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Metzeler Sportec M-1 product review

14857 Views 29 Replies 19 Participants Last post by tlthehun, Aug 11, 2003

8ball

Discussion Starter · Oct 29, 2001

Re: MO's tire reviews

So far, MO has fallen right into the hands of Metzeler's, Dunlop's, and Michelin's marketing departments. Giving the general thumbs up to the D207 GP Star, Pilot Sport, and Sportec M-1 is useful, granted. But what your readers (or at least I) really want is some head to head competition. I want some winners and losers, not this "everybody's good" stuff. Maybe reviewing tires isn't as cool as reviewing the newest supersports, but stop promising to do a comparo and actually do it. It might even be a good excuse to get a few different types of bikes on the track together.

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minime

· #2 · Oct 29, 2001

Re: MO

Off the top of my head (and I think I speak for the rest of the people on staf and those that help us out with tests/reviews, etc.) the new Sportec is at the top of the heap. We've never been a fan of Dunlop's D207ZR, though we have heaped praise on Michelin's Pilot Sport which this new M-1 is closest to in performance.

It goes without saying that a full-on side-by-side test of different tires on the same bikes at the same track on the same day would be the best thing when judging a tire's worthiness. It's a huge undertaking that, admittedly, we haven't really tried to undertake. Sport Rider did a test like the one we're alluding to, and even with their huge staff and resources (read: dollars) behind them, it was a chore to pull off. We may be able to do something like this soon, though.

Again, thanks for your input and (good or bad) we appreciate and take into consideration all comments. Oh, and as for falling "right into the hands" of the tire manufacturers, none of the advertise with us, we have little to do with them and, frankly, have nothing to lose or gain with anything we say. There's no bias here. Maybe just a need for some more in-depth testing.

-Minime

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metal

· #3 · Oct 30, 2001

Re: MO

I don't understand how a tire test is that much more costly than a normal bike shoot-out. As a racer, I would like to know what's going on in terms of available brands and compounds, how they compare in grip, warm-up time, performance, and tire life. All you really need is a bunch of rubber, one middle-of-the-road sport bike with decent suspension, and a tire engineer with some measument gadgets. For good measure, you might want to represent twins and fours. Other than that, just spend a day at a track and try a few major brands. There's no need to break lap records here or look for lots of aspects of different motorcycles. All you need is consistantly go around the track with different tires and proper set-up and see how they compare.

17416

· #4 · Oct 30, 2001

I do street and road riding, and make a track day once a year, so a bunch of technical data oriented to production racers does nothing for me.

I happen to be running Avon Azaro on my sporty bike (Ducati) and find them to be fine on warm dry pavement, but they like to walk out in the rain or when the pavement is cold. If it had been damp when minime left the hotel, I'd love to hear how they performed. Much more useful to me than how they did at the Streets.

Before the Avons, I ran MEZ4. Better traction but lousy wear. Others can provide their own comparo.

minime

· #5 · Oct 30, 2001

Re: MO

Perhaps we could do something like this in the near future. For this, we would definately employ the help of a local novice or pro racer (or two) for additional feedback. I like the idea of twins and fours, too.

Hmmm...

letsride

· #6 · Oct 30, 2001

Tire wear

FrankS1,

Pls define lousy wae on the MEZ4. That's interesting since MEZ4 is designed as a sport-touring tire (higher milage?). I'm tryinng out BT010 as my R1's second rear tire. The original D207 got about 5000 before the white cord was showing in the center part (lots of highway commute). How long do a rear tire normaly last? I know there are a lot of factors invloved in the equation (riding styles, bike model, suspension, & etc). Any comments from veteran riders would be appreciated.

