Tyres - availability & experiences

[single]

I just ordered a 3.50 for the rear of Jolly.Rear tire is really square but hardly worn at all at 8800 miles,but the cracks are scary lookin'.12 years old.Had to refy the home,but tired of worrying about it.This way,got a H.D. tube and a rim liner for 89 bucks,same place as Barenkd.Delivered.Can hardly wait.

[iowarider]

Which tire did you go with. Oh, as for the 12  year old tire. Worn or not it was due to be replaced, you did good. I sold tires and batteries on line for a major retailer, think Kenmore. Sorry, I had to actually sign and agreement to not use there name outside of my payed work time. Any way, we got the tire age question all the time. The American Tire Association says five years if stored properly. Proper storage is off the ground and out of the sun.

Sorry, more than you ever wanted to know, first time I actually new something to add to a post 

[Maturin]

Here are pictures of the tires of my G5, front after 8200 kms, rear after 14500 kms. The first front AVON AM6 was down after 6300 kms, because I constantly drove with 1,8-2,0 bar. After I had changed the tire I went to 1,3-1,5 bar, so it was possible to prolong it´s life almost 30%! Most other features improved aswell with the lower pressure, especially the tire temperature and adhesion. The only disadvantage is a light wiggle when the road surface got uneven.
I got myself a pair of AVON AM26 now. I keep you posted about how they´re doing.

[olhogrider]

For my fellow Americans that means you went from 29'psi to 23'psi. To us a bar is a place to park your Harley or become a lawyer.

[barenekd]

I have put about 200 miles on my K70 3.25x19 and and 3.50x19 and love 'em.  Much more precise steering, quicker handling, and better stability than the Avons They have it all, even done a minimal amount of dirt work in which they were very nice.
The only question that remains is tire life, but for $68.00 I'm not going to worry about it much.
The best part of the deal was getting charged $30.00 at the little bike shop on the corner for the tire changes. I took the wheels off and took the front tire off and took the new ones down to get them taken care of. Couldn't believe it. I took my last set of tires and bike down to the Honda shop and the cost was $116.00. That was on the Triumph. The Triumph dealer wanted more than that!
God, it's good to play "little ball" again!
Bare

[GlennF]

I have put about 200 miles on my K70 3.25x19 and and 3.50x19 and love 'em.  Much more precise steering, quicker handling, and better stability than the Avons They have it all, even done a minimal amount of dirt work in which they were very nice.

What sort of dirt work ? I have been considering a Mitas SW-07 3.75x19 rear but its actually a Speedway tire and may not even be road legal.

[barenekd]

Just some easy dirt roads and stuff like that. I'm net in good enough shape to tackle the rough scrambles and enduro stuff any more. Just looking at that and contemplating it blows my skirt up in my face.
bare

[Maturin]

Just curious: did anyone put a pair of Bridgestone BT45 on a C5? How do they work?

[bob bezin]

just replaced my k 81's at 3,500 miles they were pretty worn and i picked up a 3 inch nail at 55+ mph ,maybe60 mph.pheww what a ride that was.

[GlennF]

WRT to some of the weird sizes on older tyres like 3.60 or 4.10 its to do with lower profiles. A imperial tire size that is not in standard 0.25" increments is a lower profile tire, usually at 82% unless specified, and the number is width in inches. This article may help.


http://www.nocnsw.org.au/tyres.html

[Maturin]

Thank´s for the link, GlenF. Very helpfull and a good read!

Finally a mechanic sucesfully managed to get the AM26s on my whels without doing anything wrong. Amazingly three attempts were necessary: first time sidestroke, second time air loss. I noticed that climbing up the Grossglockner! http://www.grossglockner.at/en/

Now there on, and are a major dissapointment. To my surprise I´ve got a high-speed wobble now! Indeed with the ancient stock profile not very swift leastwise rock steady straight, Precious now tends to wobble when sidewinds hit or the surface get´s uneven. She even takes this wobble along when getting inclined! I suspect I found a reason, if not the reason for the C5´s lack of stability over 100 km/h. I may repeat, since the BT45 is available there is really no reason to take another tire for the C5.
Otherwise these modern AVONs are quite well, adhesion seem to be more than enough and due to the round profile of the rear tire she feels better when heavily inclined. That´s the only outstanding advantage over the stocks, though.
The wobble gets much worse when the front´tire´s  pressure is increased. I tested 1,3 bar to 2,0 bar in the front and it gets better with less air. I even tried 1,0 bar and the straight running ability gains, but the cornering stability suffers.
At the end I cannot recommend the Avon AM26, for I don´t see a desirable improvement. I´m not sure if I like to keep them. Regards
Maturin

[Eamon]

Thank´s for the link, GlenF. Very helpfull and a good read!

