Fitting new tyres is a
performance upgrade
personal ability – oh it was very tough – and
learnt to trust these extraordinary tyres.
The high silica content gives a remarkable
chemical grip to the surface, more keenly
felt on the smooth track surface and adding
to the mechanical grip so apparent the day
before. All-in-all my confidence in the ability
of the Cruisetec tyres soared.
During a wet test – conducted with two
identical bikes, one with Cruisetec tyres and
the other with a non-Metzeler brand – we
pushed fairly hard on a wet slalom course,
in fairness both tyres seemed to have a
similar level of grip, and no one departed
company with their bike. However, one
particularly brave journo discovered that
under acceleration in the wet the Metzeler
outperformed the other by quite a margin.
Spinning up and losing traction in the wet on
the non-Cruisetec provoked quite a response
from us watchers as the bike twitched heavily
on two passes.
In my own time on the test bikes I found
the same level of grip in the wet on both,
perhaps because I was unprepared to find
the outermost limit, but the tyres offered me
a wider choice of line to follow. My thoughts
34 KIWI RIDER
from the previous day were reinforced; I was
able to put the bike onto any line I chose,
whether wide and tight and opening late,
or taking the wider line with tar ribbons on
the surface, I had choice and control of bike
placement. With the other tyres I found
myself dealing with the choices I had made
previously and there was a stronger sense of
‘hanging on for dear life’.
That alone was enough to convince me that
Metzeler’s offerings are worth the purchase.
Safety and control on a bike are paramount
and I found that these fitted the bill and then
some. Over the course of two days, and with
a dozen bikes to ride, it became clear that
the tyres on each were the single consistent
factor, and it was heartening to have a solid
idea of exactly how far each bike could
be pushed while maintaining control and
comfort.
Fitting a set of tyres should be considered
in the same vein as getting any other
performance upgrade for your bike, except
that tyres can increase safety too. Simply
put the Metzeler Cruisetec offers increased
rideability and confidence. Nice.