YAMMIE-R1

· #7 · Oct 30, 2001

HEY FRANK,

WHAT DO YOU MEAN MEZ4 ON A DUCATI. ARE U SICK. YOU MUST MEAN MEZ3, CAUSE THE Z4 IS TOURING TIRE. YOU GET MORE MILAGE OUT OF THEM AND LESS TRACTION.THE Z3 IS THE SPORTY VERSION. AND ANY TIRE IS GOING TO WALK OUT IN THE RAIN IF YOUR PUSHING IT. HECK, YOU CAN PUSH THE LIMITS WHEN ITS HOT AND DRY. KEEP SAFE AND STOP RIDING THE DUCK IN THE RAIN MAN.

YAMMIE-R1

· #8 · Oct 30, 2001

Re: Tire wear

FRANK,

IF YOUR RIDIN VERY AGGRESIVE(VERY) IN THE TURNS YOUR TIRE WILL PROBABLY LAST 1,500 TO 2,500 MILES DEPENDING ON WHICH SPORT TIRE. A NOT SO AGRESSIVE STYLE WILL LAST ABOUT 4,500. KEEP THE KNEE DOWN AND STAY SAFE MAN.

jmeyn

· #9 · Oct 30, 2001

A list of bikes the tires were tested on would be useful.

Why does the product line graphic have engine displacement on the y axis? What does it mean, exactly?

Please comment on the following:

Given 300 lbs on the rear tire inflated at 35 psi:

1) The contribution of sidewall compression to supporting the weight can be ignored.

2) The contact patch must be almost exactly 300/35 square inches.

3) Modifying the spacing of the radial bands changes the shape of the patch, not the area.

Am I wrong?

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jmeyn

· #10 · Oct 30, 2001

Re: MO

Of course it would be hard to find volunteers for such hazardous and unpleasant duty. Just a few thousand good men.

jmeyn

· #11 · Oct 30, 2001

Correction

Re previous post. Make that bands. The article didn't talk about the radial ones.

jmeyn

· #12 · Oct 30, 2001

Re: Correction

You lost my HTML: My correction refered to bands, with "" in bold.

Like " "

jmeyn

· #13 · Oct 30, 2001

Re: Correction

Why doesn't the word print?

jmeyn

· #14 · Oct 30, 2001

Circumferential doesnt print

- - what gives?

c i r c u m f e r e n t i a l !!!!!

1199

· #15 · Oct 30, 2001

But you must remember to adjust the Heisenberg compensator in relation to your stratenator valve before changing the turn signal indicators.

OK then, have a good ride.

GOB

stevegrab

· #16 · Oct 30, 2001

Re: Circumferential doesnt print

Because it has the letters "c u m" in it, and they are filtering that. See, if I type (that won't print), but if I type c u m, that will.

Problem is, the preview mode won't even show you what does get filtered. (I guess they don't want people to know, so they don't find a way around it.)

I don't know why, or what they are doing to filter these things, but it has been brought up before, and nothing has ever been resolved. Whole words should be filtered, not any word containing some key word (which can be part of many ligitimate words).

jmeyn

· #17 · Oct 30, 2001

Re: Circumferential doesnt print

Thanks! I notice it doesn't filter the subject line!

jmeyn

· #18 · Oct 30, 2001

Yeah, but am I wrong, mineme?

12er

· #19 · Oct 30, 2001

Re: Tire wear

My lousy wear on MEZ4's translated into 11,800 miles, my bike is in the garage till Nov 5th when I have my 12k service and new MEZ4's put on. I just struck cord on the rear with both sides on the front nice and slick. About a 1.5 inch bald stripe on the rear, .5 inch stripe on the left front, .25 inch strip on the right front. Still plenty of center tread on the front. Im 6'6" 300 and ride rather aggressive on my commute (45 miles 3/4 slab with 1/4 twisty canyon daily each way) these tires have impressed me. My k12rs seems to agree.

Poser

· #20 · Oct 30, 2001

Looks like Metzler is using a more eliptical profile for the M-1 than they did for the MeZ-3 or MeZ-4. That would make the tires closer in profile to Dunlops.

What does the varying belt winding do to tread life? Would a softer center make for more tread life in the straights or would it mean that you have to really be a squid to have even tire wear?

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