terrain rides. Maxxis replaced our tyres but we were obviously concerned about the fact that we had exactly the same failures running the exact same tyres from different batches. Our first instinct was to consider going to the 60tpi carcass but I still felt that the bead won't really benefit that much from the lower tpi rubber.

What bothered us is that we found not a single test or reference re Maxxis bead failures and everybody sang the DHR II's praises. We couldn't agree and the two similar failures were too consistent to ignore. We started suspecting that weight and the power of the eMtb's might be a reason although we do a lot of hard pedaling at low power.

I really don't want to do a fast downhill run and losing a rear at speed where the terrain is such that you're certainly going to injure yourself seriously. The two tyres we saw that showed promise was the Eddycurrent and eWild.

Then my brother found this thread of yours with the test and we are going to switch ASAP. We don't have either of the Eddycurrent or eWild in South Africa so he ordered both. Personally I like what you say about the eWild, so I'll order that for myself.

Thanks for a great review with honest and valuable feedback.

I've also forwarded the info about the Maxxis bead failures in this thread to the Maxxis importers to show them that our failures were not isolated occurrences and that they should expect a lot more to come. Apart from that I actually like the DHF/DHR II combo and it's a pity that they suffer these failures. It just seems that they haven't considered the fact that eMtb's are a lot harder on their tyres and the sidewalls need to be engineered to take the punishment.
 
Last edited:

kombos

Well-known member
Dec 18, 2019
253
311
Arizona
From what i understand the 29er E wilds won’t be available till 2020

Any idea when these will hit the market?

Looking for new tires for my 2020 Levo Comp. Am considering 29x2.4 Wild Enduros but am curious about the 29x2.6 E-Wilds....
 

salko

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Aug 29, 2019
1,279
872
SLO
Had same question about release date of 29x2,6 E-wilds so I wrote email to [email protected] about a month back but received very unexpected answer:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for contacting MICHELIN Consumer Care.
Unfortunately at the moment it does not appear to be available, and we do not have any information for this tyre to be released in other sizes.
Thank you for your understanding.
For additional information please contact us by email: [email protected], on our website Homepage | Tyres | Michelin Tyres United Kingdom Official, our contact form Contact Michelin Tyres Expert | Michelin Tyres or by phone to 0845 366 1590 or 0845 366 1535.
MICHELIN is happy to accompany you on every journey and would like to thank you for the confidence.
 
Last edited:

RodC

Member
May 28, 2020
160
92
Queretaro, Mexico
Michelin has supplied me with two 29x2.6 E-wilds to throw down the mountain and write a few reviews on. They just came today so i be mounting them up on two different rim widths. 32 internal and 35 internal to start!
I don’t ever run any type of cores up front so they just be tubeless installs. even got a set of socks to go with them.
First glance. There is a front and rear and the rear tire shares the same tread profile but the tires casing is considerably stiffer and heavier tire. for the weight weenies
Front tire is 1058g
Rear tire is 1318G

View attachment 23412
Is there any post after this one??
 

Dirtnvert

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Sep 25, 2018
1,468
1,702
BC Canada
Michelin are weird with their tire supply. Great tires but they're slow getting size options and new tires out. In a lot of cases they already have the designs.
I dont see much stock of 29 ewilds. Maybe distributors have stock though.
New dh 34's are now, after 3 years, in distributors hands. Online id only seen 27.5. I was able to get a 29 from the canadian distributor. If the canadian distributor has them, im sure everyone else does now. They even come in a "bike park" casing. About the same weight as the rockr2 but only in 2.4 in dh and bike park casing and its the same width as a 2.4 maxxis and my 2.35 rockr2.
They have the designs already so i think there should be 2.55 rockr2 in "bike park" and "dh" casings as well as a sub 1000g 2.35 rockr2 casing.
Wild enduro rear 2.4 and ewild 2.6 could have dh casing options. Theyte good rear tire options. Good traction and they roll quick and shed mud.
Dh22 and dh34 should have 2.6 options too.
If its not for racing, i think the 2.55 and 2.6 in dh casing is great for an enduro/freeride emtb. Wider foot print for traction on the steeps and the dh casing to support the widing tread in the corners. I'd sacrifice a tiny bit of precision, the 2.4/2.35 provides, for added braking on the steeps if it didnt compromis the sidewall stiffness.
For dh casing, 2.6 schwalbe is the only one i can think of.
 

