Avons

After checking my tyre pressures this evening with my newly-bought
fancy digital tyre gauge [1] I discovered that the rear now only
contains 9 PSI, which is a tad low..

After a lot of looking around, and on recommendation from a regular at
the pub I've had a price from a place in Warrington to fit a pair of
Avon AV49/50 to the bike tomorrow for £159 including fitting, which
seems like a very reasonable price.

Obviously the price is very appealing, and I've been told that they are
comparative in performance and longevity to my favourite Bridgestones.

Has anyone here used the AV's, and what was/is your opinion?

Ta.

[1] I seem to go through a lot of tyre gauges, the cheapo pencil type
ones are what I normally use but I think I left one of them in the
tool-box of the ZXR, one in the tool-box of the GSX-R, and gawd knows
where the other two have disappeared to.

--
Lesley
CBR600FW
SBS#11 (with oak-leaf cluster)
BOTAFOT#101A UKRMHRC#12
BONY#54P BOB#18
Real burds don't take hormones, they rage naturally

 

It was completely flat yesterday.

If you leave it over the weekend, it'll be fine.

 

Salad Dodger composed the following;:

Yeah, but leave it a week and it'll blow up ...

 

I've just booked the Zephyr in for a pair of new Avons.

Unortunately this means that I will only have a week to get them scrubbed in
before BOSM.

Fortunately this means I will *have* to commute to Chiswick for a few days.

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)
My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
M'boy's bike 2003 Honda NSR125R
Spare Bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X
BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005), DIAABTCOD #26, BOMB#18 (slow)

 

You live, what, 100 miles from the pub? They'll be scrubbed in before
you get there.

 

Oi, my missus sometimes reads this y'know.

<FX Taps nose>

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)
My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
M'boy's bike 2003 Honda NSR125R
Spare Bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X
BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005), DIAABTCOD #26, BOMB#18 (slow)

 

No idea what Dan thinks, they now recommend 100 miles instead of the 50
(for some reason). My planned route back means they will be scrubbed
in before I get home, ready for my sojourn to N Wales on Sunday to see
a mate do his first MX race.

--
Lesley
CBR600FW
SBS#11 (with oak-leaf cluster)
BOTAFOT#101A UKRMHRC#12
BONY#54P BOB#18
Real burds don't take hormones, they rage naturally

 

Personally, I give it about twenty miles for them to get up to
temperature (which is not much more than the Guzzi needs to properly warm
up) then set "Devil May Care" to max.

 

I reckon about 100.

What do you reckon?

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)
My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
M'boy's bike 2003 Honda NSR125R
Spare Bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X
BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005), DIAABTCOD #26, BOMB#18 (slow)

 

I tend to go for about an hour of ever increasing bank angles and beans
until I think "oh **** it" they must be scrubbed now. This approach seems to
have worked up to now. )

 

Bear says...

*ding*

 

<sulk> My washing machine hasn't got one of those.

 

1. Have you replaced the fairing on the GSXR yet? or
2. Is that with the tyre warmers switched on or off?

It only took two laps of Cadwell Park to sort the Corsa's.

 

Dishwasher.

Not at the same time as cooking the salmon, mind.

 

And avoid roundabouts until you have.

 

I think you were still on your sabbatical last time this was discussed
in depth. When it was, I decided to ignore all the opinions & ask the
people who should know, namely the tyre manufacturers. I spoke to a
technical bod at Dunlop who said 'breaking in' a new road tyre was
needed for the following reasons:

1. Bedding in of fibres/belts. This is done through a combination of
heat & flexing, & is needed to ensure the various parts of the carcass
settle in nicely together.

2. Bead seating/sealing. The bead pops into the right place when the
tyre's inflated, but won't 'grip' the rim properly until it's had a bit
of a cook. If it's not sealed properly, the tyre can slip round the rim
throwing the balancing out, as seen occasionally in racing.

3. Surface scuffing - what's usually meant by 'scrubbing in'. This is
mainly just to clean any crap off the surface that may have accumulated
during transport/storage, & give the surface a bit of a key. The common
myth is you need to clean off the release agent - this isn't true.
Release agent isn't used on modern tyres, with the exception of some
compounds of race tyre.

So, as Champ said, heat cycles are the important thing, but doing this
on the road will take longer than the track as the tyres don't get
anywhere near as hot. The actual length of time/number of miles depends
on lots of obvious things, but 50 miles was considered plenty by the
techie bloke.

 

So can you lean right over as long as you're not giving it welly?

This isn't a trap or a trick question. I'm asking because generally it
isn't possible to get right over without some degree of speed. I suppose
I'm asking what the maximum speed might be before the tyre lets go. I've
got some brand spankies on and unless I make an effort to go out and use
them they're not going to be scrubbed in before I get to the BOSM, and
even then that's a lot of miles in an upright position; chucking it up
the road on the last bit isn't what I want to do.

I've always done what others have said and gone a little bit further
over each time but I'd like to get that out of the way and do it sooner.
Roundabouts are ok but what about the left hand said of the tyre?

 

That's what I've always done. When it gets to the point of about half an
inch of CS[1] I can be fairly confident there's enough "proper" rubber
there to hold me up.

Bless

Taking it steady and building up gradually never was one of my fortes. I
can think of at least one thing that tends to blow when I jump right in
but to go into detail about that now would be far too much information
;o)

I always knew about the tyres but reading this thread got me thinking
there might've been a quicker way to do it.

 

You missed my subtle (or not) dig at Champ for dropping his bike on a
roundabout after having new tyres fitted.

 

It is actually possible to do a procedure called 're-inflating' they
tyres you already have. You don't /have/ to replace them just because
they are a bit flat.