Anlas Winter Grip Plus, the test of winter motorcycle tires

We tested winter motorcycle tires, Winter Grip Plus of the Turkish manufacturer Anlas, but we were not satisfied with the usual tour near Milan, we took them to theElephant meeting, to put them through the whip for 1500 km of German motorways, state roads and country roads, in the worst conditions that winter can offer.

Anlas is the leading Turkish tire company in its country in the motorcycle sector, but above all for a few years it has been trying to gain an important role in Europe too, with products with unique characteristics. For example, in 2015 it launched the Winter Grip Plus and in 2017 it extended the sizes, reaching the enormous 190/55WR17, thus covering practically the entire range on the market. Winter Grip Plus is an M+S (mud + snow) winter tyre, with a siped structure (similar to that used on snow tires for cars), which exploits the use of innovative polymers, combined with “Zero Degree Radial” technology ”, which sets itself the not simple objective of making the use of our beloved two wheels safe even in the worst months of the year, when the asphalts are covered in salt, humidity and frost.

Our test

To understand if they made it in Anlas, we mounted them on a BMW F800GS Adventure and went to the Elefantentreffen which concluded last weekend. The operating pressure compared to those recommended for standard tires must be 0,2 or 0,4 bar lower depending on the driving style and requires a running-in period of approximately 250 – 300 km to eliminate the paraffin protecting the tire compound. lamellae. The rubber has an almost knobby design, with a ratio between solids and voids designed to drain water in the case of very wet asphalt, which is aesthetically very aggressive. We traveled at temperatures between -7 and +3 degrees, encountering snow in Austria for around 140 km of motorway, rain and constantly wet and salt-covered asphalt. The Winter Grip Plus warm up to temperature practically immediately, on the motorway at legal speed they are not noisy at all and hold the set trajectory perfectly.

We particularly appreciated them on the Brenner Pass motorway, which we faced twice, on the way back at 23pm at night, with -00 degrees and with the road completely covered in salt and wet snow. The feeling was really excellent, with the front nailed to the asphalt, no swaying when cornering. On that stretch of curves there are quite a few and, despite the terrible conditions of the asphalt, which initially inspire fear and suggest going with caution, after a few kilometers we began to face bends at cruising speed at the limit of the code, with the safety of support and hold by practically summer conditions. Traction control never came into play and we never felt the slightest sway, not even with the bike at an angle, going from damp asphalt to icy, salt-covered asphalt. To have a direct comparison, the motorbike that was traveling together with ours, but with a traditional tyre, also traveled at 7-50 km/h less than us, with less safety and sometimes exploiting the "holy hand" of electronics. Therefore a very important difference in terms of grip in these conditions.

Even in the wet, in the rain in the Loh forest in Germany, with the snow on the sides of the road creating water channels, on the road surface stained white by German salt, the Anlas Winter Grip Plus made the difference between a sloth and a faster and safer one, accompanied only by a round guide to avoid excessive stress. The only detail that requires a little getting used to, perhaps due to the lower pressure compared to the standard tyres, is a slight resistance when descending into the lean. On the motorway in Germany we even took them to 190 km/h, taking advantage of the stretches without speed limits, with the bike always stable and without excessive noise. So in summary, yes, the Winter Grip Plus from Anlas succeed in the manufacturer's objective of giving us a truly reliable covering in winter, which immediately warms up to temperature, where standard tires probably wouldn't even reach it, with great grip in the wet, a truly rigid carcass, which ensures excellent stability even for motorcycles of significant weight, at speeds well above the Italian road code. Of course, the shoulder does not offer the feeling of grip of a sports car, also due to the sipes that cut the block, but that is not why it was designed, rather to allow you to tackle road surfaces in "hallucinating" conditions, with a feeling of really excellent grip on the front end and a very pleasant feeling of safety transmitted to the rider. This is also and above all during braking, at freezing temperatures, where traditional tires certainly would not allow you to maintain the same pace.

Our conclusions

To buy them you have to pay a significant price, with a price list ranging from 270 to 330 euros based on the measurements (to which the usual discounts must be applied and assembly added), about 30 euros more per tire compared to a good traditional product . It may seem like a lot for a winter cover, but the safety on the motorbike and the ability to perform well even outside the winter season more than repay the expense. In this we must refer to the instrumental tests carried out by the international press, which speak of similar performance even when used in the summer heat, unlike winter car covers (which can instead cause grip losses of at least 20-30% ), while the only substantial disadvantage of using the Anlas Winter Grip Plus for 12 months a year is a reduction in their duration, for greater consumption in the hot season, measurable in approximately 20%. The possibility therefore of avoiding changing tires between summer and winter is a desired and sought-after feature, something far from what we are used to seeing with snow tires in the automotive field, but let's remember that the purposes are very different. The excellent Anlas Winter Grip Plus are designed for extreme conditions, but not for deep snow, where a technical knob is always needed, perhaps combined with a much lighter enduro motorcycle than the one we used in our test.