Made a point of not reading any tyre reviews due to reading tyre reviews, buy said tyre and then generally thinking "why the fuck did i buy these" So, without reading any reviews and by lucky hap my mate knowing someone that did work for Avon i got a set of these. So just to add a bit of balance ive come from going through my mates tyre stash. Whenever he buys a bike he takes off whatevers on there and leaves it in his garage. For 150 quid he's kept me in tyres for the last couple of years and ive still got a couple left, but, i wanted a good set of tyres on the zed for the TT (not taking the RSV4 this year) What came off was a pretty squared off Avon 3D Storm and while its probably the longest tyre ive ever had on any bike ever (about 2 years) it wasnt a very grippy tyre but hey, you cant have it all (the set was again from my mate and only had a few hundred miles on them when i got them). The front one wore though last year so ive had a front m7r on there (again from my mate). So before anyone chips in with your a cheapskate etc etc the end of life on the rear and the m7r on the front has gotten me through the winter. Back to my first point i bought a set of m7r's and put them on my rsv4 and they were damn near dangerous, transferred them to the zed and they were just as bad, then the 3D Storms went on... Ive just got back in from a quick steady 10 mile or so gently run to see what theyre like and im pleasantly surprised. Very quickly they feel planted. The old knackered mismatched set wanted to fall into any corner (ie going into any corner at slower speeds, say a right id be pushing the right hand side of the bar away from me to counteract it. It now feels totally neutral going through corners at any speed which is really nice. The other thing is theyve got this kind of feel that ive only ever felt on Supercorsa's. The only way i can describe it is, Supercorsa's almost feel like theres a very thin piece of foam covering the tyre that gives a cushioned but grippy feel thus inspiring confidence. I cant explain it any other way. My mate came over yesterday on his RSV1000 for me to do a bit of work on it. Last week he fitted a set of supercorsa's on my recommendation. He's never used them before and when i said to him about the foam type feeling which he agreed....in our younger days he had a TZR250 which he ground the pipes out so much he had to get sheet steel welded to them where he wore through the centre section so i think hes a pretty good gauge of a tyre... So, theyre on for the TT and give me a few weeks to get the broken in but on the whole very happy so far...its not really a review as it were but a "this is how they feel to me" type thing... When these wear through ill try something else but these are definately a tyre id buy again. While i dont think theyll beat a supercorsa tyre so far they feel nice but, in all fairness what i had on there before was pretty shocking! Just looking at prices theyre 184 quid for a set...mine only cost me 125 for the pair but even at 184 for a set of tyres which feel the way they feel to me is pretty good value, in fact very good value for the money....as i get them scrubbed in ill post back...
So far so good....went to the TT on them...weather was shit so didnt really get to push them atall....ironically the only time i got my knee down was at the roundabout at the top of the M32 on the outskirts of Bristol (lovely roundabout)- my favourite From a price point of view i cant fault them....not really had the chance to get them warmed up properly yet...!
Good to Know, I use to have Avons on my ZX6R. I did really rate them, they were the older Vipers. and Storms. The feed back I had on them worked well for me. My Supercorsas on the 848 are pretty much done and I am getting 3D ultra sports fitted. By the sounds of it a good replacement.
Had a set on my old carby 900SS several years ago, except I think they were the Extreme compound. Anyway, as you say they had a brilliant feel and really suited the bike and my riding inputs. But .... I did find myself losing the front on a few occasions at max attack angles but it always caught again. Most amazing feeling, I have to say. Until it didn't come back. Worth pointing out, I think, that the only front end crashes I've had have all been on Avons. No idea why, I had quite a bit to do with their tyre test team (hence lots of Avons on my bikes, Despatch Donkeys and Ducatis) and they certaily tested the things hard enough.
