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dukey33 wrote:

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Glad you are liking that Corbra tire. I am becoming more and more a fan of Avon Tyres. I have a Storm on the Motorradhome and may switch my Tourer on the next tire change.

Duke,

Tomorrow I will get front and rear Avon Storms put on my Nighthawk. I am excited to feel the difference between them and the Michelin Pilot Activs I am replacing. I like Avon's approach to tire design. A few years ago all the motorcycle tire manufacturers were doing the variable rubber density thing, i.e. hard in the middle of the tread for high mileage and soft on the sides for good stick-um. That just results in uneven wear, cupping and weird handling. The new approach, which I believe Avon pioneered, is 360° circumferential belts with the highest density of belts in the tread center for high mileage and less belts on the sides for good traction. Hopefully this way there will be even wear and no strange handling behavior throughout the life of the tire.

Duke,

It seems there are two different kinds of Dual Compound Tires. Michelin's Pilot Road tires have low density rubber covering the tread surface including the center tread all the way out to the edges. Interior harder density rubber supports all of softer surface tread. Other manufacturers, including Bridgestone when they released the BT45 bias-ply tire back in the 1980's, have a harder/denser rubber on the surface in the middle of the tread and a softer/less dense rubber on the surface on either side of tread center. Those are the tires that have uneven wear, cupping and much less than desireable handling behavior as the miles are piled on. I have not tried Michelin's version of Dual Compound Tires, but I would not recommend getting Bridgestone's version for anybody that does wear their tires out off-center like I do.

Actually I only wear my front tires off-center. The rear tires always wear out with a flat 3" wide center track that starts becoming visible between 2500 & 3500 miles. I have been most impressed with the bias-ply Pilot Activ rear tire because it did not show any center wear track until 7500 miles. That's the most with any tire I have ever owned, whether it be bias-ply or radial tire from Dunlop, Bridgestone or Michelin.

The sport-touring Avon Storm's are the first tires I have tried with Variable Belt Density, i.e. more belts in the center of the tread for high mileage and the belts more spaced apart in the off-center tread out to the left and right edges for better traction. I put them on the bike yesterday. Over the course of this week I will get my initial more conservatively ridden 100 miles on them (when the beads settle and the mold release wears off), then I will be ready to see what these tires can do.

I was not unhappy with the way any of the previous Dunlop and Michelin bias-ply tires handled, I really bought Avon's Storm radial tires hoping they will last longer than 8000 to 10,000 miles which is all I have been getting for a set on my Nighthawk. Others who live in flat areas of the country with straight roads who do wear their tires out in the tread's center get about double the mileage with the same Michelin tires. I scrapped my Pilot Activ tires out about a 1000 to 2000 miles early in preparation for my 2000+ mile Americade trip.

dukey33 wrote:

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Fred,
I don't know which Michelins you're describing, but the PR2s have a harder compound down the middle and softer on the shoulders. All the FJR and ST riders are really liking them for the combination of cornering grip and touring longevity.

From Michelin's website:
"Until now, you had to make a choice: the grip of a softer tire - or the durability of a harder tire? But thanks to Michelin 2CT dual-compound technology, the new Pilot® Road 2 tire offers both grip and durability in one tire. By integrating a soft rubber compound on the tread shoulders with a wear-resistant compound down the middle, Michelin gives you the best of both worlds. The Pilot® Road 2 tire is like two tires in one. "

Duke,

It appears that Michelin produces both types of dual compound tires although the Pilot Road is as you said, hard center tread and softer edge tread. Both dual compound tire types are shown below.

Now after researching them a bit, what I do like about the Pilot Road dual compound areas is the area that I have worn out first in the last 6 front tires on 2 different bikes has been about 20% to 25% left of center tread towards the edge which according to Michelin's picture is still in the hard rubber area. The bike really has to be leaned over far just to take advantage of the softer rubber near the edges. And as you said many riders are very happy with the wear characteristics of the Pilot Road. Only a couple of them have complained about cupping.

I have also found some cupping complaints about Avon's variable belt density tires, the Storms. If my new Storms cup, or if do not last as long as Michelin's bias-ply Pilot Activs I probably will go back to the Activs since Pilot Roads are about $25 more per tire than the Activs.

Duke,

I have to say I am incredibly impressed with the Avon Storm sport-touring tires. Not only is the turn-in much faster, the flickability factor went up so drastically, it is like I am riding a new and much improved bike. I still have about 62 miles to go before the beads are set and the tread is properly scuffed in, but when that happens I will be seeing what these tires can do at full lean. So far, they are exceptional. I have never had tires from any manufacturer that made such a difference in handling which is particularly impressive because they are the exact same size tires as the ones I replaced.

Gary,

I would agree that Avon is on to something good with their new tire technologies. It feels to me that the bike leans over so much more easily and smoothly it is now like I have power-steering where before I had to strong-arm the bike like I had manual-steering. Is that what the Cobras feels like? Maybe I sold my T too soon because these Avon tires provide a great feeling ride.

So far I have not noticed any significant road noise with the Avon Storms. I definitely did notice road noise with the E3's although it just seemed to be loud at particular speeds, like 25 to 35 mph and then only when the tires were newish.

Probably part of the reason I do not notice much road noise with Avon Storm tires is I now normally ride with ear plugs in an attempt to make my ears hear well longer. My mother's husband, now 90 years old, has holes in both his ear drums. No hearing aids can help him. He has to resort to writing what he wants to say. I did forget to put my ear plugs in on my commute to work yesterday. I do not remember hearing any road noise coming from those Avon Storm tires. How are the Cobras for road noise?

Guns90 wrote:

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Fred, I did not describe the performance of my Cobras nearly as effective as you did your Storms, but they both seem to be very impressive tires. Your description of the handling is exactly what I experienced on the Cobra, so I just went and compared the two. Both have what Avon calls the Advanced Variable Belt Density (A-VBD), the Lifetime Profile Engineering (LPE), and the Advanced Aqua Flow (AAF) tread pattern. In that we are both impressed with these tires' initial results, it looks like Avon is on to something, huh? You didn't mention the road noise. How does it compare to the E3's you had on your T?

Gary,

This morning I did not wear my ear plugs so that I could listen to any tire noise coming from my new Avon Storm sport-touring radial tires. Even leaned over at 70 mph with my head down behind the windshield listening intently I could not hear any high-pitched sounds from the tires (like I would expect from E3's) nor hardly any noise at any frequency. Avon makes some nice tires.