First Impressions of the New Avon Storm ST's

[Austin city limits]

I have a set setting in my shop and will be fitted to my BMW this Friday... I HOPE,,, they are good/Great/Super/BESTEST tires!!!

Oh,,, my bike??? I am calling it "Relentless"... Cindy/friends seem to call me that so,,, I will give it to my bike as a name too...

 

[saaz]

There are some Pilot Road 2s out now. Here is a link to a UK test (funny how they comment a ZX14 is a heavy bike! Power, oh yes..)
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/mcn/2007/March/week-09-Mar01-Mar06/mar0207ultimatemichelinwetweathertyre/

 

[Byron]

Matt,

Let me submit this for your consideration. The attachment is a map of a short route near my house. It's 8.9 miles up a canyon with approximately 72 direction changes over this distance. I ran it last night after a jaunt through Big Bear and Crestline. Aside from scrapping the right toe of my boot once with the balls of my feet on the pegs I didn't scrape anything. Run time was 9 min. and 22 seconds based on looking at my video, crossing the large arrow in the roadway at the bottom to the junction of the East Fork. Here is a link to it on YouTube. It may take a little bit to process as it is about 10 minutes of video. According to MS S&T's it's a 13 min. ride but my usual is 10.

To give you a little more information when I make the ride I try and do it without hitting the brakes and just holding a constant speed. I will downshift before a turn to slow slightly or use the brakes for obsticles. Posted limit is 40 with some turns listed as 20. My goal is to be smooth. This is also not a ride that you can run all out because of debris, fallen rocks, rocks kicked onto the road by cars and dirt/sand.

 

[Byron]

Matt,

Video is now available!

 

[dduelin]

Matt,

Let me submit this for your consideration. The attachment is a map of a short route near my house. It's 8.9 miles up a canyon with approximately 72 direction changes over this distance. I ran it last night after a jaunt through Big Bear and Crestline. Aside from scrapping the right toe of my boot once with the balls of my feet on the pegs I didn't scrape anything. Run time was 9 min. and 22 seconds based on looking at my video, crossing the large arrow in the roadway at the bottom to the junction of the East Fork. Here is a link to it on YouTube. It may take a little bit to process as it is about 10 minutes of video. According to MS S&T's it's a 13 min. ride but my usual is 10.

To give you a little more information when I make the ride I try and do it without hitting the brakes and just holding a constant speed. I will downshift before a turn to slow slightly or use the brakes for obsticles. Posted limit is 40 with some turns listed as 20. My goal is to be smooth. This is also not a ride that you can run all out because of debris, fallen rocks, rocks kicked onto the road by cars and dirt/sand.

That is a nice road but I kept waiting for it tighten up. There are mountain roads in the Appalachians that change direction about 270 times in 9 miles. Where is the camera mounted on your bike? Was that the fender visible in the bottom left?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blh0afqtMRM

 

[Byron]

Matt,

Is it possible that the balance of the tire is off enough to cause the shake at triple digits? Or could it have been that section of the road.


Dave,

There are another couple sections that tighten up. Hang a right turn at the East Fork then right at Glendora Mountain Road and left on Glendora Ridge Road to Mount Baldy. I feel good if I can ride smooth at 30 through these sections. They're doing a lot of berm rebuilding and road repair so there has been a lot of loose stuff on the road. I actually rode it the opposite direction yesterday and it looks like it may be starting to clean up some.

The camera is mounted off the clutch resevour lid with RAM Ball. You're seeing the top of the left windshield mount.

 

[squirrel Hunter]

Just mounted a Storm on the rear last night and put a good scrub (140miles )on them today. So far it feels great, as goodas the Azaros.

If it gets the same mileage as the old Avon's I'm sold

 

[Steve Jones]

The (NEW) Avon STORM's rated for the ST1300 are now out...

The rears are not yet rated for the ST1300. I just got this reply from Avon:

Dear Mr. Jones

The front (AV55) is approved.

The rear (AV56) is still undergoing testing and hopefully within a few
months they will available for approval on the ST1300.

So that present Avon Tyres does not have approved/recommended set of tires
for the ST1300.

I'm so, so sorry we can not help you with your fitment needs for your M/C.

Thank you for your interest in Avon Tyres.

