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Metzeler 880s

creaky

creaky

Moped
I bought my '98 last November, it had a new set of Metzeler 880 Marathons fitted, they still had the titties showing all around the tread. During a New Year's Day ride, I was riding a downhill suburban street that had two sharp switchbacks, there was a light drizzle and the streets were wet. During braking for the switchbacks, very slow speed, the rear end of the bike slid out causing a decent pucker on my part. Afterwards, I did some intentional quick braking on a level wet street and the rear tire slid easily. I did some reading on the 880s and find that the ones manufactured in Brazil have a number of problems. I checked the tires, sure enough, made in Brazil. I am comtemplating getting rid of the Metzelers for something else. What are the thoughts of those of you that have experience with these tires? Any suggestions on which tire for replacement? All feedback is appreciated.
 
I had good mileage success from Dunlop E3s.  I was also able to scrape hard parts in curves, so grip seemed fine to me.  I throttle back quite a bit on wet roads, but did not experience any problems with the E3s.  You can certainly find other tires more grippy though.  it's just a tradeoff between grip and mileage.  Several lately have been suggesting the Avons, which is probably a very good choice.  I've not had experience with them as to mileage results.
 
Nothin' wrong w/ 880's .... that 20k of slab ridin' won't cure.

Either ride em long and straight and they will work fine, or R/R w/ something softer and stickier.

I liked the Avon radials best, but that's a different thread. Use the 880's w/ caution, or change to a tire combo that fit's your riding style. That's the joy in making a 'used' bike your own! :beerchug:
 
Roger Dodger said:
Nothin' wrong w/ 880's .... that 20k of slab ridin' won't cure.

Either ride em long and straight and they will work fine, or R/R w/ something softer and stickier.

I liked the Avon radials best, but that's a different thread. Use the 880's w/ caution, or change to a tire combo that fit's your riding style. That's the joy in making a 'used' bike your own! :beerchug:
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I concur with the Avons.I have a Storm2 Ultra up front and a Azaro on the rear which seems to be the most popular setup.I REALLY like them.They stick well in the wet and dry and at the Motorcycle Superstore(NO AFFILIATION)they are both less than 180 bucks each. ;D
 
If you do a search of the forums, you will find that nobody recommends these tires for anything but dry pavement. 

I crashed another bike and broke my ankle on a wet road with cheng shens on it .  I highly recommend you replace them with a stickier tire.  Read the reviews.  I recently replaced mine with BT45 Bridgestones.  They appear to be ok but I haven't pushed them to the limit.
 
I've been riding the 880s for years and I love them.  I'm a daily commuter and very rarely see any twisties down here in Florida, but manage to put 25-30k on the bike every year.  So the long-wearing straight-line thing the Metzlers are good at is perfect for me.

At the moment, I'm running Dunlop K700/701 because that's what the PO was running and they were practically brand new.  So far they're fine, but I've only put about 4k on them since October.
 
Metzler 880s, with less than 500 miles on them. But yes, I just slow it down and take it easy when it's wet.



Edited to add: That's a Metzler 880 rear. It's some crappy cruiser tire I got for cheap on the front. I don't think it's had matching tires front and rear since it was new, 67k miles ago.
 

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    ME880's are the only tires (other than the Michelin PR2's I had on my C14) that I ever removed from the bike very early (before I needed to for some reason). They were absolutely horrible tires. The tires long life design makes for a very hard rubber. Hard rubber tends to give you handling characteristics like you just found out. They are unpredictable and do not possess the grip of other (IMO better) tires. The loss of grip and tending to push in turns only gets worse as the temperature drops and/or as they wear. 
  I didn't even get the long wear out of them because they were off my bike by about half life. IMO, one very suck azz tire. The only way I would install them on a bike of mine,  is if I was stuck on the road. And they were the only tire available to get me home.    :29:



Oh wow, it's now a tire thread!  :))
 
Cap'n Bob said:
Oh wow, it's now a tire thread!  :))
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With a name like "Metzeler 880s" you expected maybe an oil thread...? 
th_dunno.gif
 
Thanks for the replies. I've done some more reading on problems with the Brazilian 880s, looks like the general conclusion is.......crappy tire.
and only 600 miles on 'em. 

 

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coffee_brake said:
Metzler 880s, with less than 500 miles on them. But yes, I just slow it down and take it easy when it's wet.

Edited to add: That's a Metzler 880 rear. It's some crappy cruiser tire I got for cheap on the front. I don't think it's had matching tires front and rear since it was new, 67k miles ago.
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Hey, Jenn...  What kind of tread life do you get from the ME880's?

I put 44K miles on my cruiser before I sold it, and never ran anything but ME 880 WWW tires.
They were excellent tires in dry, rain, and grooved pavement, and highly recommended on the cruiser forum.
But I only got about 8K - 9K out of the rear tires.  :(

I'm planning an 11K mile trip this summer, and I'd like to do it on one set of tires.


