Australian Motorcycle News - June 21, 2018

74 amcn.com.au

at100km/honthissurfacewasperfectlystress

free,thetyresmanagingtoironouttheharshness

incredibly well.

I was on a BMW F 800 GS for the twisty run up

to the volcano, which proved a bit of a revelation.

What started out as a fairly sporty ride turned into

a full-on peg-scraping charge to the lunch stop.

Despite its 21-inch front wheel, the mid-sized

GS could corner as quickly as any of the bigger-

engined 19-inchers. The plush suspension even

worked to its benefit, allowing the bike to glide

over shallow potholes and ripples that appeared

unexpectedly mid-corner.

The tyres were running perfectly at maximum

lean angle, despite the surface temperatures

dropping steadily thanks to altitude and ice melt

running across the road. But even the narrow

channels of ice melt didn’t distract the tyres at

full pelt; during this 20-minute blast, the Streets

didn’t even hint at being pushed above their limit,

which was pretty damn impressive.

Heading back down the mountain on

a KTM 1090 R Adventure was slightly less

straightforward. Despite behaving well during

wetanddryemergencystops,therearwasalittle

twitchy under hard braking for sharp corners,

skipping and hopping slightly – perhaps an overly

keen electronics issue, rather than a genuine

traction issue, as raised by another rider on the

only other 1090. However, at well over 200km/h,

the KTM felt planted and stable, coping well with

concrete patches, sudden lane changes over white

lines and cats’ eyes.

I would have liked to have tried other bikes in

the river-bed section to better understand the

tyre’s potential on deeper sandy, stony terrain, but

the Karoo Street coped well with a variety of less

demanding off-road conditions, and it is certainly

capable of delivering a strong performance on dirt

tracks, gravel roads and trails.

On-road performance was far better than I

imagined. Grip, stability, comfort and noise levels

were all exceptional, and on par with dedicated

road rubber, inspiring confidence in wet and dry

situations. On the whole, Metzeler has delivered

an excellent tyre that could, for many dual sport

riders, be a better choice than more off-road-

biased alternatives.

Grip, stability, comfort and noise

levels are exceptional, and on

par with dedicated road rubber

Karoo range

Expedition

Adventure

Rally

METZELER KAROO STREET