Finally a mechanic sucesfully managed to get the AM26s on my whels without doing anything wrong. Amazingly three attempts were necessary: first time sidestroke, second time air loss. I noticed that climbing up the Grossglockner! http://www.grossglockner.at/en/

Now there on, and are a major dissapointment. To my surprise I´ve got a high-speed wobble now! Indeed with the ancient stock profile not very swift leastwise rock steady straight, Precious now tends to wobble when sidewinds hit or the surface get´s uneven. She even takes this wobble along when getting inclined! I suspect I found a reason, if not the reason for the C5´s lack of stability over 100 km/h. I may repeat, since the BT45 is available there is really no reason to take another tire for the C5.
Otherwise these modern AVONs are quite well, adhesion seem to be more than enough and due to the round profile of the rear tire she feels better when heavily inclined. That´s the only outstanding advantage over the stocks, though.
The wobble gets much worse when the front´tire´s  pressure is increased. I tested 1,3 bar to 2,0 bar in the front and it gets better with less air. I even tried 1,0 bar and the straight running ability gains, but the cornering stability suffers.
At the end I cannot recommend the Avon AM26, for I don´t see a desirable improvement. I´m not sure if I like to keep them. Regards
Maturin

I feel there must be a reason for your wobble other than the AM26's themselves - maybe wheel alignment?  A lot of people run them on their iron barrels and AVL's and ought to be in the same sizes as your G5.  Are you running 90/90-19 and 100/90-19 sizes (front and rear, respectively)?  I know people have found very low tire pressures to work for them on their C5's, but on my iron barrel, anything much less than 26-28 psi makes my bike feel unstable.  I like 28-30psi front - not sure what that translates to in bars.  In any case, I can take my hands off the handlebars at 65mph and the bike is rock steady.  The only reason I'm going to switch from my AM26's soon (the rear is nearly to the wear marks) is that their fantastic grip on wet or dry pavement does not translate well to the dirt and gravel of unpaved roads!  All that said, I personally don't have a problem with the stock Speedmaster/Safety Mileage combo other than they are more expensive than K70's or similar options.

Eamon

[barenekd]

Did you put a 4.10 on it? That could be the problem. The 4.10s are for WM3 rims and don't take kindly to being squished down to fit in the WM2 rims.
Bare

[Maturin]

It´s extremely odd I have to admit, but I can´t see any other reason for this instability than the new tires. They´re the normal 90/90 and 100/90s, correct running direction with properly adjusted wheel alignment. It´s even more stunning, as the mule was going rock steady straight on with the worn down AVONs AM6/7, and felt pretty transformed after the tire change wobbling with brand new AM26ers!
As I said before the effect can be reduced by lowering tire presure on the front. Actually I blame the front for the wobble, as tire pressure on the rear has no effect on it and otherwise all instability seems to come from the front.
Ironically I had the opportunity to test the Heidenau K44/K34 combo when I was lend my dealer´s demo B5, a couple of days ago. This was amazing, although I cannot really say where the impressing stability really came from: the brand new bike or the brand new tires. It was quite a pleasant ride, and I´m vexed with not getting one of these instead. But I´m not sure if I can finally make up my mind spending another 200€. At least not this year, the riding season in Germany will end in Ocober anyway. Maybe I´ll make myself a Christmas present...

[singhg5]

I know people have found very low tire pressures to work for them on their C5's, but on my iron barrel, anything much less than 26-28 psi makes my bike feel unstable.  I like 28-30psi front - not sure what that translates to in bars.  In any case, I can take my hands off the handlebars at 65mph and the bike is rock steady.  

I personally don't have a problem with the stock Speedmaster/Safety Mileage combo other than they are more expensive than K70's or similar options.

It´s even more stunning, as the mule was going rock steady straight on with the worn down AVONs AM6/7, and felt pretty transformed after the tire change wobbling with brand new AM26ers!

As I said before the effect can be reduced by lowering tire presure on the front. Actually I blame the front for the wobble, as tire pressure on the rear has no effect on it and otherwise all instability seems to come from the front.

@Eamon & @Maturin:

Thought I share my experience with AVON Speedmaster (OEM on my G5) tyres in front and rear. I have been experimenting with air pressure for the last few weeks because bike has vibrations mostly concentrated in the handlebar. These are my results.  

Front Tyre Pressure                   Handlebar Vibrations

<18 PSI  ........................    Lots of vibrations - long amplitude & long duration

20 PSI  ..........................    Less vibrations - Reduced amplitude

22 PSI  ..........................    Lesser vibrations - small amplitude, shorter duration

24 PSI............................   (Since Eamon has 28 psi, I will try 24 on my G5 )

The rear tyre pressure though not so critical, but I have increased from 24 to 29 psi these days.

Another observation is that I now quickly speed out of RPM-Range that induces engine vibrations. Once the bike starts vibrating, the frame keeps on oscillating for much longer period - like a tuning fork that has been stuck once but it keeps producing sound for long time after that.