Metzeler Motorcycle Tyres

Metzeler RoadTec 01

Metzeler RoadTec Z8 Interact

Metzeler is a well-established German company founded in 1863 by Robert Friedrich Metzeler in Munich. Originally producing rubber and plastic products they gradually expand their business into aviation, automotive and motorcycle tyres in 1892.

To meet the need and expectations of motorcyclists, over the years they have developed a number of innovative tyre technologies. Read more on Metzeler motorcycle tyres technology here.

It’s not only that they wanted to produce an excellent sport touring tyre, they have made it versatile, all-round tyre for commuters that expect to ride their bikes throughout the year without the need of frequent tyre changes. Indeed, the new RoadTec 01 is more wear resistant. Metzeler claims that the tyre should give you 10% higher mileage than the Roadtec Z8. This comes with a higher price tag and the approach is very commercial as the sport touring tyre market has expanded considerably over the last decade.

To increase the millage capabilities, Metzeler enriched the central stripe of the rear tyre with high silica and carbon content for better wear resistance. But that’s not all. The low profile of the rear tyre provides bigger contact patch in comparison to Z8, which means less pressure on the tyre from the road and in effect less wear. This also helps to stabilize your bike at higher speeds. The only downside is that the tyre can make a bike less prone to flipping from one side to the other.

The sides are fully silica compound providing excellent grip. The central stripe covers approximately 30% of the tyre which is quite wide section. The front tyre uses full silica compound similar to the one on the shoulder of the rear tyre to offer excellent chemical grip in conjunction with mechanical grip provided by the tread design.

The compound is malleable at the microstructural level which makes the tyre feel soft and excellent in dealing with road imperfections. In effect, this promotes the tyre grip and provides you with plenty of feedback from the road.

It seems that this tyre does everything well on the dry and wet. It looks a little like a Moto GP rain tyre and is probably the best all-rounder tyre of the 2017 year. 

The thread is made for very challenging weather conditions. As you can see the treads lengths from the centre to the sides have been increased both at the front and rear. This design allows higher water drainage ratio compared to Roadtec Z8, both when you ride on straight lines as well as when leaning into corners. The faded thread grooves on the side makes the tyre more stable when cornering.

The reason for the lack of tread groves in the centre of the rear tyre is that when breaking the weight of the bike shits forward and less grip from that centre of the tyre is required. The downside of this is that it makes it difficult to control the wear of the tyre at the centre. 

Metzeler has not forgotten about the heavy bikes offering a special version of Roadtec 01, the HWM (Heavy Weight Motorcycles). In effect, the Roadtec 01 can be used in even wider range of motorcycles. The HWM version features increased stability and rigidity of the tyre by employing a 2-ply carcass on rear tyres where standard rear tyres have only 1-ply. The front HWM tyre has the same 2-ply construction as the standard tyre but features harder carcass material and sidewall construction plus a stiffer compound.

The HWM version of the RoadTec 01 is recognized by the weight symbol on the side of the tyre, visible at the top right hand side corner of the photo here.

As for the sizes, they claim to cover a wide range of bikes including adventure or trial bikes with the biggest front size of 19 inches. With such versatile tyre this may be disappointing to some KTM Adventure riders due to the lack of 21 inch size for the front.