Metzeler M7 RR..............................
New all round rubber from the German road racers debuts back in Blighty...
This new German rubber gets a pasting around Castle Combe and beyond to see if it passes all the tests we set it...
Asong and dance is normally made by a manufacturer when a new tyre is released. After all, how else are you supposed to tell the world about it? And we were all set for a big launch of Metzeler’s new M7 RR this spring, to be held at the magnificent Paul Ricard circuit. But at the last minute the launch was pulled, leaving us to make our own event up.
It lacked the glamour of a manufacturer debut, consisting as it did of going to JHS Racing to get a set fitted to my Kawasaki ZX-6R longtermer and then heading to Castle Combe (the Paul Ricard of the west) for one of its always entertaining trackdays. But what the day lacked in glamour, it more than made up for with relevance, as Castle Combe is as close to a road as you’ll get, what with its mix of turns, bumps and swells. Fancy foreign flings at exotic tracks and expensed entertaining? Nah, this is more like it!
But what of the tyres? Well, the first thing I noticed on my 60-mile ride home along fast A-roads and bumpy B-roads is that the Kawasaki felt like it had a pair of slippers on. The ride was transformed into comfort personified, and the new M7 RRs acted as another level of suspension to aid the Kwak’s occasionally recalcitrant BPF-SPs. All tyres do this to some extent, but the comfort levels over the OE Bridgestone S20s was palpable.
The next morning’s early track incursions also exposed a welcome trait – the M7 RRs scrub in quickly and can operate almost from the get go. It was the start of a warm day, granted, but they went from ambient to operating temperature within a lap – even working well on the rarely used left side of the tyre. This was a boon on the day as Castle Combe trackdays operate differently to most others, with shorter sessions being packed into the day. So the tyres would be sat doing nothing (not cosy in warmers), sent out on a warm-up lap, gunned for the next half dozen, and then left to cool. It loves a heat cycle…
On track itself, that notion of comfort transformed into feeling – especially in Combe’s big braking sections. With the bike leant over for the left over, ahem, Avon Rise on the brakes trying to scrub off 80mph in a hurry, the front felt like it was literally chewing on the Tarmac. It picked up the undulations on the track, but only to give feedback, not to upset the rest of the bike. On smoother entries, the front felt nicely neutral. Although I’d like a bit more speed of turn, you can get this with a more focused tyre, thus the M7 suits its more modest role well.
At the rear the communication levels were equally as high. On a hot day with the Kwak’s 115bhp to contend with the rear would move a little within the TC’s accepted tolerances, but this movement remained consistent and given the quality of the feedback this facet became something you could start playing with. Looking at GPS logged apex speeds compared with an R1 I was on last year, there was literally nothing in it, time only being lost due to the ZX-6R’s lack of cubes.
The Metzelers shrugged off a day of abuse on track, and with pressures raised back to road levels the ‘launch’ continued with a ride back home and a can of beer to celebrate another day's survival. The RRs don’t offer the last word in grip at banzai pace, but still make for a tyre on track that you can really work with and explore – and that feeling is heightened on the road where the confidence in them grows and grows. Accurate and stable on fast A-roads, but still retaining comfort and confidence in more sketchy conditions, they tick the boxes that road riders want ticking.
With wet riding being the last hurdle in this Grand National of a test, an obstacle it easily cleared with reassuring confidence, the M7 RR's facets are clear. This is a do anything tyre, capable of teaming up with your talents and tackling whatever you're up for.