Avon Tires No Longer Available?

Stephen Hill said:
ashman asks "How can a fatter tyre help with more mileage".
I guess I am not 100% sure. It just does.
But I can speculate.
Assumption 1. Both the narrower rear and the fatter rear tire is the same technology.
Assumption 2. The contact pattern on a fatter tire is larger than on a narrower tire.

With a larger contact pattern, the weight of the bike is distributed over a larger area, which means reduced force per square unit.
Similarly the cornering forces are reduced per square unit.
Similarly the braking forces.
Similarly the accelerating forces.
Reduced weight, cornering, braking, and accelerating forces equals reduced tire wear.

I rest my tired case.
Let the barrage begin.
Click to expand...
In 50 years of riding I haven't seen any change in mileage on my rear tyres, all my British bikes get about the same mileage on the rear, have owned the Norton for 48+ years, two older Triumphs (79 Bonnie and 81 Thunderbird) and 2 modern Thruxtons (2013 and 2016) and each bike different size wheels and tyre withs, but from days of old the tyres ran low pressures but modern tyres today run higher pressures, also compounds also play a big part on how long a tyre will last as well the torque of the rear wheel and how you ride, as well HP of the motor, braking also plays a part but I am not a heavy rear wheel braker, most of my braking is done up front.
I know I am no tyre expert but I always stick to a tyre I know that will stick to the road over how long it will last, my 850 Commando/Featherbed is built for handling and cranking it right to the edge of my tyres all the time up in the ranges and tight twisties where I ride the most and I ride my modern bikes the same way, grip over long life.

Ashley
 
Stephen Hill said:
ashman asks "How can a fatter tyre help with more mileage".
I guess I am not 100% sure. It just does.
But I can speculate.
Assumption 1. Both the narrower rear and the fatter rear tire is the same technology.
Assumption 2. The contact pattern on a fatter tire is larger than on a narrower tire.

With a larger contact pattern, the weight of the bike is distributed over a larger area, which means reduced force per square unit.
Similarly the cornering forces are reduced per square unit.
Similarly the braking forces.
Similarly the accelerating forces.
Reduced weight, cornering, braking, and accelerating forces equals reduced tire wear.

I rest my tired case.
Let the barrage begin.
Click to expand...
I agree with your logic, and if you were going from a 100 to a 180 perhaps you might see a difference. But with the tyres under discussion, the contact patch difference will be inconsequential to your above logic.

If tyre wear is important to you, you need to run a dedicated rear tyre on the rear, at the right pressures. Thats where the difference is.

The wider tyre will give a bigger contact patch at extreme lean angles, hence better grip, but that’s not a mileage topic.
 
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I am running an Avon Roadrider 120/90 on the rear. Which works out to be 4.72 inches wide. I have 7000 miles on it and estimate it is good for another 2000 miles.
A few thoughts relevant to friction, contact area, and wear:

Friction (and contact patch size)

Friction and its application to motorcycle tires
www.stevemunden.com
 
Stephen Hill said:
I am running an Avon Roadrider 120/90 on the rear. Which works out to be 4.72 inches wide. I have 7000 miles on it and estimate it is good for another 2000 miles.
A few thoughts relevant to friction, contact area, and wear:

Friction (and contact patch size)

Friction and its application to motorcycle tires
www.stevemunden.com
Click to expand...
Genuine question… what’s the point he’s trying to make in that article?
 
Mart UK said:
I found it interesting. Seems he's just educating and dispelling some myths.
Click to expand...
He started by talking about how contact patch makes no difference to friction (which we all know is wrong with tyres) and ended by saying it does (which we all know is true). So I just struggled to understand his actual point ?
 
