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avon roadrider

uk gs nut

uk gs nut

Forum Mentor
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Hi all, When I have been riding my GS1000 for a while say 4 or 5 hours on and off my handling goes off it feels odd. I was thinking rear shocks getting hot or something strange was going on. Well I but the bike on the lift to have a look around for loose bolts etc and found the rear tyre has cracks in the tread :mad:. Has any body else come across this ?. Tyre is only 2 years old and about 3K miles.
 
Oh boy here we go again....yes the Avon's have a fairly long history of cracking. Do a search here and you will come up with many threads on the issue.
Cheers,
 
Most reported cracking are hairline sidewall cracks. I have never seen a crack down center that way and I do not ever remember anybody saying they could feel anything while riding.
 
posplayr said:
Most reported cracking are hairline sidewall cracks. I have never seen a crack down center that way and I do not ever remember anybody saying they could feel anything while riding.
Click to expand...

The cracks I've had were just like that...in the centre. Never effected handling and I doubt it would. I rode them to about 10,000kms with no issue.
 
I've followed the problem with Avons and that isn't the typical problem. As said before, the side wall on rear are the problem. What does the date code say? Two years? The last one I bought last summer had a date code of 0814. I've had it on the bike for 7500 miles and it's ready for replacement, with no cracks. That's a weird problem. Complain to Avon! Give'm "L"

cg
 
Charlie G said:
I've followed the problem with Avons and that isn't the typical problem. As said before, the side wall on rear are the problem. What does the date code say? Two years? The last one I bought last summer had a date code of 0814. I've had it on the bike for 7500 miles and it's ready for replacement, with no cracks. That's a weird problem. Complain to Avon! Give'm "L"

cg
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Great tire if you can trust them.
 
Date code is 0313 I have e mailed Avon. Going to fit a Pirelli sport deamon. Those cracks are all round the tyre and I wont use it, I don't fancy being a leather clad roadkill. The bike just did not feel right, cracks go down to cords, pressure is 32 psi cold.
 
uk gs nut said:
Date code is 0313 I have e mailed Avon. Going to fit a Pirelli sport deamon. Those cracks are all round the tyre and I wont use it, I don't fancy being a leather clad roadkill. The bike just did not feel right, cracks go down to cords, pressure is 32 psi cold.
Click to expand...

Very good move. I don't trust cracked tires. Blown tires are not very forgiving on a bike.
 
Avon was really good about it, I returned the tire and received 100% credit with the retailer after 1 year, maybe 5000 km. The rear cracked on the tread face and 1 sidewall- driveside, (not from over zealous chain lubrication.)
I'm guessing it is a 130/90 17? so far in my anecdotal survey that is the only tire size of theirs that cracks.
 
uk gs nut said:
Date code is 0313 I have e mailed Avon. Going to fit a Pirelli sport deamon. Those cracks are all round the tyre and I wont use it, I don't fancy being a leather clad roadkill. The bike just did not feel right, cracks go down to cords, pressure is 32 psi cold.
Click to expand...

I think Bonanza Dave had problem tires in that date range; early 2013. Out of 6 tires I had one that was problematic and I spotted the problem after 100 miles. Got a new one for free. I have a good dealer though. Dave had 2 or three (?) bad ones I think. 130/90 17, that's the size.

cg
 
Last edited:
This is a 130/80x18, bike is a 79 gs1000n with spoke wheels. Before any body says it, I have had same size tyres on this bike for 16 years with no trouble and good road holding.
 
derwood said:
Avon was really good about it, I returned the tire and received 100% credit with the retailer after 1 year, maybe 5000 km. The rear cracked on the tread face and 1 sidewall- driveside, (not from over zealous chain lubrication.)
I'm guessing it is a 130/90 17? so far in my anecdotal survey that is the only tire size of theirs that cracks.
Click to expand...

Charlie G said:
I think Bonanza Dave had problem tires in that date range; early 2013. Out of 6 tires I had one that was problematic and I spotted the problem after 100 miles. Got a new one for free. I have a good dealer though. Dave had 2 or three (?) bad ones I think. 130/90 17, that's the size.

cg
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Well isn't that just grand:dread:When the Shinko's on the 85 750 wear out the replacements where to be Road Riders in the 130/90-17 size for the rear.With 110/90-16 fronts being a limited selection size it seemed like a good idea,not so sure now:(
 
Charlie G said:
Dave had 2 or three (?) bad ones I think. 130/90 17, that's the size.
Click to expand...

