Reise TourRad tyre review: Your next touring tyre?

As the touring and adventure segments in the Indian market expand, tyre manufacturers too are expanding their portfolio. Reise has launched its latest range. The range is called TourRad and includes radial front and rear tyres aimed at everything from the Royal Enfield Himalayan and KTM 390 Adventure to larger machines like the Suzuki V-Strom 800DE and Triumph Tiger 900. The segment already includes established options from Apollo Tyres, CEAT, MRF, and even premium offerings from Pirelli, so this isn’t an easy space to break into.

Like other new radial tyres on the market, these have a zero-degree steel belt and a silica compound that aids stability in wet weather. Reise even claims that you get 20 per cent more mileage than the competition benchmark, lower heat build-up, plus better braking in both wet and dry weather conditions. The tyre life is said to be 20,000 kilometres and offers an 80:20 on-road/off-road split, but the brand emphasised that it largely depends on the rider and riding conditions. We were invited on a short ride from the Reise Moto showroom in Mumbai to Lonavala to test out these new tyres on some Royal Enfield Himalayans, and here’s what I felt.

The ride started as you would expect a ride to start in Mumbai – full of traffic, and people jumping out in front of you from every side. The first thing I noticed about the tyres was how comfortable I felt right from the get-go. Filtering through tight gaps and reacting to unpredictable traffic inputs felt natural, and even under braking, the bike held its line. Getting out of Mumbai, we also got a chance to ride through some broken patches of road with the occasional water puddle. Though I won’t consider these proper off-road conditions, the tyres didn’t let me down at all, and there was plenty of grip and control.

The feelings were similar on the Pune-Mumbai highway, where we finally got a chance to carry some good speeds. Even at highway speeds, the bike stayed glued to the ground, and switching lanes was a rather stress-free task. You feel in control at all times, and you feel confident that the tyres will perform as you expect. What continued to impress me was that despite these being absolutely new tyres which haven’t gone through the break-in period yet, I felt immediately comfortable pushing hard. The highway did offer me a rather unwanted chance of panic braking where ABS kicked in, too, but like before, the bike stayed planted, and I was able to avoid a nasty crash.

The tyres continued to impress even when we got on the old Mumbai-Pune expressway, which has the good old tarmac rather than the concrete paving used so commonly nowadays. There wasn’t a whole lot of road noise, and it was similar to riding on road-biased radial tyres. Same stability followed, and once we started hitting some twisties near Lonavala, I was genuinely impressed by how well they handled the corners. You should note that the range includes radials for the rear, while for the front, only the 17-inch option is a radial unit, while the 19- and 21-inch options are still bias ply. I did feel the front wasn’t as eager to lean, but despite that, you could lean the bike to its limit and carry plenty of speed through corners, more than you would usually do with a bike like this, especially if you are carrying some extra load.

Wet weather performance remains to be tested. Given how well these tyres perform at speed and while cornering, I trust them enough to give these a chance in the wet, especially with the silica compound at play. But until it’s tested in proper rain, I can’t give an honest review. Similarly, off-roading ability remains to be tested. Based on the tread pattern, I guess there should be adequate grip for light trails and broken terrain, but how well these tyres handle loose dirt or slush is something that will need a more focused test.

To summarise, the new Reise TourRad tyre range excels in keeping the bike planted at speed, stopping it in time, and even carrying some extra speed in corners. How it compares to rivals is something I would reserve for a comparison where we get to test them back-to-back. But the initial impressions are that these can go toe-to-toe against the best of the segment.

As for the sizes available, for the front, you have 110/70R17, which is the radial offering, while the 100/90-19, and 90/90-21 are bias-ply. For the rear, you get 130/80R17, 140/80R17, 150/60R17 and 150/70R17, all radials. All these tyres come with an ‘H’ speed rating, which states these are tested for speeds up to 210kmph. Weight rating lies between 54 and 57 for front, translating to 212 to 230kg, and 65 to 69 for rear, translating to 290 to 325kg. Prices start at ₹3099 and go up to ₹6999.

At that price, the range sits right against the competition in terms of pricing and offers a good option for your touring bike, be it a middle-weight tourer or even one of the bigger ones. Whether they outperform rivals will need a side-by-side comparison, but as a first impression, they make a strong case for themselves.