HaulinAshe
Well-known member
Metzler RoacTec Interact Z8
I like them enough to spell "tire" their way.
Four(4) questions prevail in tire evaluations:
Q1. How much do they cost?
Q2. How well do they handle?
Q3. How long do they last?
Q4. How well did they handle before you found out how long they last?
A1. Scratch Q-1 because they cost about the same as any other comparable brand.
A2. Initial test conditions were 72-78F, dry roads, mostly behaving (me, not the tires).
My first impression was how well they roll when cold. There's almost NO discernible change in handling from 70-ish to full operating temps. Impressive!
The first leg of testing was simply warm-up and scrubbing them in. Roughly 45 miles with some moderate curves and several miles of rough road conditions. At this stage the Z8s are reminiscent of partially-worn Stradas. Not super-quick, not sluggish, but needing that little extra "push" that's mostly accomplished with some added thigh muscle.
Once TestLeg-1 was completed, I let them cool down (while stuffing my face) and then set out to push the new hoops a bit more. Again, no noticeable change in handling from ambient cold to 20 miles later.
I found some gnarly tar snakes in a decent sweeper and rolled into the lean. The front gave me one little skip crossing an extremely wide snake of a foot or more, but the others rolled right under me without raising a fang.
Next I throttled into a short section of well-known test track that has a 6-7 turn sequence of fairly tights. I purposely over-charged the first corner and grabbed a whole handful of front brake. No skip, no fuss, although again it took more thigh pressure to make her roll over into my favorite position.
Regardless of how much lean angle I choose, the Z8s react surprisingly linear. In fact that's about the best way I know to describe what they do best... LINEAR. You do not get the aim&fire transition felt from many other brands. At brand spankin' new, they feel so much like a pair of barely broken-in Stradas that it's scary!
A3. No idea yet.
A4. See A3 above.
Looseleaf observations (aka Random Thoughts)...
* I'm running the "C" spec rear. It had no balance marks that I could find. I was pissed! The front had red marks that were easy to find. Perhaps by chance, perhaps by design, the rear required extremely little weight, and the front wasn't bad either. This must be the point where some marketing rep says... "The C-spec rear is manufactured with especially tight tolerances, so that no balance mark is required." And I cough smoke...
* Mounting the rear was a bear! I thought a Dunlop RoadSmart held the record for tough tire mounting, but the Z8 is knocking on the door for first place. Not a bad thing, just a thing.
* I like the little "directional elephants" that show rotation. Comes in handy.
* If recently you've been running the tried&true Angel front/RoadSmart rear combo, and you've recently re-worked suspension and found yourself adjusting to the quicker steering inputs... You might want to spoon on a set of Z8s. They will instantly transform you to a more "nostalgic" steering input. I'm going to have to re-learn, what I just re-learned, in order to re-learn how to handle the Z8s with confidence. It's not a bad thing at all, just different. At my advanced age and deteriorating wits, re-learning takes a little extra time.
Overall I'm happy so far. I've never experienced a set of tires on the FJR that rolled off the driveway with so much of the same handling as when rolling back in. I've never felt a set of FJR tires handle so "linear" throughout the envelope. (Although I have NOT been past the 70% mark with them yet.)
The Z8s hold promise. We'll see what happens after Q3 & Q4 are answered.
I like them enough to spell "tire" their way.
Four(4) questions prevail in tire evaluations:
Q1. How much do they cost?
Q2. How well do they handle?
Q3. How long do they last?
Q4. How well did they handle before you found out how long they last?
A1. Scratch Q-1 because they cost about the same as any other comparable brand.
A2. Initial test conditions were 72-78F, dry roads, mostly behaving (me, not the tires).
My first impression was how well they roll when cold. There's almost NO discernible change in handling from 70-ish to full operating temps. Impressive!
The first leg of testing was simply warm-up and scrubbing them in. Roughly 45 miles with some moderate curves and several miles of rough road conditions. At this stage the Z8s are reminiscent of partially-worn Stradas. Not super-quick, not sluggish, but needing that little extra "push" that's mostly accomplished with some added thigh muscle.
Once TestLeg-1 was completed, I let them cool down (while stuffing my face) and then set out to push the new hoops a bit more. Again, no noticeable change in handling from ambient cold to 20 miles later.
I found some gnarly tar snakes in a decent sweeper and rolled into the lean. The front gave me one little skip crossing an extremely wide snake of a foot or more, but the others rolled right under me without raising a fang.
Next I throttled into a short section of well-known test track that has a 6-7 turn sequence of fairly tights. I purposely over-charged the first corner and grabbed a whole handful of front brake. No skip, no fuss, although again it took more thigh pressure to make her roll over into my favorite position.
Regardless of how much lean angle I choose, the Z8s react surprisingly linear. In fact that's about the best way I know to describe what they do best... LINEAR. You do not get the aim&fire transition felt from many other brands. At brand spankin' new, they feel so much like a pair of barely broken-in Stradas that it's scary!
A3. No idea yet.
A4. See A3 above.
Looseleaf observations (aka Random Thoughts)...
* I'm running the "C" spec rear. It had no balance marks that I could find. I was pissed! The front had red marks that were easy to find. Perhaps by chance, perhaps by design, the rear required extremely little weight, and the front wasn't bad either. This must be the point where some marketing rep says... "The C-spec rear is manufactured with especially tight tolerances, so that no balance mark is required." And I cough smoke...
* Mounting the rear was a bear! I thought a Dunlop RoadSmart held the record for tough tire mounting, but the Z8 is knocking on the door for first place. Not a bad thing, just a thing.
* I like the little "directional elephants" that show rotation. Comes in handy.
* If recently you've been running the tried&true Angel front/RoadSmart rear combo, and you've recently re-worked suspension and found yourself adjusting to the quicker steering inputs... You might want to spoon on a set of Z8s. They will instantly transform you to a more "nostalgic" steering input. I'm going to have to re-learn, what I just re-learned, in order to re-learn how to handle the Z8s with confidence. It's not a bad thing at all, just different. At my advanced age and deteriorating wits, re-learning takes a little extra time.
Overall I'm happy so far. I've never experienced a set of tires on the FJR that rolled off the driveway with so much of the same handling as when rolling back in. I've never felt a set of FJR tires handle so "linear" throughout the envelope. (Although I have NOT been past the 70% mark with them yet.)
The Z8s hold promise. We'll see what happens after Q3 & Q4 are answered.
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