I currently have a 2005 FXDI,that I bought new, with just under 32,000 miles.

I have about 70,000 miles riding experience in total.

I moved down to NWArkansas from upstate NY back in January and just recently switched over to Metzler tires.

Yesterday I was out riding when it started to rain. This was my first experience with the Metzlers in the rain. I started to accelerate in second and the back of the bike fishtailed quite abruptly. I spun the back tire on a couple of other occasions that day but the bike did not fishtail. I am not sure if it is the Metzlers or the fact that we get very little rain here and maybe the road service differs here from the Northeast.

Back in 2005, riding back from Sturgis, I spent 3 days in a row riding in some very hard rain and had no problems with traction and my Dunlops.

I had been very happy with the Metzlers in the dry but now I am thinking that I liked the OEM Dunlops better whenriding in the rain.

 

Your experience is the complete opposite of mine.

I'd suggest that the roads, as you suggest, don't get rained on often enough to wash off the oil slicks coming off the cages *or* that you rode through some bad stuff that caused your initial fishtail and needs to be cleaned off.

 

Haven't used metzlers myself but there are plenty of folks (personal friends and folks on this forum) that swear by them.

How many miles do you have on those metzlers?
Any idea what the break in period is for those tires?
Shouldn't be more than 100miles or so....sounds like you're probably over that, no?

 

The Asphalt roads here are always very click in the rain. (North East Tennessee)

On my 2000 FXDX the Metzler ME 880 tires have been wayyyy better performers in the rain than the Dunlops were.

As the light changed once in front of East Tennessee University Ihit the brakes and skid for ever trying to get stopped.
That's when I switched to Met's and on the same road in the same conditions I can now stop as expected.

 

I know I'm happy with Dunlops. I suspect though if your area hadn't had rain in a long time you could have been experiencing oil being washed out of the surface of the road. Often that circumstance only lasts for a short while though.

 

Roads are like women,,,,they all have their own direction in life,,,,slippery when wet,,,,unforgiving when frozen,,,,scorned and abrasive will grind u to the bone......

 

Thanks to all.

I suspect it is the lack of rain and the oil coming to the surface but it sure surprised the heck out of me.