MICHELIN North America Agricultural Tires will expand its current backhoe product offering this year with the introduction of two new tires in 2014 to better meet the needs of the market. Upon their introduction later this year, Michelin will offer a full product portfolio to serve the North American backhoe market.
The new MICHELIN Power CL, scheduled for a July launch, is a premium bias ply tire that can handle the same load capacity as a radial tire, but with bias ply cost savings. Michelin plans to have a full product size offering in this tire line by the end of the year. “The MICHELIN Power CL will be our mass market premium bias ply tire,” says James Crouch, Compact Equipment Segment Marketing Manager for Michelin North America. “This is a product we have needed in our portfolio to cover the needs of the market and we’re excited to finally offer it.”
Crouch says the new MICHELIN BibLoad Hard Surface (HS) radial tire is the hard surface version of the MICHELIN XMCL all-terrain backhoe radial tire. Planned for a November launch, it is designed for asphalt and other hard surface applications.
“The MICHELIN BibLoad Hard Surface tire features radial construction, steel belts and reinforced casing for puncture resistance,” Crouch says. “It also has a non-directional tread design, which is widespread in Europe, but fairly new to the U.S., offering superior performance regardless of the tires’ rotational direction.” He adds that this tire has also proven to be an excellent snow tire in Canada for these applications.
