Just Bought new tires ( Metzeler Sport Tech M7RR )and less than 100 miles on them I get home to this split rear . Bear in mind I definitely did not run over anything or remove anything from the tire and this split goes all the way through the tire and takes less than 2 min to go flat, I haven't as yet removed the tire so I don't know what the inside of the tire looks like but in all my years of riding and driving I have never seen anything like this damage/defect in which there was nothing left embedded in the tire and no outline or marks of something having been embedded at some point. Out of curiosity has anyone else?

 

It sure has the appearance of a cut from the outside. If it was sharp and stuck to the ground I don't think you'd be able to notice it at any kind of speed. It just doesn't look like rubber separation, but a sharp cut.

 

Looks like sheer bad luck to me.

On the other hand, it could have been a catastrophic failure at high speed causing a lot more damage to the bike and possibly you as well.

Maybe incredibly good luck after all.

 

That's the trouble, I agree that it looks like it was cut but I know there was nothing stuck in or to the ground and this split goes all the way through (I filmed the trip at 60fps in HD and have gone over the footage very carefully).

Its the fact that nothing was left imbedded in it and there are no marks or debris (rock or dirt) to show that anything ever was. I was "super lucky" that after a 2 hour high speed blast on very twisty roads this tyre started going flat less than half a kilometer from home on suburban roads and even then I had to stop halfway a service station to pump it up, lol.

My main concern is, do I replace the tyre with the same or go back to the Pirelli diablo corsa's I've done the exact same trip on for over 10 years without a problem or continue with the new Metzelers (whose grip level and feel are magnificent and better than the Pirelli's by the way) and risk this happening again in a worse place???

 

If you like their performance, then by all means get another one. This was just bad luck.

 

The only other thing I can think of, if you didn't run over something sharp, is if the bike was parked up, someone with a vindictive streak may have punctured the tyre. But if it wasn't left parked out of sight, that would rule that out.

 

If it starts to bother you Pirelli or any other big tyre manufacturer has similar tire as the Metzeler M7RR but to me it allso looks like you hit something rather than a defective tyre from the factory. I personally haven't tried the M7RR but i run many sets of M3:s,M5:s and Racetechs and can't find anything bad to say about them. I allso ridden Pirellis Diablo Corsas and i like the Metzelers feedback more but the Pirellis have allso very much grip. No problem scraping the pegs on my 954 when they are at lowest position (still higher then stock). What Pirelli Diablos have you used? I have at the moment Super Corsa SC-2 track tire at the front and Rosso2 rear wheel and they seem to grip fine. I had SuperCorsa SP on the front a while ago and it was the best front for street use i ever had. The track tires allso have a great grip when they warm up but they are much slippery when cold and if the weather is cold i'll have to rsun them pretty hard to get them warm.

I actually had similar looking puncture on my Corsa 3 rear years ago but bigger. And i never found anything inside the tyre or from the ground. And it did go flat in seconds so i stopped right away and tried to look from the road butnothing. I did fix it with and drift/burn the tyre few km:s with it before it was finished and changed it to a new one.

 

For 10 years I have run Pirelli Rosso Diablo Corsa and Pirelli Super Corsa, sometimes I used the Diablo Corsa's front and rear, sometimes I ran the Super Corsa's front and rear but of late I have been running the Super Corsa's at the front with the Rosso Diablo Corsa's on the rear, this last combination mean's both tyre's wear out at about the same time for me and I like to know that the back is going to give before the front. This time I wanted to try a change and ran a Metzeler Racetech K3 front and a Sport tech M7RR rear. Performance wise I am stoked with the tyre's but longevity wise, not so much especially with the rear, rofl. I usually get about 2000-2500 km's out of my tyre's but I certainly want more than 150 km out of a $300 rear.

Just one last note, since the split is in the centre of the tyre I am surprised that if I did hit something, the front should have hit it too but it is completely unmarked. Also in my defense I didn't say it wasn't just bad luck, it could well be , but this is a new type of tyre and has only been out here for 5 months and if there is an issue with it I just want people to be aware of my problem. And Hawkwind, it wasn't out of my sight the whole time so I can rule out any interferance with the tyre.

 

I been riding 12 years now with motorcycles and never had a puncture on the front tyre. I have had many on the rear (allso on the center). Allso can't recal that any of my friends would have broken front tires. Countless rears thought and my friends have repaired punctured rears for drifting that they have gotten from friends and stores that sell tires. There are many of them used for stunting every summer. The M7 RR was introduced and came to stores last fall year ago so it has been on the maeket little longer.