Metzeler Roadtec 01 - Tyre review

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Cant find manual but sure it is...just tabbed thru old posts there..some guys dropped rear to 36... its just how it feels to you really.. its a wee bit different to me anyhow with the semi active suspension..I find the tyre pressures and responses harder to judge because of this. Ill play about 32f 36r see how that goes...if we get a dry day lol
 
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Aye, suppose it's trial and error. The wheels are sitting of my bike ATM so when it rains I'm happy and don't feel done out a days riding lol
 
Mate am waiting on tyres coming, this holiday weekend as messed the mail up. Away back to work on Friday aswell so it's looking like Thursday is my only chance.
 
Just washed my machine... never seen this before when tyres wet, mind you these are new to me...this must be the firmer band on the crown area

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Mine does this Stu, i've got the M7RR's as well.

Aye mate... never seen it before.. 2 CTs never showed that... gives me a bit of comfort tho.. I have to say these M7RRs are totally decent... felt really sure footed today... good purchase from good advice on here
 
I saw it on a couple of sets of 2CT's years ago but it was a wavy line that you used to see on them, the harder compound is very prominent on the M7RR's :)
 
Time for a bit of an update seeing as someone on here has decided to look at getting a set of these, and given that we seem to have finally got something worth calling sunshine here in the UK at the moment which is naturally going to take the wet weather performance out of the equation on these tyres for a bit (and possibly highlight issues that most of us tend to look for in whatever we throw on the bikes).

So the tyres have now done a little over 2300 miles, firstly i am a little surprised in myself for having done so many miles so far this year as i have not actually been getting out as much as i had aimed for but a trip to the North West 200 helped ramp the mileage up a bit.

Pretty much all the mileage since the last addition has been done on dry roads with the temperature having been a little warmer each time I have been out, certainly the last couple of rides including todays it has been around 20c and as you can imagine it has taken minutes to get the tyres up to temperature.

On appearance the rear tyre is showing no real signs of wear other than what is to be expected with that sort of mileage on a sports touring tyre, the wear is even with the centre clearly holding up well to the mileage, the front is not showing any real signs that it has done 2300 miles that is for sure and if it continues to wear like that then I would expect to realistically see triple that mileage out of it at the very least!

Grip wise the tyres have been working really well, there is no denying that they do not grip as well as the out and out sports compounds but for the most part they have been extremely predictable still and any traction control "moments" have purely arisen as a lack of control on the throttle (that reads being cack handed!), that being said if I hadn't have had them minor moments then I suppose there would be less to write about.

I have been able to push the tyres pretty much as hard as I have wanted and in some case probably harder than I would have wanted too and in doing so have managed to highlight some suspension issues that I have managed to sort out particularly on todays ride around Scotlands Central belt and whilst I was ready to argue that the tyres were possibly contributing to them I am almost convinced that if they are playing a part it is in fact very minor, the only contributing factor being the profile of the rear tyre.

The rear tyre with its tourer profile as it sits at the moment and having dropped to 40psi (35psi in the front is what I settled with having firstly tried 36 then lowered to 33 and 34 in that order) looks more like a car tyre in its shape, in so much as it appears to be very flat across its profile with only very short shoulders down to the sidewalls, so whilst it is a 55 profile you are not getting that immediately but progessively roll from upright and centre over to the edge of the tyre, you are getting what at most times can actually feel like a very neutral roll and then a tipping point like you get when you have a squared off tyre, that at times has been felt when I have pushed the bike hard and I have had to be far more delicate from that point onwards as the steering response is practically instant.

It hasn't ruined the ride and it was something that I envisaged happening purely because it is what I normally expect when a tyre starts to square anyway but In combination with some issue with suspension chatter it has made for a few interesting rides recently.

Today with some tweaking of the suspension the chatter seems to have gone, the ride certainly feeling a little more planted mid way through the corner to the exit and the rear end has been working a little better in that respect too with no traction issues today either.

So back to the tyre pressures, I had hoped that with the Summer coming that the pressures could be lowered but the rear profile at 40psi is about as low as I would go now, purely due to the shape of the tyre and me weighing around 90kg with my kit on, the front on 35psi feels extremely stable and wasn't overheating at all even with some heavy braking and some lengthy runs with plenty of corners.