MTB Hucker

Member
Dec 20, 2018
25
13
Australia
Ran the 2.8 today and just bombed the rock gardens on east side with 22psi and a tube which would almost always bring a flat on a EXO at 30 psi.
I’m gonna say I’m hooked and gonna stay with it.
It’s the fastest of the 2.8 tires I’ve tested and has beat all around performance. I have found it’s not as lacking in braking traction when it’s leaned. Only when flat on top.
So if you throw caution to wind and just run it in deep and stay on the side of thebtire it brakes really well.

Hi Tim, this a great thread and thank you for spending so much time reviewing the tyres for us all. I got one of the 27.5x2.6 E-Wild rear tyres for my merida e160. It was excellent as you reviewed. I had it for a couple of months, I'm a weekend warrior and get out every 1-2 weeks. I'm pretty amateur. After the couple of months, I thought that i had buckled my rear wheel. There was no jumps or drops, just a bit of single track. On inspection it was the bead just inside the rim had come away from the sidewall of the tyre (see pic). I know you've run yours very hard and had no problems. There is a review on the Michelin website with someone else saying that they've had the same thing happen to them. MICHELIN E-WILD Rear Gum-X

I've since had my old eddy current on the bike with no problems. I was wondering if you'd had or heard of this happening before?

On another note. I haven't been able to see any review of the E-Wild Front tyres in your thread. Do you have any feedback on them?

Thanks, Grant.
IMG_3905.jpeg
 

#lazy

E*POWAH BOSS
Oct 1, 2019
1,413
1,547
Surrey
I’ve been using the fronts on both f&r on my kenevo for a good while and love them . Compareyto the original butcher diamond tyres they are more grippy , faster rolling and don’t flex as much when cornering . Would get more life from the rear specific tyre but I like to swap f to r then replace f when needed !
If grip is your main factor try the new dh22 , think they only come in 2.4 and heavy but grip is amazing !
 

Tim29

Well-known member
Jul 10, 2018
421
549
Left the building
Hi Tim, this a great thread and thank you for spending so much time reviewing the tyres for us all. I got one of the 27.5x2.6 E-Wild rear tyres for my merida e160. It was excellent as you reviewed. I had it for a couple of months, I'm a weekend warrior and get out every 1-2 weeks. I'm pretty amateur. After the couple of months, I thought that i had buckled my rear wheel. There was no jumps or drops, just a bit of single track. On inspection it was the bead just inside the rim had come away from the sidewall of the tyre (see pic). I know you've run yours very hard and had no problems. There is a review on the Michelin website with someone else saying that they've had the same thing happen to them. MICHELIN E-WILD Rear Gum-X

I've since had my old eddy current on the bike with no problems. I was wondering if you'd had or heard of this happening before?

On another note. I haven't been able to see any review of the E-Wild Front tyres in your thread. Do you have any feedback on them?

Thanks, Grant.
View attachment 41824
I’m on my 6th rear tire and have t had that happen yet, and my beater bike the tire is starting to check on sidewalks like it’s couple year old tire. Dry cracking or weather checking., tire is just over a year old and pretty warm so I’m not to unhappy.
i do a review on the 29x2.6 front as i thought i did one already but i can’t seem to find it.
but to be quick and short, it has become my all time fav front tire for grip and predictability and replaced MM up front as my go to tire.
since i run a 230mm front rotor i need grip up front with that much braking power and so far it hasn’t let go and put me down.
 

