GEAR ON TEST – Metzeler Karoo Street tyres
Tested by Phil Suriano
If you know Metzeler tyres, you probably already know the Karoo range, which until recently, was for the hardcore adventure and off-road market. The ‘Karoo Extreme’ is what you’d slap on for an assault on Dakar, while the ‘Karoo 3’ is for long distance adventure riding with minimal tarmac time.
As the name suggests, the ‘Karoo Street’ is street-focussed, but can still handle a reasonable amount of off-road duty. Metzeler refer to it as an “expedition” tyre, which means it’s the sort of tyre you’d fit for an adventure that entails mainly tarmac, but with a lot of gravel or dirt roads in between.
The science behind the Street is its high-silica and carbon black compound that’s grippy in both wet and dry situations, along with a new tread pattern. It’s a swept tractor-style design and not as aggressive as the lugs on the Karoo 3.
The profile is derived from Metzeler’s Tourance Next, which means increased width and overall length of the contour to increase the surface of the tyre’s footprint – hence delivering better grip and stability.
Let’s face it, road registerable adventure bikes spend an inordinate amount of time on tarmac, so producing a tyre to reflect that makes a lot of sense, which is exactly what Metzeler have done.
If you were to view the application of these tyres in simpler terms, think of the Karoo Extreme as suited to around 80 per cent off road use and 20 per cent road. The Karoo 3 is a 50:50 split, while the Karoo Street is suited for around 70 per cent road and 30 per cent off road use.
That’s coincidental, as my test of the Karoo Streets – on a BMW R1200 GSA - covered a mix of about 70 per cent sealed roads and 30 per cent off road. As an interesting addition to the experiment, a mate joined me and was running a set of Karoo 3 tyres on his BMW R1250 GSA
We took off from Sydney for a 400km circuit up to Yengo National Park and back, hopeful that the new Karoo Street might just have that “Goldilocks” formula.
The tarmac stuff was pretty standard fare, but for the off road element, we did push it, deliberately choosing unsealed roads that had camber, ruts and washouts. Thanks to recent rain, there was an abundance of damp trials and soft mud, with plenty of water, too, including causeways that were overflowing the roads by 200-400mm – all fun stuff for a weekend ride!
On the way up, the on-road comfort delivered by the Karoo Streets was certainly noticeable compared to the Karoo 3s which I’ve used previously. On sealed roads, the compliance provided confidence to push the bike that bit harder through corners, too. The rolling tread pattern gives a constant contact patch, both on centre and edge blocks, which was evident when flicking the throttle coming out of bends. Even in wet conditions, there always seemed to enough grip and my BMW always felt stable.
Compared to the Karoo 3s, the Streets give much more comfort on sealed roads, but that’s not to say they’re compromised for off-roading. The trails that we sought weren’t easy, but proved to be well within the Karoo Street’s capabilities; I was easily able to keep up with my Karoo 3-shod mate on unsealed roads.
On gravel corners, grip was confidence-inspiring and on wet dirt, the tread pattern kept muck from building up. Had we experienced some truly gnarly off-road conditions, then I’m sure the deeper blocks and tread pattern of the Karoo 3 would have come into their own, but the Streets were more than competent with loose wet soil and mud.
Sticky clay-based mud would certainly be this tyre’s undoing, but then again, those conditions are always challenging - even for full off-road tyres like the Karoo Extreme.
To park up and discuss what the Karoo Street delivered compared to the Karoo 3, we found Myrtle House in Wollombi, which is a great pitstop spot with some seriously great food. If you’re riding the region, call in for a coffee – the big Myrtle House Burger is worth an attempt, too!
In conclusion, I must say I found the Karoo Street tyres to be truly versatile for my test, which I’m sure would apply to most other adventure bike riders, too.
Available in 17-, 19- and 21-inch front and 17- and 18-inch rear sizes from most good motorcycle tyre stockists, priced from $150.00 RRP for fronts and $200.00 RRP for rears (approx., depending on stockist). https://www.metzeler.com/en-ww/home
