Metzeler Roadtec 01 SE vs Michelin Road 5 (F800GT)

I have been rolling along with a set of Road 5s for a while now. My front has 8850 miles on it and the rear 1700. My riding is 50% mountain back roads with lots of twisties (up and down), the rest highway. The attached photos show the wear. Notice where it is. There is no evidence of cupping. IMHO the front tire is the MAX. It tracks very well in tight turns and goes exactly where you point it. I have, however, noticed the rear lacking in pavement contact at times (exiting turns with throttle-up). Not much experience on wet pavement yet.

Daboo said:

My riding buddy up north has the Road 5 and the front has the weirdest wear pattern ever. The center looks like new, but the sides are getting close to the wear bars.

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I started riding motorcycles somewhere around 1969. I am a converted dirt rider......my street riding experience is limited to the last 8 years. My motocross bike had horrible brakes, and I can remember that squeezing the brake lever as hard as I could pull would never cause any lockup......in order to go fast I learned to continue braking well into the corner.

As I gained road experience I discovered my front tires wear exactly as you have described. The center has very little wear - and the side get worn significantly.

I meet a bunch of fellows who are long term riders and several of them have significant road race experience. I showed them the wear pattern on my front tire and ask them what caused it. They all agreed that I was "Trail Braking"....when I ride quickly I continue braking as the bike is leaned over into the turn. This riding style causes a lot of wear on the sides of the front tire. On my Road 5's I wore out the front tire about 2,000 quicker than the rear tire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_braking

Since that was revealed I have changed my riding style a bit - and I do more braking in a straight line and a bit less in the entrance to the turn. It has changed the way my front tire wear occurs.....and the front tires last longer.

Sundog52 said:

I have been rolling along with a set of Road 5s for a while now. My front has 8850 miles on it and the rear 1700. My riding is 50% mountain back roads with lots of twisties (up and down), the rest highway. The attached photos show the wear. Notice where it is. There is no evidence of cupping. IMHO the front tire is the MAX. It tracks very well in tight turns and goes exactly where you point it. I have, however, noticed the rear lacking in pavement contact at times (exiting turns with throttle-up). Not much experience on wet pavement yet.

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I have never seen a motorcycle tire cup. I have never not seen a street motorcycle tire that did not scallop.

Run your palm over the tread, you will feel it if you can not see it.

Cupping is an abnormal wear in one or few places on the tread spanning tread blocks due to loose bearings, poor damping, tie rod ends, balance, many things. You have seen a car, truck, or trailer tire bouncing down the road severely out of balance and/or loose suspension. That tire is cupping.

Scalloping (and its "feathering" variant) occurs when tread blocks squirm under load. Pattern repeats each tread block generally one way on one edge of the tread block and different on the other edge. There really isn't anything we can do about it because the center of our tires is farther from the axle than the sides. When part of the tire closer to the center is in contact same time as another part which is farther from the center the two have a different rolling circumference so one or both has to slide. This loading causes the tread to squirm. Also plays a role in whether the tire feels neutral or tries to stand up or fall into turns.

I made the above spreadsheet on 3 June when I bought my Continental Road Attack tyres through Dennis Kirk. Data may have changed since then. I don't know if the rebates are valid over in England...you probably have your own.

Some things to note. If you look at the column "Owner Rating", it is interesting. For instance, the Pirelli Angel GT has an owner rating of 4.8 out of 5. The successor, the new improved better than sliced bread version, the Angel GT II...has an owner rating significantly less at 4.1. Newer is not necessarily better.

I had the OEM Metzeler Z8s on my GT when I bought it. I changed them at about 11,300 miles, if I remember correctly. The Metzeler Roadtec 01s that replaced them, only lasted about 6000 miles. But they were supposed to give you longer life, as well as all the other benefits. I tried the Metzeler Roadtec 01s one more time, with the HWM version in the rear. It lasted about 11K. The HWM version is what was originally recommended by Metzeler for the GT when they first came out. Not so much for weight, as much as for the tyre scrubbing from riding them in a sport fashion.

I've had the Dunlop Roadsmart 3 tyres on several times and liked them. I tried the Roadsmart 4 tyres and like them too. But are they almost $100 better? From what I can tell, the tyre life will be about the same as the RS3.

My impression is that all the modern tyres are about equivalent. It would be hard to tell the difference in handling between a Michelin Road 5 and a Pirelli Angel GT. But you can pay the almost $100 difference in cost for the privilege of saying you have a Michelin Road 5 tyre on your bike.

I've tried many of the tyres on that list. I went back to the Continental Road Attack 3 from Dennis Kirk. Surprisingly, his price was far below Revzilla or anyone else. And I like the tyre a lot.

Chris

So just to let y'all know what I went for;

I've punted for the Michelin Road 5's - and I'm over the moon with them!

They don't flop into the corners as quickly as the Pirelli's or Metzellers with their steeper profile but that doesn't mean they don't corner, they're just not as skitish - scape pegs with them all day long with total confidence,
To put in into perspective I didn't even get close with the Pirellis as they just felt like they would let go.
The advantage of them being more neutrally handling though is they don't track lines in the road like those with a steeper profile and also I imagine they'll not square off as bad in the long run.
Wet weather performance is also fantastic, best tyre I've ever had in that regard, in normal riding (not knee dragging) but maybe a little north of the signed speed limits I honestly tell pretty much no difference between a wet and dry road albeit you naturally ease off a bit for those conditions anyways.