Jeff McD

Well-known member
Aug 5, 2018
345
376
Kona, Hawaii
Hey Tim, reread this thread but still not sure what your favorite all-time rear 29er tire is for flat out race speed (not for comfort) in wet slippery conditions with greasy rocks and roots with off camber? I'll definitely be using the 29 x 2.6 E Wild up front but still not sure which is your favorite in the rear? Thanks for all your advice.
 

Tim29

Well-known member
Jul 10, 2018
421
549
Left the building
Hey Tim, reread this thread but still not sure what your favorite all-time rear 29er tire is for flat out race speed (not for comfort) in wet slippery conditions with greasy rocks and roots with off camber? I'll definitely be using the 29 x 2.6 E Wild up front but still not sure which is your favorite in the rear? Thanks for all your advice.
I can’t give you the answer to that as i do not have a bike with 29r rear i have ridden enough to feel confident in writing a review. All my current bikes are 650B rear and 29 front.
race I’m running 2.6 Ewild, Rock bashing 2.8 Ewild or Eddie current.
deep soft mud I’m sticking with 2.8 Ewild as it clears little better then Eddie.
i also have a WTB mud wet on one my bikes that’s is good exp wet rocks. Slips a lot on wet roots and rocks.
 

MTB Hucker

Member
Dec 20, 2018
25
13
Australia
I’m on my 6th rear tire and have t had that happen yet, and my beater bike the tire is starting to check on sidewalks like it’s couple year old tire. Dry cracking or weather checking., tire is just over a year old and pretty warm so I’m not to unhappy.
i do a review on the 29x2.6 front as i thought i did one already but i can’t seem to find it.
but to be quick and short, it has become my all time fav front tire for grip and predictability and replaced MM up front as my go to tire.
since i run a 230mm front rotor i need grip up front with that much braking power and so far it hasn’t let go and put me down.
Thanks for all of the info. I'm now definitely keen to get another e-wild for the rear and also for the front!
 

urastus

⚡The Whippet⚡
May 4, 2020
1,548
995
Tasmania
I think i give this tire a slightly better overal rating then the Eddie 2.8 for these reasons.
The tire case is outstanding, speed is good, traction is predictable and solid.
In super chunky and wet it’s not as good as Eddie, but where this tire lacks in Traction the playfulness and robust case and the tires speed it’s a good trade off.

Thank you for testing and sharing Tim. What tyre are you talking about here?
 

Jeff McD

Well-known member
Aug 5, 2018
345
376
Kona, Hawaii
Got it Tim, thanks, that's why I couldn't find it. Going to try 29 x 2.6 E wild on the rear as well as front and 2.8 rear in the future if they offer it. Thanks again.
 

Tim29

Well-known member
Jul 10, 2018
421
549
Left the building
Oh it depends on season, racing season high 185ish without gear to 215 in off season or i should say Covinated season. Lol
Never weighed myself geared up.
but i typically ride with just knee pads and light 1.5litre backpack
 

Tim29

Well-known member
Jul 10, 2018
421
549
Left the building
Oh it depends on season, racing season high 185ish without gear to 215 in off season or i should say Covinated season. Lol
Never weighed myself geared up.
but i typically ride with just knee pads and light 1.5litre backpack

spoke to soon, yesterday at SkyPark just blasting berms and rear tire let go with a bang and pulled the bead cord right through the tire.
the tire is a year old and has 50% tread warn and has had a pretty tough life and was at 40psi when it let go. She was a loud one.

890E77A6-55DA-4577-9458-08828C263524.jpeg


26329B89-AECB-469E-AF8C-8FEA07A16918.jpeg


2F5A57DD-184A-4AA3-B565-54DD67727D0B.jpeg
 

Dirtnvert

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Sep 25, 2018
1,468
1,702
BC Canada
Well done! I think what we're putting these heavier emtb's through is asking a lot from kevlar beads. I notice mine weep sealant out of the bead/rim interface after every day in the park. You can feel it in the corners. Not so much with the wire bead on my dh34's. Wish they made the dh34 and dh22 in 2.5 and/or 2.6
 

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