B
uilding a cruiser tire used to
be a relatively easy task for a
tire manufacturer. No need
for labor-intensive R&D for cornering
and handling that the sport tires
require, just make sure that the ride
is smooth with plenty of straight-line
stability and that the center tread has
a long life, and you pretty much had
all the bases covered.
With the latest generation of cruisers
taking over the market, that's not the
case anymore. The new breed of pow-
er cruisers no longer emphasize only
straight-line brawn; now you need to
have some handling and cornering
prowess, while still maintaining a
smooth ride and long tire life despite
being subjected to heavy loads and
extended highway miles.
Metzeler saw this need coming a
while back, and spent a considerable
amount of time and resources devel-
oping a new tire that would fulfill all
the performance requirements of the
modern cruiser, from the Harley Road
King or Sport Glide rider who loves
to run through the mountains, to the
Indian Scout Bobber pilot who wants
a tire that can handle the torque in
the corners without going bald in the
center at 5000 miles.
Labeled the "Cruisetec," Metzeler's lat-
est product incorporates the company's
extensive knowledge and latest tech-
nology to create a tire that can fulfill all
the mission requirements of today's
heavyweight machinery.
In order to build a tire that would
handle all these roles, Metzeler first
concentrated on the overall tread
profile. Because of their usual focus on
straight-line stability and mileage, nor-
mal cruiser tires have a steep profile on
the shoulders that results in a very large
C o m f o r t a b l e
Cruising
WE CHECK OUT THE ALL-NEW CRUISETEC
TIRE DIRECT FROM METZELER
CYCLE NEWS CRUISER BUYERS GUIDE