As mentioned originally my friend has the Roadtec 01 SE's on his Hornet 900 - While they are also a great tyre we both now currently have 1500 miles on our tyres respectively on similar/same roads.
His has notably squared off, he also says he can feel the "step" when going into corners, especially on switchbacks, and we reckon they will probably be good for about 6500-7000 total miles until at the wear indicators based on tread depth when new and current tread depth calculated over the remaining depth available.
Mine however (Road 5's) pretty much still look like new regarding their profile and handle as good as they did when knew, because they have a more shallow profile too they haven't used as much rubber over the same millage. with the same method we're projecting around 9000-9500 miles out of mine.

I got them discounted for £230 for the pair,
My friend paid £200 discounted for his,
Both on similar weighted and powered bikes and we ride together so have the same kind of style and ride the same roads,
while the Michelins aren't cheap they are currently showing to be the better value tyre with a better wear pattern so I think I made the right choice.
also the same friend has a CB500F with the Road 5's on and that's telling the same story with 3000 miles on the clock, on that bike we're projecting about 12000-13000 miles.

will let you know what i end up getting out of them in a year or so but for now I think they'll be great.

ps.
My friend usually rides the Dunlop Roadsmart series of tyres and he raves about them for value and grip ect...
he contacted Dunlop asking when the Roadsmart 4's will be released in the UK they answered as follow's (paraphrased);
"No plans to release Roadsmart 4 in UK, compound was developed primarily for American roads, UK equivalent is the Roadsmart 3 SP"

He's already had the SP variant and he raves about them however he only got 6000 miles from them (same bike) and they squared off bad too, tyres cost him £180 so even when you compare those against the Michelins then cost per mile the Michelins win.

Hope that helps a few people anyways....
No doubt the debate shall long continue - if your happy with your tyres, great, that's the main thing - we can only share our opinions I guess

Just thought I’d post a little update on this old thread as I’m currently sat in the middle of the Pyrenees nearly a whole 2 years after my original post, by the time I’m home from this trip my tyres (Michelin Road 5’s) will have covered a total of 9200 miles and will be considered fucked….and verging just a fraction past the legal limit of 1mm remaining on the rear, and the front just touching the wear bars.
They have worn extremely well, keeping their profile pretty much all the way through there wear without having a huge flat spot and also wearing at an equal rate front to rear.
Hands down the best tyres I’ve ever had - period.

The interesting thing is my friend with the 900 Hornet has also now worn through his set of Metzeler Roadtec 01 SE’s so I thought I would give the “side by side” comparison of them both as although different machines we have a very similar riding style (me being slightly more aggressive - not dick swinging just being factual) and done 6000 of the total miles together on our Europe trips so this is probably about as “side by side” as your gonna get in the real world for total tyre usage.

The Metzeler’s lasted a total 8300 miles until wear bars on the rear, with the front still having ample tread depth remaining. So they do wear faster than the Michelins however he never had any grip complaints throughout his ownership and also preferred the “sportier” more “tippy” handling of the tyre.
With the remaining life left in the front they could have softened the compound a little and made the front stickier.
It flattened off much more severely and quicker than the Michelin loosing the peak of its profile at around 2000 miles.

So basically it comes down to how you like a tyre to “feel” if you want neutrality go for the Michelin, if you prefer sporty/tippy go for the Metzeler…..
Both good tyres, for me, the Michelin takes the pole position mainly down to wear pattern over the millage, however with tyre wear per mile it also works out better value despite the higher purchase cost….

Now the bit that will piss you all off again…
I’ve got another fantastic buy on my replacements
Purchased a brand new pair of Michelin Road 6’s in France from a large National company called “dafymoto” with a €30 off voucher.
works out I paid £245 for the pair…. Not bad when they’re consistently £320 in the UK. Furthermore I’ve not seen any “deals” on them in the UK since there release so I’m absolutely pumped at the price I’ve paid - Wooop! Wooop!
The only catch is I’ve got to collect them on my motorbike on the way back, collecting them about 20 miles inland from Calais and then gotta ride about 250 miles home up to Derbyshire. Still I think this is a reasonable sacrifice for the near 25% discount I’ve got on them.

Will let you know how I got on with them in another 2 years, my predictions though are I’ll prefer the Road 5’s solely because if you look at the profile they look more of a constant radius whereas the Road 6’s have a flatter “V profile” which I believe will make the peak flat off quicker. This is will likely make them a more sporty tyre and grip superior on the corners however come at the cost of even wear….
My opinion is the Road 5’s give more grip than any of us will likely ever need, even the “canyon hero’s” don’t ride like Rossi and your kidding yourself if you think you do, I’ve never “burred up the edges” on the Road so rubber is pealing off the edge, the only time I’ve ever done that is on track days.
Personal opinion is you’re best to ride at 70-80% of your ability on the road as your never know where that next pile of cow shit, leaves, diesel or Honda Jazz is going to be….

Save the real playtime for the track
Peace and Love.