Metzeler Sportec Klassic: New classic motorcycle tyres revealed

Metzeler has released details of a new classic tyre – the Sportec Klassic – at Intermot. Here’s what the press release has to say…

SPORTEC™ Klassik is the new METZELER tyre in the Classic segment for owners of motorcycles built from the 70s. A segment METZELER has always shown a great deal of attention, as proven by the current Vintage and Classic range which includes products such as the Perfect ME 11, Perfect ME 77, ME 22, Block C and Lasertec.

Bound to a technology that, although still valid, could not fully benefit from the rapid development of the last decade, these motorcycles are often at a disadvantage compared to most modern machines equipped with the most sophisticated safety systems and cutting-edge tyres.

The tyres of these machines have many diverse sizes which are now rarely used in new street and touring motorcycles, and for this reason they are often neglected in the design of new products by the tyre manufacturers.

In recent years we have witnessed a growing trend; a revival of the motorcycles of that period. The motorcycles of the last 30 years of the 20^th century have a new lease of life thanks to restoration or customization, thus giving rise to the Vintage trend, already very strong in the world of design and clothing.

With SPORTEC™ Klassik, the brand of German origins has taken the style of the glorious ME1 CompK, the first tyre with “bias belted” (MBS) technology launched by METZELER in the mid-80s and which became a hit among owners of sports bikes those years. As a result of the most modern engineering technologies to offer the ultimate tyre in terms of handling and safety even in severe weather conditions, SPORTEC™ Klassik is in all respects a performance upgrade for all those motorcycles that cannot boast the most recent technology. By equipping their motorcycles with the new SPORTEC™ Klassik the owners will be able to revive their motorcycles thanks to modern tyres while maintaining the vintage style and soul of their vehicles.

The genesis of the product

The METZELER brand worked on those elements of the tyre which in recent years have been more subject to technological development, which are tread design and materials.

The aim of the operation was to rejuvenate the entire vehicle safety whilst improving the stability, ride comfort and the behaviour on dry as well as wet roads, always keeping in mind the importance of good mileage.

Particular attention was also placed in the consistency of the performance throughout the entire life of the product. METZELER SPORTEC™ Klassik is built to give consistent, and this aspect is one of the greatest achievements of the technological development in the field of tyres.

In the past, to obtain a good level of safety in the wet, it was necessary to adopt a heavily treaded pattern, the new METZELER SPORTEC™ Klassik uses a reduced number of grooves thus being able to boast more uniform wear of the compound.

The features of the new SPORTEC™ Klassik

From a compound point of view, the Research and Development Centre of the METZELER brand has worked hard in recent years to develop more and more advanced chemical formulations that would ensure safety and traction on wet and dirty roads, as witnessed, for example, by the success of the new model in the METZELER range, the SPORTEC™ M7 RR.

The same developments put in place for the newest latest technology supersport product have enabled us to design the compound that allows the SPORTEC™ Klassik to achieve excellent results in the wet, without utilizinga high number of grooves and maintaining a design with a very high land-sea ratio.

The tread pattern of SPORTEC™ Klassik is very robust because its footprint provides a high amount of rubber in contact with the road, both on the straight as well as when leant over. This not only offers advantages in terms of mileage, stability and road holding, but it means that all of these qualities remain even after many kilometres and with the progressive wear of the tyre.

The natural process of wear of the tread in SPORTEC™ Klassik will therefore be homogeneous, without causing irregularities in the profile or footprint area. In this way, all the advantages of the design extend throughout the life of the product. These solutions have resulted in a high mileage without resorting to excessively flattened profiles that would affected the handling, a fundamental attribute for the bikes of today as well as for those of the past. On wet roads the drainage capacity is ensured by parallel grooves that work in unison to disperse water that comes from the footprint of the tyre. The development of the grooves in the direction of the shoulder of the tread provides a cross-section that grips the asphalt, to the benefit of traction especially on wet surfaces.The evolution of materials extends to the carcass, stiff enough to ensure optimal interaction with the tread. The reinforced structure of SPORTEC™ Klassik allows a better stability of the motorcycle in the most critical phases of riding, which are cornering, braking and acceleration, contributing in an important way to improve the balance of the entire motorcycle. The balance of all the components of the tyre helps the suspension to filter road irregularities better and keep a good line through corners.

The main fitment

These are the main models of motorcycles to which the new product is dedicated:

The sizes

SPORTEC™ Klassik will be progressively made available starting from Spring 2015 in the following sizes:

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