Roadtec Z8 Interact™

Metzeler’s all-new Roadtec Z8 Interact™ sport touring motorcycle tyre is now ready for the highways and mountain roads with its Multi Zone Tension technology, new generation profiles, new functional tread pattern and nano-particle compounds, making it the most highly capable motorcycle tyre for sport touring and naked bikes in its class.

The combination of these features make Roadtec Z8 Interact™ the perfect tyre for modern Sport Touring needs, composed of all technical features found in the Roadtec Z6 Interact™ while improving in the areas of wet behavior and sport riding with respect to handling and grip. These premium tyres are ready for demanding sport riders looking to easily maximize their enjoyment of riding, devoted riders making long-distance journeys and all-season riders who travel in every weather condition.

Easy Riding For Maximum Enjoyment

Adding to a very simple but rich product portfolio, Metzeler’s new Roadtec Z8 Interact™ is yet another class-leading tyre committed to riding enjoyment, that is, a tyre with versatility of use, comfort and safety (especially under w et conditions) that permits you to focus on the ride. Roadtec Z8 Interact™ provides increased riding enjoyment initially through a new generation CMT (Contour Modeling Technology) profile that reduces push steering force by 5% versus its predecessor, immediately elevating the overall handling capabilities and easiness of various bike setups.

This was achieved through a reduced cap section height, resulting in a more rounded curvature design to improve handling and increased stability. Although the profile has measurably quicker steering transitions, an incredible safety feeling is still present through a predictable turn-in rate that adds confidence to challenging riding such as panic situations on the wet while braking or low-speed turns on mountain passes.

Additional elements of riding enjoyment like excellent handling, stability and reduced road noise are attained by mating this tyre profile to the latest structural innovation: Interact™ multi zone tension technology, along with a functional tread pattern and temperature resistant compounds. A final footprint area 8% wider as compared to the Roadtec Z6 Interact™ is the outcome of a variation of steel belt tensions and a strategically placed tread pattern which optimises pressures in the footprint area.

Continuity Of Performance Even After Significant Use

Above and beyond the total mileage users can achieve from a set of tyres, a premium sport touring tyre becomes more attractive with a performance consistency until the last kilometer. The Roadtec Z8 Interact™ achieves its best-in-segment mileage and optimal wet performances throughout tyre’s life thanks to an innovative tread pattern, a widened and more elliptical footprint, and a host of wear-resistant technologies not normally seen in motorcycle tyres.

Roadtec Z8 Interact™'s handling and w et performance follows the Sportec M5 Interact™, but instead features a high steel belts winding tension in the center to reduce compound movement and increase stability of the footprint, with a balanced usage of Carbon Black and Silica in the compound to accelerate warm-up time and maintain uniform performance even on increased temperature rides, avoiding decay during summertime or with a full load.

Metzeler's new patented PI tread pattern reduces front tyre land-sea ratio to 11% (vs. Z6 at 17%) and rear tyre land-sea ratio of 13% (vs. Z6 at 18%), although strategically placed longitudinal central grooves provide ideal drainage for more than ¾ of all lean angles in the w et. The remaining tread grooves work to add tread flexibility, extending the footprint for stability in the dry.

A nano-scale level of dispersion of the compound helps create a truly homogeneous matrix of the carbon and silica components for an absolutely consistent performance level (grip, stability and mileage) through 90% of the tread groove depth. With the Roadtec Z8 InteractTM improvements in wear regularity vs. the Z6 Interact™, riders now benefit from a consistent riding performance across the tyre’s entire life. The reinforced polymers crosslink of the compound and angled tread groove w alls offer performance stability and proper water drainage until the final kilometers, for a high level of enjoyment even when the tyre is worn.

Confidence & Reliability, Fully Loaded For The Whole Distance

The biggest challenge of this new project was to design a tyre capable of making riding easier no matter the conditions (wet, dry, cold, warm, loaded, unloaded, with or without passenger) and no matter the bike (naked, sport touring or supersport). A new higher sidewall dimension improves the tyre’s capability to bear stresses coming from the road (dampening properties), making a tyre which is more comfortable in all load conditions, even when mounted on very heavy sport touring bikes.

Roadtec Z8 Interact™ adopts a modern, PI inspired tread pattern adapted from the Sportec M5 Interact™, making it not only a strong distinctive element of the product but a new patent for optimizing the tyre structure’s elastic properties to obtain the best contact between tyre and road in any condition. Not only is the footprint area wider but its shape is ideally elliptical, such that great confidence and stability are truly felt.

Among the most important technical features of the Roadtec Z8 InteractTM is its capability to work even when tyre operative temperature is quite low , truly guaranteeing safety from the first mile. New compounds have been developed using a fine carbon silica matrix (FCM) technology and the latest generation of newest high performance raw materials for a quick adaptability to a wider range of conditions, such as transitions from cold to warm or from wet to dry. The new compounds (differentiated front to rear) offer the highest level of grip possible in these variable conditions, but still retain extremely high mileage characteristics.

To achieve a perfectly homogeneous matrix, dispersion was completed at a nano-scale (10-9 meters) level rather than the typical micro-scale (10-6 meters). In this way, the compound keeps its macro-reinforcement at a similar level when passing from cold to warm conditions (low thermo-plasticity), maintaining a compound stiffness and thus a high safety level even in high temperature conditions or load stress.

Moving into a new decade, Metzeler is committed to delivering a premium product line with a complete customer value in all segments in which it competes. With the Roadtec Z8 Interact™, Metzeler returns to the top as the new reference for ultra capable sport-touring tyres for which the brand has become synonymous. To be the only sport touring tyre in the segment to deliver such riding easiness, mileage and safety is something motorcyclists will appreciate.