Thanks, Keith​

 

[b.carez]

Matt,

Let me submit this for your consideration. The attachment is a map of a short route near my house. It's 8.9 miles up a canyon with approximately 72 direction changes over this distance. I ran it last night after a jaunt through Big Bear and Crestline. Aside from scrapping the right toe of my boot once with the balls of my feet on the pegs I didn't scrape anything. Run time was 9 min. and 22 seconds based on looking at my video, crossing the large arrow in the roadway at the bottom to the junction of the East Fork. Here is a link to it on YouTube. It may take a little bit to process as it is about 10 minutes of video. According to MS S&T's it's a 13 min. ride but my usual is 10.

To give you a little more information when I make the ride I try and do it without hitting the brakes and just holding a constant speed. I will downshift before a turn to slow slightly or use the brakes for obsticles. Posted limit is 40 with some turns listed as 20. My goal is to be smooth. This is also not a ride that you can run all out because of debris, fallen rocks, rocks kicked onto the road by cars and dirt/sand.

Looks like a fun road Byron. I enjoyed the video. Its about 36 dgrees here and I am dying to ride. Not sure whether your video made it worse or better.
Thanks either way.

 

[Bones]

I don't know. I made it from Franklin, NC to Deals Gap in 53 minutes on Hwy 28.

Yeehah, baby -- that's one sick stretch of road through Macon County!

 

[Gene]

I called Avon and talked to Keith from the tec department and he said almost all the tec emails and calls are about the storms and the ST1300, we are a tough bunch. He informed me that ther rear storm will need beefing up to be approved for ST1300 use they are load rated at 72w he told me the St1300 will most likely be a 73w or higher. He said the tire would be ok at most loadings but tourers are well known for overloading there bike which is the issue on there end. So since most of my milage is 2-up slightly overloaded by at least 50# I will wait on trying the Storms till they sort this out. Sounds like single riders should be in great shape with this tire.

 

[Raven]

This still doesn't make sense as they're rated for the 1100 which is heavier than the 1300 (though not by much).

 

[Gene]

If you look at the avon site the size that fits the 1100 is a diiferent size and has a reinforced casing and a 79v load rating versus a 72w for the size that fits the 1300 not the same tires big difference in load rating check out the avon link, Keith took the time to explain why they are not approved yet .

http://www.avon-tyres.co.uk/motorcycle/?page=tyres&method=showspecs&id=25

 

[Raven]

: duh - thanks!

 

[dduelin]

If you look at the avon site the size that fits the 1100 is a diiferent size and has a reinforced casing and a 79v load rating versus a 72w for the size that fits the 1300 not the same tires big difference in load rating check out the avon link, Keith took the time to explain why they are not approved yet .

http://www.avon-tyres.co.uk/motorcycle/?page=tyres&method=showspecs&id=25

Gene,


The OEM fitment for the ST1100 is the Bridgestone G548 which is a 73W load rating tire. 73 translates to a rating of 805 lbs. The OEM fitment for the ST1300 was also a 73W tire. I'm not sure if the OEM Dunlops were 73W tires but the Bridgestones were.

However, if you look up the 1100's tire size on the Bridgestone site and look at the 020's you will only find it in a 79W as OEM fitment on the BMW K1200LT - a heavier bike than the ST1100 or 1300. Otherwise the 020 is rated 72w except as the OEM F tire for the ST1300 at 73W. If you look at that same size under the new 021's it is not available in 79W at all. The 1100 did not need or come with a 79W tire although that is all that Avon apparently is offering in that size.

The Avon STorm rear tire for the 1300 is rated 72W or 783 lbs which is the same as rear 170/60Z size in Michelin Pilot Roads, the old Avon 45/46 Azarros, Dunlop 205's and 220's, and the Metzeler 880 Marathon and Z6, all of which have been run by many ST owners without problem. I guess if you ran flat out in high ambient temps with a passenger, full saddlebags, and low air pressure you might miss the 22 lb. in load rating and have a problem. Then you or your estate might have a problem suing the tire manufacturer or Honda if you shredded the rear tire.

Some folks may have a problem running a 72W 783 lb rated tire vs. the 73W 805 lb. that was original on the ST1300 and they can only buy one tire by one manufacturer - the Bridgstone BT020F. The rest of us just ride a 72W and don't worry about it.

