Avon Storms-No Longer Made for LT?

[mrbiker]

Got a beautiful philips screw in my rear tire over the weekend.

Used a Stop 'n Go kit to put a Mushroom plug in it (talk about fast and easy!).

I'm about to order new tires for my 2005 and read everyone's comments.

Since I don't get a chance to put mega-miles on the bike during a year, I prefer tires with better handling over high mileage.

I narrowed it down to these tires in this order:

1. Avon Storms.

2. Bridgestone 020

3. Metzeler 880

I went to the Avon web site and plugged in my info for fitment details, and the site says No Avon Tyres Are Made For A 2005 BMW K 1200LT.

I've read about a lot of problems with the Avons, and a lot of people getting free tires, so I'm wondering if they've decided to get out of the LT market. Seems so.

Does anyone know?

I'm going to go with the Bridgestones. Any reason not to - in light of the fact that I'll sacrifice long miles for a better handling tire?

TIA

[Hollywood]

Got a beautiful philips screw in my rear tire over the weekend.

Used a Stop 'n Go kit to put a Mushroom plug in it (talk about fast and easy!).

I'm about to order new tires for my 2005 and read everyone's comments.

Since I don't get a chance to put mega-miles on the bike during a year, I prefer tires with better handling over high mileage.

I narrowed it down to these tires in this order:

1. Avon Storms.

2. Bridgestone 020

3. Metzeler 880

I went to the Avon web site and plugged in my info for fitment details, and the site says No Avon Tyres Are Made For A 2005 BMW K 1200LT.

I've read about a lot of problems with the Avons, and a lot of people getting free tires, so I'm wondering if they've decided to get out of the LT market. Seems so.

Does anyone know?

I'm going to go with the Bridgestones. Any reason not to - in light of the fact that I'll sacrifice long miles for a better handling tire?

TIA
Do yourself a HUGE favor, stay away from the Storms!

I got about 1800 miles from the front tire and it started acting funning, (bars shaking, front end wobble) just a real bad ride. They gave great performance when new, loved them. I have always used Avons on my HDs, but never again on the LT.

I am very happy with the METZ.

[Steve_R]

Interesting, I've got over 10000 miles on Avon Storms AV55/56 and I love them.

As to the OP of this thread, with the change in the steering geometry on the 05 and newer LTs, BMW recommends not running radial tires on the LT. Hence the reason that the Avon site says there isn't a tire for your motorcycle. I run Avon Storms on my '01 LT. They are Front = Avon StormAV55 120/70R-17 and Rear = Avon Storm AV56 160/70VR17.

[CharlieVT]

Here's Avon info in two posts from a tire thread:

http://www.bmwlt.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=297451#poststop has general fitment info.

http://www.bmwlt.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=300045#poststop is a copy of an email I got from an Avon rep.

I just finished with a set of Storms on my 2000, I liked 'em. But as you'll read in the above posts, Avon doesn't recommend them for the new "improved" front end on LTs after 2004.

HTH

[Lee510]

I had Bridgestone BT020s installed on my 2000 1200 miles ago. They track better across pavement patches than the Metz that were on there. The Metz tended to stick to the edges. The 'Stones go where they're pointed. They may not last as long as the 880s, but they were $150 cheaper.

[AlaskaFish]

+1 on the warning Chance gave about staying away from the Storms even if they are still available! I got maybe 1700 miles out of the front Storm before it started the worst head shake I have ever had on a Bike. And it was a Sunday, and I was at the far point in our ride (Red River, NM) so I could not just pull into my garage and change it out!

Made for one Hellacious ride back to Oregon I'll tell ya! I loved the predecessor to the Storms, the Azaros, but will never use another Storm after the weird wear pattern they develop. A friend is starting to see the same pattern on his front Storm as well. As far as the rear Storm, it may be OK, but I ended up putting BT-020 Biased tires on after the Storm episode, and so far am quite happy with them.

John