Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1520301
P110 PRODUCT REVIEWI have taken a massive step forward since the advent of the Inertial Measurement Unit a decade ago, but less interven - tion is always a good thing be- cause it means you can make emergency avoidance steering inputs without the ABS pulsing at the brake lever. So, does all this mumbo jum- bo actually equate to a good tire capable of doing what Metzeler says it can? Well, yes, but… This was as dry as we could test the tires. Not long after this shot was taken, it got a whole lot wetter. STANDOUT FEATURE Amazing wet-weather grip RIDER ANALYSIS The Isle of Man. The Valhalla of mo- torcycling. The most famous strip of road on our little two-wheeled planet, and, well, the weather did its best to drown us, blow us off the road, and run us into each other due to the absolutely blinding fog. But, hey, at least we finally got to really test these tires in the wet, because so often when we do tire testing it's on a perfectly groomed, billiard-table smooth racetrack with the only water present stuck inside clear bottles in the garage. Straight up, I have no idea if the Dynatread works well or not because we pushed to about 20 percent of the tire's capability during our lap of the glorious Isle of Man TT Mountain Course. Metzeler is going to send us a set of Roadtec 02s when they land in the U.S. later this year, and I'll reserve my judgment until then. However, wet-weather conditions, oh boy! On this, I can firmly say the new Roadtec 02 is an excellent prospect. Initial turn-in is smooth and agile, and you get plenty of feel from the front under braking and in the mid-part of the corner. I mainly rode on my all-time favorite sport touring machine in the Kawasaki Ninja H2 SX SE, a machine I lived with for 18 months in 2021-22, and the Roadtec 02s provided more grip than I'd ever need given the weather we were experiencing. Of course, you can overcome the grip with such a pow- erful bike, but that would be getting too close to throwing that gorgeous machine down the road than I'd have any want to. A notable feature of the Roadtec 02 was during the blustering condi- tions atop the mountain, they held a respectable temperature. It was damn near freezing up there; I could barely feel my hands, but the Metzel- ers kept enough heat in them to continue doing their job effectively. Dry-weather performance and the all-important longevity test will have to wait until the tires arrive stateside, and I'll throw them on a long-termer the second I get a set. But in terms of wet-weather perfor- mance, the Roadtec 02s certainly hold up their promise. CN By Rennie Scaysbrook