feedback you get from a tire with a
well-engineered contact patch, and the
Cruisetec gives you that confidence—
along with surprisingly light steering
and agility. The ride was smooth over all
manner of bumps, potholes, pavement
cracks, etc., with little of the deflection
that you often encounter with average
tires, especially over rain grooves, where
there was no wandering whatsoever.
Cornering grip was excellent, although
that was up to the point when the floor-
boards signaled that the cornering limit
of the bike had been reached.
It wasn't until I got to throw a leg over
an Indian Scout Bobber that I had the
chance to really find out how well the
Metzeler Cruisetec worked. The Indian
has enough performance to push its
tires, plus its seat wasn't near as comfort-
able as the Harley's, so ride smoothness
was the first aspect that came to mind.
In this area, the Cruisetec was superb,
with just enough firmness to give the
feedback necessary to understand what
the tire contact patches were up to.
But in the mountains was where the
Metzeler shined with the Indian. Steering
into the corners was fairly light but neutral
all the way to max lean, and there was
plenty of feedback even when the forward-
mount pegs were scraping on the tarmac.
Charging out of corners with the Scout's
big torque resulted in no traction theatrics,
and heavy braking was never an issue. In
short, there was nothing that left me want-
ing with the Cruisetec (of course, we didn't
spend enough time on the Metzelers to
find out about their mileage—but given
Metzeler's reputation for long-wearing
rubber, we wouldn't doubt the Cruisetec's
abilities in this area).
The Cruisetec is available in numerous
sizes to fit a wide range of cruisers, with
fronts ranging from 16- to 21-inch diam-
eters in a huge variety of sizes, and rears
in mostly 16 inches, with one 17-inch
size. Go to https://www.metzeler.com to
see if there's a size to fit your bike. CN
Under the extra weight of
the Road King, the Metzel-
er's feedback and cornering
prowess were excellent.
CYCLE NEWS CRUISER BUYERS GUIDE