I am waiting to switch back to my Super Corsas that have got a little bit of life left in them and will do in the very near future and I hope in doing so that once they are done I can throw these back on then have an up to date look at how they have compared on the same bike in similar weather.

As far as tyres go and for everything that has been thrown at them so far they still get a thumbs up, if someone said to me that these were going to be the only tyres that I would be able to use from now on then I wouldn't be disappointed but given the choice then I would undoubtedly be looking to use the M7RR's for their sports profile or very possibly the Racetec RR's if I was looking for a track based tyre that worked on the road too in the Summer.

Super Corsa's are a little last year now.
 
Brilliant write up, thank you for taking the time to keep the forum updated with these tyres, has really helped me.
 
Awesome stuff Mick.
There were 2 sets of these handed out, Soof, who was the other? Would be good to get another opinion!
 
Last update for a while on these tyres as unfortunately I picked up a puncture in the rear on Saturday and made the decision to switch back to Supercorsas seeing as I had a set with a bit of life left in them, the intention is however that having had the tyre plugged (professionally and the small screw was in the perfect place for plugging too before people start sucking through their teeth about the cost of a tyre! :D ) that I will throw them back on once the Supercorsas are done or at the end of Summer depending on which comes first.

So back to the tyres,

After a few local blasts and a 320 mile jolly across to Portpatrick and back from the Edinburgh area I have now managed to rack up just touching 3000 miles since having them fitted a few months ago.

I have been fortunate that for the most part the last 650 odd miles since my last update have all been pretty good weather, the last run down to Portpatrick having been especially good weather and along with the company I was riding with it also gave me a chance to push them a bit particularly as they were all riding S1000RR's.

It would be difficult to try to add anything of any real substance that is going to further highlight how well these tyres actually work across the whole range of weather that you would normally expect in this country and even in the Summer in Scotland :D

I had been having a few issues with suspension recently which I have almost cured on the front end but in an effort to try and fine tune a bit of feeling back into the front I decided to go back to 35 front and 42 rear for the ride down to Portpatrick as I was a little concerned that the shape of the rear tyre being such a flat profile was causing too much of nervous feel on the front at a point where I would generally want a little more lean into a corner, I had suspected that the profile was causing the bike to handle like it had a squared off rear tyre and putting the rear back to 42 did help a little as far as helping the tyre maintain some shape.

For almost all of the run I kept the bike in Race mode rather than Slick and I only had 3 moments where the traction control kicked in and as per every other time the tyres had behaved extremely well particularly in some of the tastier corners where getting on the power a bit early was relatively safe to do so without too much risk of things going pear shaped.

Braking and corner entry particularly on some of the tighter corners was also consistent with what I had experienced on other rides with there being plenty of confidence to be had from the front end under relatively hard braking, putting the bike into a corner aggressively I was never worried about a sudden direction change upsetting the tyre and in truth the front end has always felt like it could handle far more than I was prepared to throw at it.

In terms of wear and with the tyres now off the bike the front looks like it could do another 6000 miles of the same sort of riding without any issues whatsoever, the rear is getting a little low in the centre which is to be expected from heavy acceleration but the business part of the tyre on the shoulders whilst looking well used does look like it's still got another 3000 in it too!

Again, with the tyre off the bike the rear now resembles a 190/55/17 car tyre and looks completely flat in comparison to the Supercorsa that is now fitted.

So a bit of a summary to what could be the end of review for some time now:

If you are an all weather rider that is looking for the best bang for buck (read mileage out of your tyres) whilst still offering excellent performance in both wet and dry then these really are worth having a look at it.

If you are a fast road rider that is clogging it on down your favourite roads at a rapid pace who then finds it raining round the next corner and is then faced with a ruined ride due to being on super sticky tyres that simply do not like the rain, then these are the tyres for you (although I suspect the M7RR's will tip the balance further there).

If you are a rider that is looking for razor sharp handling and only rides in the warm weather then I would imagine you are still going to look at the Racetec RR K3's particularly given the more sports orientated profile which is going to compliment the bike better.

Hope anyone reading the reviews have found them useful, they have been written in an as objective manner as possible and I have enjoyed using the tyres which have given me nothing but confidence in some particularly awful wet weather and some fantastic fast road rides in blazing sunshine.
 
Mick, thanks for your review, it really is outstanding. You are without doubt a huge credit to the forum and Metzeler will be delighted you have given such a good honest review. Thank you.
 
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