 
If you are absolutely crazy-attentive with air pressure you can get well over 10k on the Metzlers. When the Concours was my only transportation for a couple years, I got 20k out of a ME880 rear. But I ran 50 psi and did very little twisties.

They do wear pretty well with attention to air pressure, but they certainly are not as sticky as other tires.

In fact, this is likely my last 880 for a while, if I can find a stickier tire to replace it. I'm so used to the handling of these tires that I don't even try to get any grip in rain, I just slow way down and take it easy.
 
I'd run 45 and almost all of my miles were commuting.  I'd be disappointed if I didn't get 20k out of an 880 rear.  No, they're not sticky in the rain, but I didn't expect or need them to be.  They did exactly what I wanted, which was to last a long long time - about a year in my case.

But there sure are a bunch of complaints about them on the net.  Maybe I'll try something else when the Dunlops the PO put on this bike need to be replaced.
 
rick3foxes said:
Hey, Jenn...  What kind of tread life do you get from the ME880's?

I put 44K miles on my cruiser before I sold it, and never ran anything but ME 880 WWW tires.
They were excellent tires in dry, rain, and grooved pavement, and highly recommended on the cruiser forum.
But I only got about 8K - 9K out of the rear tires.  :(

I'm planning an 11K mile trip this summer, and I'd like to do it on one set of tires.
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Rick, consider a set of Dunlop E3's.  I got 15k out of a set.
 
Looks like the new Michelin Commander II could be an answer, or a Shinko Wing size radial SE 890 Journey could be another answer. I just mounted up a Venom in back, jury's out yet. The PR3 is a keeper in front, 110x80 size.
 
I think I might go to the E3 when the time comes.  I remember running the Elite 2 on my old Shadow and it did really well there.
 
I've even heard as much as 23K from a set of E3's and that was mostly two up, I guy "Max" from the old site.  Me I'm sticking with 880's cause thats a hard enough tire!
 
I use the E3s on my GL1800. They offer decent grip in all weather conditions and acceptable tire mileage but they HOWL in turns. Living in FL you likely won't have much of an issue with that. ;) :rotflmao:
 
I got 20K miles out of my last two sets of GT's and will miss them for the long wear without the slippery/slide of the 880's.

Thinkin of going storm or E3 and Azaro and back to radials since I got the LT for the 2up stuff. Interestingly enough the 880's seem to grip quite well on the LT and takes a very concious effort to make them slip, but they only last about 10K on the rear of it.
 
I had a ME880 on the rear when I bought my bike.  It wasn't a bad tire, but never a great tire.

A couple of years ago I converted to 17" front and rear.  Since running dual compound modern radials, I have been pushing the limits MUCH more.

I ended up with a ME880 on one of my most recent Mean Streak wheels that was in really good condition.  So, I figured I'd give it a try.  So most recent tire change was to a mildly used ME880 rear and a brand new ME880 front.

Keep in mind that in my sizes they are radials, not bias ply.  I have about 3k miles on them so far.  In the dry, I can push them almost as hard as I did the RoadSmarts.  In the wet it's a WHOLE different story.  I really have to watch throttle and brake inputs when the pavement is wet.

At this point, I may consider buying them again.  But I may try the Continental ContiMotion and see what those are about.
 
Egodriver71 said:
I had a ME880 on the rear when I bought my bike.  It wasn't a bad tire, but never a great tire.

A couple of years ago I converted to 17" front and rear.  Since running dual compound modern radials, I have been pushing the limits MUCH more.

I ended up with a ME880 on one of my most recent Mean Streak wheels that was in really good condition.  So, I figured I'd give it a try.  So most recent tire change was to a mildly used ME880 rear and a brand new ME880 front.

Keep in mind that in my sizes they are radials, not bias ply.  I have about 3k miles on them so far.  In the dry, I can push them almost as hard as I did the RoadSmarts.  In the wet it's a WHOLE different story.  I really have to watch throttle and brake inputs when the pavement is wet.

At this point, I may consider buying them again.  But I may try the Continental ContiMotion and see what those are about.
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Tom, if you want I can go get an ME880 I gave to a (not too close of a friend ) friend. It has little to no  miles and it is a17 inch and you can have it for free.
The next time your in town it is yours. Let me know.
 
I had 880 radials on my Mean Streak wheels as well. (of course they were actually on the Mean Streak). Would I use them again? As the little guy say:  :32:
 
Daytona_Mike said:
Tom, if you want I can go get an ME880 I gave to a (not too close of a friend ) friend. It has little to no  miles and it is a17 inch and you can have it for free.
The next time your in town it is yours. Let me know.
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Be there for chili!!!
 
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