Metzeler Wintec tires

[JaimeC]

Any all-season riders here besides me? I've been reading a lot about these tires and am considering a switch next month:

Metzeler Wintec Winter Scooter Tires - Ultimate MotorCycling

 

[SteveADV]

Hmmmm...Living on an island with a town named Jamaica, of course you're an all season rider.

Seriously though, even up here in the frigid north (northeast Ohio) we have enough rideable (?) winter days that I have also spent a little time researching cold weather tires. My '13 650GT came with Metzeler Feelfree's but not the Wintec version. I have not contacted them, but my guess is that there is no difference in the compound, only the additional tread shearing.

A few days ago I rode in <45 degree (f) and found that the stock Feelfree tires cornered, etc great for me, but I am not an aggressive rider.

What tires did your scooter come with and have you had any cold days to test them? My real interest is to be able to take off from here and head south for a road trip without taking a dive the first couple hundred miles.

I only have a couple thousand miles on this bike with no cold weather experience so this is a great thread for me. Thanks for bringing it up.

 

[bill steele]

Unless I can get tires with studs and chains I'm out, with 10 ft. of snow last year here in Wilmington Vt. riding will probably end in Nov. some time they are forecasting snow flurries on this Wednesday and 35 to 40 degrees.

 

[SteveADV]

Hey, wait a minute. You rode to the top of Mt Washington. Surely, a few snow flakes ain't gonna the intrepid Mr Steele.

 

[JaimeC]

I only got the scooter this summer, so I haven't done any cold riding with it yet. I had a TMAX the last two winters and on the cold days the OEM Bridgestones and replacement Feelfree tires didn't fill me with any confidence.

I'm not talking about riding on snow or ice... but cold asphalt and cold temperatures prevent ordinary tires from reaching their proper operating temperatures. On the sport bikes I've owned I've dropped them a couple of times in dry corners because the tires didn't reach their proper operating temperatures. The scooters don't have the same kind of torque off the bottom but I'd like to play it safe any way.

 

[bill steele]

Hey, wait a minute. You rode to the top of Mt Washington. Surely, a few snow flakes ain't gonna the intrepid Mr Steele.

when I rode to Mt. Washington it was dry but cold as hell even in September it was 27 degrees and 45 mph winds at the top

 

[SteveADV]

27 degrees and 45 mph winds at the top

That is some wicked windchill brother.

I did Pikes Peak outside of Colorado Springs a number of years ago (a real large number) and I remember the same feeling Jaime mentioned. I felt like the street tires I had on that old Ducati were trying to slip out from under me. Now back to riding, older and wiser (?) I will go to a cold weather setup once I find the right tires.

 

[JaimeC]

A cheaper solution than Winter tires would be to run your existing tires a couple of psi BELOW the recommended pressure. Less air in the tire, the more the tire carcass will flex. The more it flexes, the faster it'll heat up.

I wouldn't go more than 2 or 3 psi below the recommended pressure but it's worth a shot.

 

[SteveADV]

So I checked with Metzeler re: their Feelfree Wintec vs the standard Feelfree's that came on my 650gt and the difference is not in the rubber compound but in the tire cuts. The idea is that with the way the sipes are added to the winter tire, the tire will warmup faster. Makes sense.

I am running my standard Feelfree's in 25f and below with no problem. I do take a extra effort to warm tires up on the road (one of the advantage of having a tire pressure monitor) and have not encountered too much of a difference in handling.