o kidding, you could have 25,000-plus riders waiting at the door for this one. Metzeler’s brand-new ME880 260/40R-18 upgrade rear radial tires, just introduced, will be–in most cases–a straight bolt-on for the estimated 25,000 bikes currently running the 240- and 250 Series tires. Everyone in the custom world wants big, and here’s big without the hassle and expense of changing the wheel, swingarm, tail section or fender of their current 240/250 bike. Of course you’ll want to do some careful eyeballing and break out the tape measure to check clearances, but in most cases the new Metzeler 260 will slip right in.
     Metzeler’s new 260 comes with the patented Metzeler 0-degree steel-belted radial construction, too. It’s a construction technique that virtually eliminates tire growth and deformation at speed. In fact, at 160 MPH a Metzeler radial grows no more than 2mm–that’s .078 of an inch! That means the new 260 won’t chew up the fender it’s hugging. You can mount the fender as close as .25 inches-a quarter of an inch above the tire with no problems. And like all Metzelers the new 260 is a handler. It’ll provide excellent wet and dry performance, and there’s real high-speed stability here.
     And the new Metzeler 260 looks great! Combined with the other oversize Metzeler ME880 radial custom rears, your customer has a choice of three sizes: 240, 260, or 280. And as we said, there’s a ready-made market already waiting for this one. Every rider out there rolling down the road on a 240 or 250 (and there are plenty of them) will want to know all about this bigger tire they can mount without having to change anything else. The new ME880 260/40R-18 upgrade/upsize Metzeler carries a suggested retail of $289.95, and Drag Specialties has it now.

Metzeler And The AHDRA
     Guess who has the “Official Tire” for the All Harley Drag Racing Association this year, and who has just posted $27,510 in contingency money…
     You got it; it’s Metzeler. Metzeler’s just jumped into the AHDRA in a huge way. Now a major sponsor of this wildly popular drag-racing series, Metzeler has already been named “The Official Tire Of The AHDRA” and you can bet those contingency awards, $27,510 worth, will keep the top riders on Metzeler all season long, too. As John Burdynski just summed it up at Phoenix after taking top honors in two classes on his hot-rod Buell, running Metzelers, naturally, “Metzeler coming into the AHDRA like this is a beautiful thing!”
     And it’s going to be beautiful for you, too. All those riders sitting in the stands cheering on the action and then wandering the pits to see what the winners use are going to get the message loud and clear: Metzelers perform! These are tires that win on the track, these are tires the top AHDRA guys use, so when it comes time for some OE replacement-size tires these race fans, the bulk of your street-riding Harley-Davidson customer base, will be thinking Metzeler. They’ll want to know what all this fuss is about. Why those Metzelers are the “Official Tires Of The AHDRA.” And what does Metzeler have for them? Show them everything Metzeler has for them and their street bike and they’ll know. And you’ll have another Metzeler sale. You can thank Metzeler and the AHDRA for that!