Metzeler Racetecs

Well, that's the first 75 miles on them and I can't honestly say you need anything this sticky on the road!

But it's fun to use them anyway! One in their life, every biker should experience the stickiest rubber on the market, just so they know what is possible.

I was absolutely bloody flying tonight and the tyres still had lean in them. I was as far over as the guy I bought them from was on the track and not once did they even feel close to letting go, although I did get the rear sliding on half a dozen bends - Lovely and progressively.

But going to these after the pilot powers shows up the flaws in the Hornet suspension again. And the rear is very flexible causing the bike to squirm and feel very loose when pushing it. I don't mind this but it was miles more than the very planted feel on the pilots. I'm sure to anyone watching it'd look really "interesting" with the bike tying itself in knots!

Turn in and stability were good but with the soft carcasses I'm going to have to play with the pressures to see if I can lose the squirm on the rear.

Its ironic that the stickier the tyres the more boring the ride is. Knowing that you can crack the throttle at any time, mash the brakes and generally get your lines all wrong and the tyres will let you get away with it takes some of the fun out of it. Riding fast on less sticky tyres is definitely more rewarding as you must get the lines, breaking and throttle right to go as fast. Its like riding on uncrashable tyres.

In comparison to the Supercorsas, these don't actually feel as "sticky" but have the same grip. I didn't end up picking up gravel at junctions like the SC pros did despite the temeratures being hot enough to melt the tar on the road.

Lots more riding this week and once I've got the pressures nailed I'll let you know.

C

I agree, might try a set of SC take off's this summer.. want to know the grip I can get!

Dropped the pressures to 32psi front from 34 and the rear to 34psi from 36 (both cold) and this improved things. I'll be dropping them another 2 psi again tomorrow.

Had a glorious evening wearing my knee sliders out

C

Tried all sorts of pressure combinations today and I think I've found the happy medium (all cold unless stated).

Dropping to the often quoted (on the net) 29/27 was way too low for the road despite getting the hot pressures surprisingly high. I think those using these pressures must be running in very hot areas and on really rough tracks.

Dropping the front below 31 lost the front end stability even when hot and the rear below 31 you lost the quick steering aspect of the tyres so I ended up after a lot of playing about at 33/33 which is giving the required 35-36 hot on the front and about 38 hot on the rear without having to scrub the buggerances out of them to keep them hot.

Overall, I surprised how little a pressure increase there was when the tyres are too hot to touch. Cerainly less than the SC pros. Where I was getting up to 9psi change on the rear and 6 psi change on the front. On these I'm getting 5 psi front and about 6 on the rear.

So hopefully someone will find the above of use as there's not a whole lot on the web about racetec pressures.

As an aside its very surprising 1) how quickly they warm up and 2) how sticky they are from cold. Whereas the SC pro's I'd take it easy for 5 miles, these you only need to take it easy for 5 bends! The cold grips is extremely good and not at all what you'd expect from a tyre such as this.

Now just need a bit of the wet stuff to see how they perform when soggy.

C

What racetecs are these, I read there's like different compounds or something... like K3 or something

Sorry, should have said. I'm running K1 on the front and K2 for the rear.

k3's would be great all rounders for the summer. You don't need to go as sticky as the ones I have on, especially on the SV.

... and I've got a sneaky suspicion that there may be a bit of Dual compound going on here too as the front definitely looks like there's a definitive change. But no mention on the Metzeler site.

Well, had a chance to run them in the wet last night and I'm glad to say nothing exciting to report. I followed a rain storm home over about 40 miles and on sweeping A roads the tyres were fine. I've ran the same road in the wet on SC pros and it was a bloomin' nightmare so I can only surmise that these are better in the wet stuff.

For regular wet weather riding I'd probably bang the pressures up by 3psi front and rear to compensate for the lack of heat.

C

Must...try...

So Berlin, having read what you've got to say about the Pilot Power 2ct's and the Racetecs I can't tell which ones you like best?! You seem to like both!

I have Pilot Power 2ct's and love them but always wondering if there's a 'better' tyre out there at the moment - would you go back to the PP's?

I will have to replace my tyres in a couple of months and was planning on getting the 2ct's again, other options are Pirelli Diablo Rosso or Diablo III, or Maxxis Supermaxx. I'd be interested to know if you'd tried any of these,

Cheers,
Matt

Try the Continental Sport Attacks.

Worlds most underrated tyre..