Metzeler’s brand new Karoo Street aims to bridge the gap between their road-oriented Tourance Next adventure bike tyre, and the more extreme Karoo 3 which is designed for predominantly off-road use.
The semi-aggressive tread design aims to give riders the best of both worlds – great stability and handling on the tarmac, and a reasonable level of grip when you decide to venture off the asphalt.
Metzeler claim that long transversal grooves, which run across the width of the tyre, deliver good off-road traction, while the short longitudinal grooves offer increased stability and improve the tyres ability to self clean when riding in mud and dirt.
The German tyre maker chose the island of Sicily, with the imposing bulk of Mount Etna, as the place for the international press launch very recently.
With snow melt washing volcanic ash across the road surface, the roads up the side of this still-active volcano can often feel quite slippery, and the multitude of dry river beds filled with lose gravel and rocks gave riders a great opportunity to put them to the test.
Among those lucky enough to be invited to the launch was Kane Dalton of Bike Social, who recently posted his full review on their website.
After some serious miles both on and off tarmac, Kane commented:
“The biggest compliment I can pay this tyre is that I stopped thinking about the level of grip as it was always there. I rode over all these surfaces, wet and dry and I never had a breakaway slip or skid. The Karoo Street is worthy of its claims; it is a great cross-over adventure tyre. The tyre has on road comfort and performance, with loads of off road and wet weather grip.”
You can read Kane’s article in full here.
At the time of writing, only the 110/80 R19 front and 150/70 R17 rear are available in the UK, with further sizes due to come into stock very shortly.
You can view the full planned range of sizes here.
