Ok,
It's been around five to six weeks since I threw Metzler Z6's on my bike because I couldn't get Michelin Pilot Roads again, as they were not available. The front is just under half worn, the rear is about stuffed after 4300kms.
From here on, Metzler Roadtec Z6's will be referred to as MR's and Michelin Pilot Roads as PR's.
Firstly, the PR's were a brilliant set of tyres and both front and rear wore evenly till worn at 7,000kms. The only fault I could find with them, was that when pushed on a hot day and after about 15-20 minutes of fast hard riding, they would start to squirm when laying down the power out of corners. The first time this happened I thought I had developed a slow leak and stopped to check my rear tyre. From there on, when it happened, I ignored it but found it a little unsettling.
In the wet, they were great with no scares except the time I crossed the left, white shoulder, white line in heavy rain cutting a corner at 160kmh. Both tyres lost grip completely but regripped immediately they hit the seal, putting me into four or five fully crossed up slides before regaining control.
All in all the PR's are a very good tyre. Handling is excellent considering that they have given me the best mileage over anything else too date. No complaints and very pleased with the k's I got out of them. Dunlops were giving me around 3400kms a rear.
Now to the MR's.
It must be said in all fairness, that I have ridden harder and faster in the last 4300kms than I did when I had the PR's as there were a few commutes on the PR's and at times I had the missus on the back, whereas the MR's have been ridden hard virtually everytime I have been on the bike since fitting them.
In all honesty, as far as handling goes, there is barely any discernible difference.
In the wet, they seemed a little more skittery, but again, not by much. They were pushed hard. They never squirmed or let me down except one time a couple of weeks back, the rear tried to overtake the front on 140kmh corner where I had to straighten up and brake hard before going off road, as there was no way I was going to regain control.
I do not believe this incident was the tyre, as I was not pushing as hard through this corner as I had other corners riding 500kms that day out to Kawhia and around Pirongia.
Going back to examine the road the next day, there was some sand in the area where the back came around and maybe there was a lot more there the day before.
Tyres generally give a squirm or you can feel the grip starting to break. There was none of that. It was instant let go, like hitting diesel or gravel.
In summary, taking into consideration that the MR's have been hammered hard in corners and have seen lots of plus high speed runs, I believe the wear would be very similar under the same riding conditions.
Both tyres do the job admirably on the GSX1400 and I believe 7,000kms would have been achievable with the MR's if I had ridden them the same as the PR's.
Hope this helps. You will be safe and pleased with either of them depending on availablity. The difference is negligible.
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Originally Posted by skidmark
Do you have a good tyre gauge? Pay to get one as the garage ones aren't always accurate. I've never had too many problems with pressures as once set, both Metzlers and Michelins lost a little over a couple of weeks. This is normal for any tyre of course.
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