Yes I did starting in 2011. After winter storage they all had side wall cracks. 2011/2012, 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and now this one installed in 2014 for the 2015 season looks OK. Fingers crossed. Someone in Australia (?) had a Avon crack down the middle.
 
uk gs nut said:
This is a 130/80x18, bike is a 79 gs1000n with spoke wheels. Before any body says it, I have had same size tyres on this bike for 16 years with no trouble and good road holding.
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Well, I have to say it

Put the 4.00 Avon on there and you'll notice a positive difference in the handling

Get more contact patch as well
 
Big T said:
Well, I have to say it

Put the 4.00 Avon on there and you'll notice a positive difference in the handling

Get more contact patch as well
Click to expand...

Contact patch area is function of air pressure, so unless you plan to drop that the contact patch size won't change. A wider tire will flex less in forming that patch area so less heat is produced,and the wear is spread out over a larger area - all potentially beneficial - but all you can generate at say 30 psi is 30 psi.
300 lbs on a 30 psi tire is 10 square inches, wide tire or narrow.
 
John Park said:
300 lbs on a 30 psi tire is 10 square inches, wide tire or narrow.
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Sorry, but my little mind is having trouble wrapping itself around that idea. :-k

There is more than just air holding up the bike, there is at least SOME strength in the carcass of the tire.

Drop your pressure down to 15 psi, I'll just bet that you won't have 20 square inches of rubber on the pavement.
tongue.gif


.
 
Steve said:
Sorry, but my little mind is having trouble wrapping itself around that idea. :-k

There is more than just air holding up the bike, there is at least SOME strength in the carcass of the tire.

Drop your pressure down to 15 psi, I'll just bet that you won't have 20 square inches of rubber on the pavement.
tongue.gif


.
Click to expand...

Well you may have a point there, but I'm struggling with how a wider tire will not generate a larger contact patch??
 
Steve said:
Sorry, but my little mind is having trouble wrapping itself around that idea. :-k

There is more than just air holding up the bike, there is at least SOME strength in the carcass of the tire.

Drop your pressure down to 15 psi, I'll just bet that you won't have 20 square inches of rubber on the pavement.
tongue.gif


.
Click to expand...

Let all the air out and you have no contact patch at all? That doesn't work for me. Put in 100 PSI and get three times the contact patch? That doesn't work either.

200 PSI and the tires don't even touch the ground, the bike just flies away?

Maybe that's why our airplanes have 220 or so PSI, to help them fly. Funny all this time I fought it was the wings.
 
Steve said:
Sorry, but my little mind is having trouble wrapping itself around that idea. :-k

There is more than just air holding up the bike, there is at least SOME strength in the carcass of the tire.

Drop your pressure down to 15 psi, I'll just bet that you won't have 20 square inches of rubber on the pavement.
tongue.gif


.
Click to expand...

There is some casing stiffness factor, BUT, that stiffness will result in heat, so it's a reason why narrow tires have to have so much flexibility built into the tread design. A stiffer tire will have a smaller contact patch at the same pressure; making a tire wider will reduce the degree of casing flex and allow a lower pressure for a given amount of heat, plus it will spread the heat over a larger area of tire. But functionally, casing stiffness is pretty minimal compared to air pressure and the variation between tires rather small.

At 30 psi I don't think you'll find much difference between a wide and a narrow tire; it will be down to the individual design. Yes, an infinitely flexible tire will have the largest contact patch at a given weight/pressure. I used to run between 8 and 15 psi on a 4.00 18 trials tire back when and the thing ended up like a tank track, but the bikes only weighed about 200lbs and went slow.

The sobering calculation is that adding a 150lb passenger over the back wheel which has 400lbs bike and rider rear load to start with should require an increase of 40% pressure. If I'm running 32 psi that means about 44 if I want the same contact patch and flex. Realistically, we usually go for about half that increase and either accept the heat or slow down. This is where a wider rear tire really shines.

Another problem is that air cooling maximizes at about 50 mph; IOW speeding up the airflow is a diminishing returns game. So tire temperatures really soar as you speed up past that.

The problem is that motorcycle tires have to be 'spherical' yet conform to a flat surface so there's inevitable scrub, which is why they wear out at a deplorable rate. Car tires can be made to have pretty minimal scrub. Who ever heard of a $150 car tire that wore out in five to ten thousand miles at legal speeds? So we have half as many tires as a car that wear out about ten times as fast. But ain't it fun?
 
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