Just checked, https://www.jpcycles.com/ has 90/90x19 and 100/90x19 in Avon Roadrider MKII in stock. They let me put 8 of each in my cart (trying to figure out how many they have). All other suppliers I use for them have none today. Expensive though: $172.59/$183.08.
 
marshg246 said:
Just checked, https://www.jpcycles.com/ has 90/90x19 and 100/90x19 in Avon Roadrider MKII in stock. They let me put 8 of each in my cart (trying to figure out how many they have). All other suppliers I use for them have none today. Expensive though: $172.59/$183.08.
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I have bought a 90/90-19, 100/90-19 and 4.0 x18 in the last month or so. Interestingly, they all say "Made in England" on the side.
 
ilikevelos said:
I have bought a 90/90-19, 100/90-19 and 4.0 x18 in the last month or so. Interestingly, they all say "Made in England" on the side.
Click to expand...
Presumably that can only mean that they’re old stock made in the U.K. factory. It would be illegal to put that on products made in France.

Basically, I don’t think we’ve had any evidence of ‘our’ Roadriders being made in the French factory yet …
 
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Goodyear closed the Avon factory last year and in February sold the Avon assets and leased the brand rights to Nova Motorsport. Nova is UK based and states on their website (https://novamotorsport.com/) they bought the existing inventory and have started making "select" Avon tires under the Avon Motorsport name which they claim will hit the market 2nd half of 2024. Avon has a number of tires lines in auto racing and it's not clear whether motorcycle tires will be continued. I suspect the Avon website stays up as is until this is sorted but interesting to see the company news section is stale and has no mention of what's happened over the last couple of years.

Anecdotally, last year I was searching for Avon RR2s for my MG Le Mans and there were none, however in the Spring I spoke with a US distributor who had just received a large shipment of tires. Looks like that could just be Nova obtaining and releasing NOS to the market. There's not much released about Nova's exact plans, time will tell, no idea how profitable vintage motorcycle tires are but suspect it's not high.
 
I will look at the date codes for my tires tomorrow. I had heard that nova had acquired only the dedicated racing tires and the rr2s would be continued at a new factory.
 
ilikevelos said:
I will look at the date codes for my tires tomorrow. I had heard that nova had acquired only the dedicated racing tires and the rr2s would be continued at a new factory.
Click to expand...
I looked at the Nova web site and it is VERY motorsport focused, so I drew the same conclusion that they were unlikely to be producing ‘our’ Roadriders.
 
I really like Avons - RR Mk2s - 100/90 x 19 & 4.00 x 18.
Earlier this year, when I became aware of potential scarcity of RR Mk2's I bought 2 fronts and 3 rears - put them in tightly sealed black plastic bags and put them in the relative cool of downstairs.
At my current mileage the last rear will go on early 2029.
Am I inviting problems? - anyone have helpful advice?
Cheers
 
ilikevelos said:
I will look at the date codes for my tires tomorrow. I had heard that nova had acquired only the dedicated racing tires and the rr2s would be continued at a new factory.
Click to expand...
To verify the hypothesis, my date codes are all in the second half of 2023, the 35th, 45th and 48th week. I sure hope they continue making them, I am not sure there is another selection that is as good for brit bikes, particularly 19in commando.
 
ilikevelos said:
To verify the hypothesis, my date codes are all in the second half of 2023, the 35th, 45th and 48th week. I sure hope they continue making them, I am not sure there is another selection that is as good for brit bikes, particularly 19in commando.
Click to expand...
Perhaps we’ll soon have to start a thread called ‘best alternatives to Roadriders’ !

A friend of mine put Metzelers on his T140 a while ago and I thought it rode very nicely indeed, they’ll probably be what I’ll try next assuming the Roadriders are history, he sold the bike though, so I’ve no idea about mileage.

Then of course there’s good alternatives from Bridgestone, Conti and others.

We’re not going to be tire-less… not yet anyway !
 
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Fast Eddie said:
A friend of mine put Metzelers on his T140 a while ago and I thought it rode very nicely indeed, they’ll probably be what I’ll try next assuming the Roadriders are history, he sold the bike though, so I’ve no idea about mileage.
Click to expand...

Ok, if you have an 18" rear wheel on your Commando but I don't think they do a 19" version.

I have a Metzeler on my T140 but of course it has an 18" rear wheel.
 
Is there a Bridgestone 19 inch tyre that is suitable for a Commando?

I would have thought Avon sold plenty of the 100/90 x 19 Roadriders, particularly to British bike owners so it would seem odd to stop making them. These things are controlled by money men though so anything is possible.
 

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