John,
I am always interested to read others
thoughts on equipment that I also use. Reading
your comments on the Metzlers I had to jump in
with .02$ .I am running a pair of MEz4s and love
them . I have about 6000 miles from new on them
this summer and am not (yet) experiencing the
problems you stated ,especially the front.I run
them at 42psi front and 40 rear.I think that our
riding has a lot to do with the differences
.Living in Chicago does not lend itself to
twisties but I do what I can and I've been from
here to Atlanta and to Northern Arkansaw via
Missouri this summer. So the tires have been used
relativly all over( Sides and center).The bike
handles great, stable at speed ,sticks and is
predictable in the turns.I was wondering why you
run two different tires instead of the matched
pair. As far as rain riding goes when I headed
down to Atlanta in June we had a front move on a
perfect intersect with us for a day and a half. It
poured and there was a lot of water on the road.
The tires performed great, no drama ,no floating
like on ice just solid contact( This still at
speeds in the 80s).
All in all if I get 10000 mi from these skins I
will be happy indeed!
Tom Czerniak
John Laurenson wrote:
>
> e.
>
> I installed a set of Metzlers, the 880 on the rear and a Mez4 on the
> front. The rear went on three weeks earlier and had 3,000 miles on
> it at the start. The trip took me a little over 11,000 miles and
> both tires lasted the full tour.
>
> Both tires saw some hard riding and more twisties than I want to see
> for a while. Mostly dry weather so I can't comment on how they stick
> in real wet weather. I ran the rear with 42 psig and front 40 psig,
> cold.
>
> The 880 rear still has at least another 5,000 miles left in it. The
> front Mez4 got 11,000 miles of life and is shot , with very little
> thread left. It wore like and inverted triangle with the point worn
> flat. The side walls were worn well before the center.
>
> I will use the 880 on the rear again, but the Mez4 is a handling
> disaster. From the time I put it on the front it was scary. At very
> low speed you would think the tire was going flat it let the bike
> move about so wildly. The Mez4 has a 1" hard rubber strip down the
> center and softer rubber sides. The sides start to wear very quickly
> and cause a very unstable condition on anything but a level surface.
> The slight depressions from trucks in the right hand lane would cause
> the bike to unpredictably and rapidly climb and shoot off in the
> direction of the slope. At low speeds it was a handful to keep the
> bike straight and upright on anything but a flat gravel free surface.
>
>
