Metzeler 330/550 Bias-Ply Tires
Reviewed by pbx
Editor’s note: This review was written in 2002, when these tires had just recently been released. Since then they have disappeared from Metzeler’s lineup. The “Lasertec,” an updated version of an older tire, is the closest thing still available. Maybe we should start a petition.
First Impression
If you have a bike that uses bias-ply tires you’re probably running either Bridgestone BT45’s, Dunlop K591/GT501’s, or older Metzelers. Metzeler came out with this update to the Competition K and I decided to try them on my Ninja.
I’ve had the tires for about ten days now and have ridden them in an ERC, put on about eight hundred street miles including a few thundershowers, and rode them in my first track day.
On the street they feel great, good traction and a nice round profile. I did push the front on Vt. Rt. 17 a couple times last weekend but I think that was due to excessively low pressure or possibly sand.
In the wet they are excellent, in contrast to some of the alternatives (Dunlop!) whose wet-road performance is fair-to-scary.
On track day [at New Hamspshire International Speedway] they were impeccable. I just forgot about them and rode as hard as I dared. I’m not a fast guy, but I did booger them to the edge. They felt great. Never once felt movement in a corner (well, maybe over that shiny patch in Turn 11, but I don’t think that was the tires).
They look like they will become my new favorite bias-ply tire. The only thing that will change this is if they wear in some horrible way, which would surprise me. If you have a bike that uses bias-ply rubber, check ‘em out. Highly recommended.
Later
The tires wore well, and predictably, and gave at least as much mileage as the alternatives mentioned above. The relatively large tread blocks meant that cupping, which gets quite dramatic with BT45s, was not an issue.
