BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

This photo (not mine) has reminded me why I stopped using Metzeler Z6's.

I can’t remember the brand but this was a similar incident on a tyre very well legal before we set off on a 250 mile day.




EDIT: it’s a Z8 having seen your other post

The first photo (Z6) is not my tyre but a good example of how it ended up.

I set off to Scotland on a 1,000 miles trip, didn't expect the tyre not to last. After less than half the distance, I had to get the tyre replaced while I was away from home.

IMO, the problem with the Z6 and Z8 for that matter is, there are no TWI's in the centre of the tyre tread pattern.

I remember taking a bike into a garage as i thought there was something wrong with the rear end. The bike was still under warranty, so i thought it would be covered. After dropping off the bike and looking around the showroom a man started running after me. As this was the time of the Brixton riots and i was in Clapham which is less than half a mile from the trouble, i started to run as well. He caught up with me and just as i was going to wack him with my helmet i realised who he was. On the way back he told me he wanted to show me something. Now in those days, the bike came with Teflon Bridgestone or even worse Yokaharma's. I always on the day of leaving with a brand new bike went straight to the local tyre shop to have fitted the best tyres at the time, Pirrelli Phantoms.
Anyway once back at the workshop he showed me my rear tyre, the center was down to the cord. As i was a London dispatch rider in the 80s you don't realise how these little 3-5 mile jobs rack up. I had ridden in the rain, sleet, and never thought is was a worn tyre. I used to ride between 1000 to 1500 miles a week so i was just riding on cords. Since then ive always checked my tyres at least once a week.

David. wrote:I had to get the tyre replaced while I was away from home.

Michelin Pilot Road (1) was the tyre fitted, with tread groves across the full width of the tyre.

Doctor T wrote:I was a London dispatch rider.

Interestingly, when speaking to Metzeler about Z6's, their representative agreed that some dispatch/courier riders were experiencing the same problem of being caught out with the centre tyre wear.

Are these still London dispatch riders these days?. Thought that Emails with electronic signatures would have killed the industry. There used to be pages of jobs for riders in the MCN. In those days i was out whatever the weather chucked at me. Now if it's raining when i get up, i don't go out on the bike but if i starts to rain whilst am out it doesn't bother me. Looking back i never had a puncture or tyres losing pressure.
In the lastest on there are none. I only buy MCN when it's not full of sports bikes these days.

At this price, could be tempted to use Z6's again, https://www.mandp.co.uk/products/120-70 ... mettp-0026