I
Torturing
Melzeter's latest
high-performance
street tire.
Street
[redibitit
Bv Buaxu CoNNER PHoros By ANDREA wltsoN
There isn't a maior tire company in the market
today
that isn't
capable
o[
creating
a
Erippy
tire suitable for the
Ite
+ort€c
M3
wqr dosignod lo
not only
provide
excellent
dry
Erip,
hul to oe#orm
well in wer
conditionr os wcll.
racetiack
or
high-performance
street riding. The real
area that needs to be addressed is creating tires that
not
ohly
perform
well, but also last
for more
than
2000 miles - while
still offering the versatilit), that the
consumer wants.
The original Hetzeler Sportec Ml was a
great
street tire aimed at
p.oviding
better-than-stock
grip
for spirited street ridinS
while still
providing
decent
mileage. But times have changed
-
rather
quickly -
which must be why Meaeler skipped right over the
M2
and created
the
new
Sportec P13, mimicking the
leaps
in
sponbike
performance
necessary to stay on
top of consumer demand. What l''letzeler set out to
create
was
a tire with a high level of
grip,
excellent
handling,
good
dispersion of water,
quick
warmup
and better mileage. The tire not only had to meet all
of there demands, but
it had
to do so on open-class
missiles like the Suzuki GSX-R1000.
The introduction
ofthe Metzeler Sportec M3 took
plaqe
at one of our
favorite
California racetracks
-
${cr
6nD
f
I
I
5
t
%
J
This chort
chows
re
tloimed
oftributes of
the M3 in
romparicon
to the t l.
METZELER *
EWS
-
C
L
Sporfec
M3-
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qu
't
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z
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s
.*
V
\
I@';**.,."1
./
\
fl{'
f
you
haven't noticed, sportbikes have taken ahother huSe leap forward in terms of
performance
in the last cou-
ple
of
years. The new genemtion
of sponbikes, such as the Suzuki GSX-R1000, Kawasaki ZX-
10R,
Yamaha
R
I,
CBRl000RR and MV
&usta
F4 1000, have
put
a lot of
pressure
oh the tirc manufadurers to build versatile,
yet
grippy
street tires. The problem is that the consumer not only wants more grip across the board, they want
more milea8e as well, as all of the aforementioned bikes can destroy tires in a hurry
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q.:,
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