TOURENFAHRER, the German magazine specialising in adventure riding and motorcycle travel, began testing the Trailhound Wild on a BMW R 12 G/S in mid-June. The test covers both asphalt and light off-road.
Why "when cold" is a separate question
A tyre compound works within a temperature window. Most tests describe a tyre after it has warmed up — which is reasonable, because that is where the measuring happens.
But most real riding starts cold: the first junction at the end of your street, a cool morning, the first corner after a ferry queue, pulling back out after a fuel stop. Knowing only how a tyre behaves once warm means not knowing the first ten minutes of every ride.
That is what distinguishes this test: the publication gave the opening kilometres their own attention.
What the test looked at
- Confidence in the very first kilometres, while the tyre is still cold
- Turn-in behaviour and line accuracy
- Braking behaviour
- Wet grip — the riding started in mid-June and ran into summer rain
An observation is not a claim
This is the part of the article to read carefully. What TOURENFAHRER wrote is an independent editor's observation. The high silica content of the compound and the dual-compound construction of the rear tyre are the manufacturer's claim.
The two must not be blended: silica content is a recipe, wet grip is a result. Writing the recipe down as the cause of the result would be inventing a causal link nobody measured. What is in the compound is for the manufacturer to state; what happens on the road is for the independent publication to report.
The tyre's own specification
- Radial construction with a 0° steel belt, dual-compound tread / high-silica compound
- High-strength synthetic fibre carcass and multi-radius profile
- 70/30 tread pattern with optimised tread blocks
- Groove layout arranged for water evacuation and self-cleaning
We do not have a link for this test
Unlike the other tests, the file we hold carries no public address for this review. We say so, because telling you to "go to the source" without giving you somewhere to go would be no better than citing no source at all.
The record in our Evidence Centre carries the publication and section as a document. Anyone wanting the issue itself can approach TOURENFAHRER directly.