Avon - front / Stoner - rear .... WOW !

[motorhead]

Dead horse subject I know :p But had to share what I now beleave to be the ultimate tire combo.

Had 2 sets of Metz 880's, A Set of matched Avons & Now an Avon front with Bt-020 rear .... Damm fine handling, BEST EVER !!

Prior too this combo the AVONS on both ends were really nice but allways had a weird loosey goosey feel in the rear.

Now this combo as others have said ... truely "The Pair" to have.

Just sharing FWIW.
Scott

[dshealey]

Dead horse subject I know :p But had to share what I now beleave to be the ultimate tire combo.

Had 2 sets of Metz 880's, A Set of matched Avons & Now an Avon front with Bt-020 rear .... Damm fine handling, BEST EVER !!

Prior too this combo the AVONS on both ends were really nice but allways had a weird loosey goosey feel in the rear.

Now this combo as others have said ... truely "The Pair" to have.

Just sharing FWIW.
Scott

Yep, the rear Avon is WAY too flexible for the weight of the LT. Wallowed like a Hula Dancer for me. Thought the first one was a bad tire, Avon sent me another one to try, it was no better. Pulled it off and went back to BT020 rear. That is how I accidently discovered that the Avon front/BT020 rear was pretty darned good, and started this trend. I only ran two Avon fronts though, found out on the way home from CCR Breckinridge that I did not like it so much in wet. Went back to BT020s front and rear.

[nswenson]

Yeah, that's a pretty good combo. I did that combination with my last set of tires. The only downside is that the low speed handling gets a little weird once they get worn down past 50%. The avon front will develop a triangular shape while the bridgestone rear wears to a flat spot. This causes some weird sensations with slow speed handling, especially on wet pavement. The front end seems to give a sensation of moving sideways when the road terrain changes, like when you drive over painted surfaces; however the grip was pretty good compared to the metzlers. Also, I observed severe cupping on the Avon front after 8K miles; however the tires still didn't hum like the old metzlers. Only noticed the cupping in aggressive corning where the bike vibrated a little, but no sound.

I now have Bridestone Bias Ply BT020 front and rear. I REALLY like this setup so far. Just installed them 200 miles ago. The grip feels better than the AVON/Bridgestone radials on the wet surfaces. I really like how the bike leans over so easily. In fact, the bike will continue to fall-over into the corner unless I apply some pressure to the bars. With most tires, it's the opposite, having to apply pressure to maintain lean. Also, slow speed handling is improved. I find it much easier to lane split at low speeds. The Avon/Bridestone combo didn't react well with subtle steering corrections (when worn down).

I keep the air pressure cranked up to avoid cupping, running 45F/50R.

Regards,
Nathan

[meese]

Yep, they work great. The front Avon eventually cupped, but I get 13-14K miles out of them so I'm happy.

I also tried the BT020 Bias tires on both ends. Good grip, good mileage, and decent wet handling. Much better than ME880s. But I went back to the Avon/BT020 combo, as I really prefer the radials overall.