Avon Roadrider cracking Again

[pete]

I'm working on it .

I've been to busy having a $hit load of fun (can you have to much ???) . Sorry .

Cheers , Simon .

Stop it or you'll go blind

[simon kuether]

Those are bead/sidewall cracks. I'd like to look at the tread cracks.

I'm working on it .

I've been to busy having a $hit load of fun (can you have to much ???) . Sorry .

Cheers , Simon .

[themess]

Bonanzadave posted some pictures in post #79.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...0&postcount=79

Those are bead/sidewall cracks. I'd like to look at the tread cracks.

RR Tires

1100 E or L ?



Did you have the RRs mounted yet ? I swapped Dunlop 491 Tour Elites for the RRs and there was a night and day difference. Long story short the Dunlops sucked. The Road Riders gave me so much more confidence in the corners and wet roads they put the Dunlops to shame. People tell me the Tour Elites are HD tires. Ive got a nearly brand new 491 Dunlop RWL front you can have.

No, I didn't. I have the g model 1100. The 491's have never let me down over the years. Never a flat even with nails in them. Ran on snow and ice in London and back east. So my confidence in them is great.

[tkent02]

1100 E or L ?

Did you have the RRs mounted yet ? I swapped Dunlop 491 Tour Elites for the RRs and there was a night and day difference. Long story short the Dunlops sucked. The Road Riders gave me so much more confidence in the corners and wet roads they put the Dunlops to shame. People tell me the Tour Elites are HD tires. Ive got a nearly brand new 491 Dunlop RWL front you can have.

Too bad they are such exceptional tires. If they were another ho hum run of the mill tire it would be no loss, but they are head and shoulders above the rest.

[bonanzadave]

After reading these threads, I took my roadriders back to the dealer. Switched them out for the Dunlop touring elite II. The problem for me is that my back is a 17 inch and Dunlop doesn't produce that tire anymore in the Elite's. Love these tires as I have 300k clocked on them over the years on 2 GS1100's. Usually get about 10K in the back and 12K for the front.

1100 E or L ?

Did you have the RRs mounted yet ? I swapped Dunlop 491 Tour Elites for the RRs and there was a night and day difference. Long story short the Dunlops sucked. The Road Riders gave me so much more confidence in the corners and wet roads they put the Dunlops to shame. People tell me the Tour Elites are HD tires. Ive got a nearly brand new 491 Dunlop RWL front you can have.

[fishfarm]

Would it be possible to post a photo of these cracks?

Bonanzadave posted some pictures in post #79.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=1410310&postcount=79

[Dogma]

...
Reports of cracks in the tread area are something else entirely. This suggests many possible problems, including carcass design, raw material problems, and contamination of non-tread compounds in the tread rubber. Would it be possible to post a photo of these cracks?

I don't know if he'll have a chance to snap a pic before it's crated for the trip to Australia. Last night he described it to me as running the length of the tread's center groove, and pretty deep. I asked if the cords were visible, and he said no.

He missed this thread for quite a while, so you might ask via PM.

After reading these threads, I took my roadriders back to the dealer. Switched them out for the Dunlop touring elite II. The problem for me is that my back is a 17 inch and Dunlop doesn't produce that tire anymore in the Elite's. Love these tires as I have 300k clocked on them over the years on 2 GS1100's. Usually get about 10K in the back and 12K for the front.

[themess]

Bugger Simon! I was hoping this was a US thing, but I guess not...

I doubt that Avon's are made in the US. Could people with affect RRs post their DOT codes? That enables looking up the factory in which the tires were made. I'm guessing that, unless a manufacturer knows that its tires will never be sent to the USA, most tires around the world have DOT codes. With the code, finding the factory is a simple internet search away.

A few minutes of interent searching turned up information suggesting that Avon is probably now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cooper Tire, and American company based in Findlay, OH. Cooper also owns significant portions of Kumho and Kenda, and several other Asian tire companies. Cooper has a good reputation for high quality car and light truck tires in the US.

It is thus possible that Avon RRs are not made in their factory in the UK, but in some other country. RRs are not Avon's premier motorcycle tire. If Cooper-Avon were to move production to Asia, RRs might go. That opens up many possibilities for quality problems. When I worked in Firestone tire factories in Mexico, I dealt with those possibilities all day long. Among the poteential problems are:

* Local management not caring about quality
* Local management not understanding how to manage a factory to produce high quality parts
* Differences in tire building equipment and other kinds of equipment between the factory where the tires are made, and the factory for which the production process was designed
* Differences in raw materials, from country-to-country, can be large.

Only just started reading this thread . Sorry .
Just checked the Avons on my '77 GS750E and sure enough , the rear is "cracked" (more like SPLIT) . The tread has long splits going around the tyre (down in the grooves) . Scary stuff . I'm fairly careful with checking pressures so that's not an issue . $hit tyres that I'll never buy again . Pity , because they felt very planted , wet or dry .Bring back the Spitfire II's please .

Cheers , Simon .

Previous reports and photos have showed cracking near the bead. In the bead region, bias tires flex a lot, and very hard bead compounds join to very soft sidewall compounds. Mismatch between those pairs of compounds has seemed to me to be the most likely cause of the cracking reported until now.

Reports of cracks in the tread area are something else entirely. This suggests many possible problems, including carcass design, raw material problems, and contamination of non-tread compounds in the tread rubber. Would it be possible to post a photo of these cracks?

Avons where in the running for my Skunk project.Not any more,Lets see if I can get some Shinkos.

[pete]

Yeah I was counting on the Avons until I saw this thread, but then I decided I should probably run road biased dual sports for the whole scrambler thing, but they don't exist for my front tyre size, closest are 50/50 which are too trail biased.

Looking like Dunlop TT100GP's are the go at the moment as they'll still have somewhat of the look without compromising road performance. No idea what they're worth yet though...

[simon kuether]

Sorry 'boot that Pete .
They actually felt pretty good on the road but when I saw those splits I lost confidence in them a bit .
I run Battlaxes's's's at home but was going to look at the Avons for the next lot .
Not now .

Cheers , Simon .

[pete]

This would be the one in America... Hard to keep up with that jet setter, no?

D'oh! Of course it would, and yeah far too hard to follow Simon, stop it will ya'?

I must remember... Simon + 750 = US, Simon + 1000 = Aus... sheeesh...

[Dogma]

Bugger Simon! I was hoping this was a US thing, but I guess not...

This would be the one in America... Hard to keep up with that jet setter, no?