 

[dduelin]

Oh yeah, my impression of the Avon STorms after about 2,000 miles. I run 36 front and 40 rear and am 165 lbs and ride 99% solo. I just got back from three days in the Appalachians. I rode Deals Gap twice in the rain after 4 hours (Highways I-85, 276, 64, 28) in rain to get there. It is a good tire on wet pavement. On dry pavement it has better grip than I can exploit. One time I touched something harder than usual when leaned over and scared myself but the tires did not hop or slide even then when I stood the bike up, wobbled, then leaned hard again to make it around the corner. A few times I ran into some gravel in turns and the tires handled it better than I did. I could not notice any change in stick when cornering on tar snaked pavement although this section was dry. No wet tar snakes yet.

I am not good enough of a rider to take this tire to the edge or if I came close it gave no feedback of impending loss of traction. To a very good rider that may not be a good thing. Under heavy braking (non ABS bike) it didn't seem to shake or wiggle the rear end like Z6's did. Again I wish I had another set of tires to immediately try to compare the same situation to.

The air temperatures were very cold but the tires seemed to warm up quickly in conditions of 25 to 50 degrees.

It is a quiet tire with a compliant ride quality.

On the negative side when I ran along curved sections of patched or uneven pavement the tires seemed to catch an edge and want to change direction. This was unsettling. It seemed it was the rear tire doing the hula and not the front. I tried to provoke the behavior in straight sections by running slightly to and fro across the edge of a patch and it wouldn't do it. It only did it a few times on one piece of rather bad road that had lots of asphalt patched areas. I wish I had a set of Z6's or other tire to ride back to back to be sure it was the tire and not the pavement.

For me the Z6 still sets the standard although I am happy so far with the STorms.

 

[Gene]

Dave how does the wear seem after a few thousand miles ??

 

[dduelin]

Dave how does the wear seem after a few thousand miles ??

Gene,

After 2,100 miles the front measures 4/32" of the original 5/32" and the rear has 6/32" of the nearly 9/32" that I recorded the day they were mounted (3/8/07). Somewhere or the other I read Avon specs 5/32 front and 8/32" rear when new. The wear is symmetrical so far with no evidence of cupping.

 

[Spencer]

Re: the wiggle on uneven pavement
Have you tried bumping the pressure a couple PSI front and rear ?

Could be a side effect of:
Quote from Avon: "The Storm ST is the first tire to include Avon’s new "Reactive Footprint" technology. This technology marries Avon’s unique variable belt density carcass with Lifetime Profile Engineering to produce a footprint which changes size and shape, depending on the bike’s lean angle, for the full life of the tire.

The result is a contact patch that grows as the bike leans, giving more grip in corners while minimizing wear rates when traveling in a straight line. "

May need a little more pressure to stabilize the shape of the tire under the ST's weight ?

Just a thought, Spencer

 

[dduelin]

Re: the wiggle on uneven pavement
Have you tried bumping the pressure a couple PSI front and rear ?

Could be a side effect of:
Quote from Avon: "The Storm ST is the first tire to include Avon?s new "Reactive Footprint" technology. This technology marries Avon?s unique variable belt density carcass with Lifetime Profile Engineering to produce a footprint which changes size and shape, depending on the bike?s lean angle, for the full life of the tire.

The result is a contact patch that grows as the bike leans, giving more grip in corners while minimizing wear rates when traveling in a straight line. "

May need a little more pressure to stabilize the shape of the tire under the ST's weight ?

Just a thought, Spencer

I guess it is worth a try but I generally don't run max tire pressures as given by the manufacturers. I wonder about this sometimes when I hear lots of guys running 42/42 because Honda says so. High pressure actually reduces contact patch area but I guess it also stabilizes it as well as helps the carcass run cooler in extreme conditions. To be fair I only noted it on one road that was badly worn in places and had lots of patch repair in those sections. Now that I am home that road is about 600 miles away. On smooth pavement they tracked as if on rails. The road in question was Hwy 116 in Tennessee they call "The Devil's Triangle". That is a jaw-dropping piece of pavement.

When I had my first set of Metzeler Z6's put on the installer set them at 34/36 because that was what Metzeler suggested for the ST1300. That seemed low to me so I usually ran 36/38 or 36/40 with those tires and had no problems with cupping or odd wear patterns but then I did not notice any of this trait I noted of the Avons either. I'm of average weight and pack light. I went to a track day one day with the ST and one of the track staff said to run 30 front and 28 rear to start with. I said "but this is a heavy bike". He shrugged and said "try 30/30 then". I ran 30 and the bike handled great at speeds from about 35 to 120. I think 42/42 is good for the lawyers and not so much for handling but I could be wrong.

Thank you though for the idea to try.