PHOTO : Ray Heron
Wellington ’ s Red Rocks access is a lot easier with more dirt-oriented tyres fitted . And Ray could ride there as they ’ re road legal
MIDDLEWEIGHT ADVENTURE YAMAHA TENERE 700 I ’ ve written before about my tyre choices on the Tenere 700 . As it has been my commuter for a number of years , I have not really been able to install knobbly tyres . They ’ re just not suitable for the conditions of a standard Wellington commute . But , I ’ ve had another bike in the garage for much of this year , and that ’ s freed up the Tenere 700 for more of the fun stuff . So when I was asked if I wanted to test out the Metzeler MC360s on the T7 , I said “ Absolutely ” The Metzeler MC360 is a bloody hard-wearing tyre . I ’ ve got mates who have run MC360s on their dirt bikes for the past three years and they ’ re not planning to change them any time soon . Because they are made from 100 % carbon black , they will take abuse ride after ride and come back for more . And when you do wear away that leading edge , you can simply reverse them and go again . Installing the MC360 ’ s on the Tenere 700 was reasonably easy . They have a pretty hard sidewall , but I ’ ve learnt ways to deal with that .
I installed a set of Mid-soft MC360s on the Tenere 700 . My main aim was to see if they would stand up to the same sort of abuse on a mid-size adventure bike as they do on lightweight dirt bikes . The plan was to take the Tenere out to Red Rocks , on Wellington ’ s south coast , a usual playground for testing dirt and adventure bikes . This involved a 25 minute motorway ride , 10 minutes through town , then the off-road section of Red Rocks itself . Riding down the motorway , the bike didn ’ t really feel any different . Most of it is flat and straight , but what I did notice was the sound from the tyres . They scream like a banshee and can be heard over even a loud exhaust . At lower speeds in town and the suburbs the tyres don ’ t make nearly as much noise . The profile of the tyre does have a lot to do with cornering feel though , and these tyres make the bike handle strangely ; leaning into a right hander for example , the bars get pushed left , and vice versa . It ’ s not terrible , but something I noticed .
KIWI RIDER 51