Avon Storm ST's

Doc

Joined
May 19, 2006
Messages
25
Location
Tweed, Ontario
Bike
ST1100
Well just got back from 10,000+ mile journey from Toronto area to Mexico and back. Brand new Avon Storms were absolutely the best tire I've ever had on this bike. Handled all the terrain and speed I could throw at them, lots of unseen (but felt) potholes, extreme weather (>100 degrees, <30 with snow) and lots of rain. Things look brand new - literally no significant wear. I highly recommend these tires.

Doc
 
97 ST 1100 - the bike of all bikes!! I wonder how many miles I can expect to put on these Avons?

Doc
 
Well, 10800 miles and they look brand new. No where near the wear bars. I'll keep posting!

Doc
 
I just had a set mounted today so I will see what I get with about 60% of my riding being 2-up really loaded! New tires I'm all excited !!
 
You know, I'm not seeing much difference in tire mileage between by old ST11 and my current ST13. Of course the potential to waste tires on the 13 is greater with all those additional throbbing horses!
 
wjbertrand said:
You know, I'm not seeing much difference in tire mileage between by old ST11 and my current ST13. Of course the potential to waste tires on the 13 is greater with all those additional throbbing horses!
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Plus the better handling invites using them.
 
I test rode the new Storms on my 1300 and they are different than the Pilot roads that cme off. The roads were very smooth and with a soft ride at 42psi, these Storms at 42 the bike seems to ride rough and kinda po-going front to rear. I watched the tech balance them the same as the last 3 sets so I don't think balance is the issue. Switching tire brands is so much fun when it comes to sorting out suspension settings and air pressures. Avon recomends 36fr and 42rr for the 02 st1100 and the front tires are the same so I guess front tire air pressure will be the first adjustment to try.
 
illzoni said:
TRUMP....

STABLE AT SPEED.

Jon
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Well, if the 1100 could go fast we might hear about the 'happy feet' the sublime 1300 has, but since it doesn't, we only know about the decel headshake the 1100 exhibits. What's that about? UNSTABLE AT SLOW SPEED? As long as you don't hit a parked truck with it and get on the internet it won't earn an undeserved reputation for having the shakes.
 
Guys I talked to Keith from Avon and explained I have a shake sorta shimmy in my new Storms and that the balance was checked and found Ok. But strating around 65 till arond 80 mph it still feels strange, the mechanic I trust with 30+ years rode it and said it's there slightly and that he could tell it . Keiths responce was to put a few hundred miles on them as tha storms sometimes require a while to settle in to the bike and the casing to loosen up that heating and cooling cycles would solve it, basicly a break in period for the tires ????? Anyone ever heard such a thing.
 
gene said:
I just had a set mounted today so I will see what I get with about 60% of my riding being 2-up really loaded! New tires I'm all excited !!
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Well, all my miles so far on the STorms have been with at least 200 lbs of stuff on the bike, probably more. I mounted a huge tupperware box to the back and secured it with steel bars and plywood so that alone likely weighs 30 lbs. It was full to the point of bursting as were both saddlebags and my tank bag. I weigh 185, so I'd say the old girl was pretty loaded down!
 
I've heard of break-in periods for tires, but what I heard was just to scuff them up so they weren't so slick.
 
Well both sources were blowing smoke about my shimmy and shake !! After no satisfaction from the guy that has mounted the last 6 sets of tires for me I bought some stick-on weights and balanced them myself and they were out of balance, no one takes pride in there work anymore and refuse to admit they might have made a mistake. After rebalancing on a rod between 2 cinder blocks I have a completely smooth bike at 100mph !!!!
And like Dave mentioned in his reveiw these tires will really scare you the first time you hit the edge of a patched area at any lean angle the pucker factor really comes on quick, but on smooth surfaces they feel great. After running Pilot Roads before the Storms I was really spoiled by the soft cushy ride. Now that they are balanced they remind me of the Z6's in turn in and ride quality.
 
dduelin said:
Well, if the 1100 could go fast we might hear about the 'happy feet' the sublime 1300 has, but since it doesn't, we only know about the decel headshake the 1100 exhibits. What's that about? UNSTABLE AT SLOW SPEED? As long as you don't hit a parked truck with it and get on the internet it won't earn an undeserved reputation for having the shakes.
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Don't want this to degenerate further into an argument about the 'superiority' of the ST13 over the ST11 by those who feel thay have to do such things for some reason. People have picked their bikes for various reasons, some have chnaged and others gone back to older models (not just for STs, other brands and models included).

I assume by if it could go fast you mean some acceleration advantage due to the lower gearing and a bit more power of the ST13? Top speed of the ST11 is 141mph and the ST13 144mph, going by some UK tests, so I don't think 3 mph is much less speed :) The ST11 seems to have as much headshake as the ST13 has high speed death wobbles. Haven't seen report of anyone killed because of a bit of headshake. And I have not seen much in way of problems from civilain ST13s fully loaded up, so don't see it as much of an issue in practice. BTW, my ST11 has no headshake.
 
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