Metzeler Tourance Next 2s & Bridgestone AX 41s
Some context: Metzelers Next Tourance 2s were affixed to our 2012 BMW R1200GS – the last of the oil cooled line. The rims on the wire wheeld hubs take the narrower 150 section, familiar to GS owners prior to the introduction of the water cooled models (rear section: 170). The Metzelers were replacing some worn Bridgestone’s AX 41s, the Japanese manufacturer’s 50/50 all purpose rubber. A word about those first…
Off road the 41s were competent, coping with a variety of surfaces, although on anything but a dedicated knobbly I’d treat sand and mud with caution. As any honest commentator will testify, the main barrier to taking a big GS off piste is the rider’s fear of picking the bike up again, not to mention the prospect of a quarter of a tonne of German steel rolling around on the deck like a young horse, in close proximity to tender body parts. If you’re prepared to banish such visions, then the GS can do the dirt (albeit in a limited way for all but the most able rider), helped by the right tyres. If half your miles really are off road, irrespective of bike, than the AX41s make sense. Because for the 50% of the time they’re on tarmac, they also do a surprisingly good job. They feel good leant in, are stable enough up to around 90 mph, and can cope with the wet stuff. However, one of the reasons for their road performance credentials is the softness of the compound in use, and that means those blocks wear quickly, which undermines performance off road as well as on it. In this respect, they’re slightly compromised by their own tarmac capability, being as happy to mile munch on a motorway as cross a (dry) field. However, they are also noisy – the last thing you worry about green laning, but waring on the road. Continental TK80s are the go to tyre for this kind of 50/50 application, and by way of comparison I’d say that the AXs were better on road. On the dirt they’re too closely matched to make an objective call.
The AX41s decent on road performance was foregrounded by the change to the Metzelers. I thought the AXs did pretty well, but with tarmac underneath them the Tourance 2s were on another planet, as they are entitled to be, given their intended application. These are brilliant road tyres: perhaps not quite up there in terms of stablity and grip with the best sports rubber, but they’re cetainly capable of doing a track day with pressures judiciously lowered, and the pilot safe in the knowledge that should it start to rain, only riders with full wets could significantly exploit the conditions to a greater extent.
I could lean the GS as far as I dared – the main obstacle being not the tyres, but the crash bars protecting the cylinder heads. On the road I went one up, two up and fully loaded, in wet and dry, and the tyres remained stable and predictable, not far off from Metzeler’s own superb Roadtec 01s.
So… can the T2s work off road? As always, it depends on how ‘off road’ is defined. It’s interesting that in Metzeler’s 2023 data book, the T2s fall into an ambiguous sector, ’Enduro Street’, not to be confused with ‘Enduro On / Off Road’… The implication being that they don’t really have any expectation of anyone being crazy enough to mistake them for 50/50s. That said, as long as you exclude sand, wet grass and mud from the menu, you can do farm / fire tracks with a bit of gravel and rock, and get across a (dry) grass field. I’d be happier doing them with 50kgs less bulk underneath me, but there is a certain satisfaction to be had sheperding an ageing behemoth along an unclassified track in the arse end of nowehere (aka Powerstock, West Dorset).
All of which raises an intriguing question. Many people have dismissed road biased advenuture tyres as being sports touring tyres in drag: questionable on the dirt, albeit with a funky tread pattern to make them look that little bit harder. Nevertheless, some adventure bikes actually do get off piste from time to time. Would they be better be better of with a genuine 50/50 like the AXs, or could they manage with something like the T2s? Yes, it depends on off road ambitions, but whereas in the past my answer would definitely been to opt for the former, I’m less sure these days. As long as you avoid obvious no go areas (like those mentioned above), I reckon the asphalt advantages offered by the T2s are pretty overwhelming. 50/50s are for riders who do as many dirt miles as road miles, and they should take a good look at the AX41s. But for pretty much everyone else, including those of us who venture up the odd track or across the occasional field, the Metzeler Tourance Next 2s tick all the right boxes.
