Rennie Scaysbrook | September 27, 2022
Metzler’s latest ADV tire, the Karoo 4 replacing the Karoo3, is a 50/50 on and off-road tire (but I’d call it more 60/40 towards the off-road). And although Metzeler’s brief was to improve all-round performance, it was to focus more specifically for on-road dry and, especially, wet weather performance.
Volcanic sand might not be the average place to test ADV tires, but the Karoo 4s held up brilliantly all the same.
Photos by Marco Marini
The front Karoo 4 tire is made with the X-Ply single 100-percent carbon-black compound, and the rear uses a dual compound, with 80-percent carbon-black construction for the center tread and softer 20-percent silica for the sidewalls.
It gets a redesigned tread block from the center to the edge of the tire to trap the terrain and use it effectively as a spoon to benefit drive performance, then releases the terrain and self-cleans in time for the next wheel rotation. This is achieved by the vertical wave groove three-quarters of the way across the tire, with the evacuation volume (the gaps between the side tread blocks) significantly different to the Karoo 3.
That tire had wider, fatter blocks on the side of the tire, whereas the Karoo 4 gets smaller blocks with a much wider evacuation area.
The patented Detratec center tread is also significantly different. Metzeler’s gone for two uniform blocks with a single center groove line, doing away with the Karoo 3’s zigzag centerline and irregular-shaped center tread blocks. This helps with tire stability on the street, especially in wet conditions, and is designed to work better with the modern ABS systems fitted to large-capacity ADV bikes.
Metzeler claims the front tire, once leaned past 15 degrees, will give approximately five percent more tire on the ground thanks to the new tread block over the outgoing Karoo 3. Conversely, on the rear, from 20-30 degrees of lean angle, you’ll get an extra 10 percent more rubber on the road, with the obvious benefits of increased traction and stability that come with it. The Karoo 4 has a slightly flatter profile than the more curved Karoo 3, which gives slightly slower steering characteristics in exchange for better braking and cornering stability.
As for the tread block depth, it depends on what size tire you go for. On the 90/90-21 front tire, you’ll get 8mm of depth, with 9mm present on all other front tires. The rears all have a uniform depth of 11mm.
Here’s the outgoing Metzeler Karoo 3 tire (right) compared to the new Karoo 4 (left). Notice how the Karoo 4 has a greater evacuation area between the center knobs and on the side of the tire.
Metzeler Karoo 4 ADV Tire Lowdown
Standout Feature: Exceptional sand performance and in particular, wet-weather grip
MSRP: $150 (starting)
Available tire sizes for Metzeler Karoo 4
Front:
100/90-19 TL 57Q M+S
110/80 R 19 TL 59Q M+S
120/70 R 19 TL 60Q M+S
90/90-21 TL 54Q M+S
Rear:
130/80 R 17 TL 65Q M+S
140/80 R 17 TL 69Q M+S
150/70 R 17 TL 69Q M+S
170/60 R 17 TL 72Q M+S
140/80 – 18 TL 70Q M+S
150/70 R 18 TL 70Q M+S
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Grip while leaned over on loose ground |
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Wet-weather performance |
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Initial turn-in speed has been reduced compared to Karoo 3 |
Metzeler Karoo 4 ADV Tire Rider Analysis
Normally, when you’re given ADV tires to test, you’re pointed to a dusty paddock and told to come back in an hour. Not this time.
For the Karoo 4, we headed to the prehistoric wonderland that is Iceland as part of the Dainese Expedition Masters tour. Iceland is probably the single best place in the world to test ADV tires with soft, volcanic sand, wind, cold, heat, hard pack dirt and lots (and I mean, lots) of belting rain—the kind of weather you’d expect to find on a real ADV tour.
On-road performance was excellent, especially in the wet.
I’ve ridden more bikes on the Karoo 3 than I could possibly remember, although I do remember having a BMW GS 1250 Adventure for a year in 2013 and put the best part of 6000 miles on a set of very worn out K3s. It was an excellent tire and considering its age, it held up very well against the new generation of tires from Bridgestone, Michelin, and parent company, Pirelli with the Scorpion Rally STR.
What I liked about the Karoo 3 was it handled sandy conditions exceptionally well. You could always tell what it was doing beneath you, but what I didn’t like was the road noise you’d get in everyday riding. Much like big 4×4 tires, you knew you were riding on semi-knobbies with the Karoo 3s. The Karoo 4s, however, have much less road noise coming from them at speed, a small but nice feature.
On the trail, two things stood out. We did a lot of riding up the sides of hills in Iceland (even rode up the side of a volcano, no joke) so it gave the tire plenty of time to show off its shoulder stability in wet and dry dirt. Wet dirt was no problem, but it was nice to see how much traction was offered in loose topsoil while riding not in an entirely straight line—a subject that wasn’t all that surprising given the Karoo 3’s strengths.
We didn’t spend much time on any rocky terrain (go off the main roads in Iceland and you could be up for jail time, seriously), so I’ll leave my comments on rock hopping until we try the Karoo 4s in SoCal, but I can confirm just how good they are in the driving, hardcore rain, first on the trail and then on the road, which we got about 100 miles’ worth in one afternoon.
Water crossings were no problem for the Karoo 4s.
Stability under brakes in the rain was very impressive on the wet dirt, which, to be fair, should be its natural habitat. However, on the street, with all the associated runoff water and the constant ‘death rainbow’ of oil from cars ahead coating the road surface, the Karoo 4’s performance was exceptional, especially from the front.
Metzeler’s design team has worked with the specific goal of increasing wet-weather grip, and when mated to the modern Cornering ABS system on the Multistrada V4 S, I feel it’s a goal attained.
The Karoo 4s are indeed a step-up in overall performance from the Karoo 3, a tire which had an enviable reputation in the 50/50 category.
For more information, visit www.metzeler.com
