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View Full Version : New Tahrs: Avon Azaros



vifferman
18th November 2005, 13:39
Background
Most of my riding is communtering, with the odd two-up weekend trip thrown in. The route I take to/from work is the ScenicSuburbanSuicideSlalom - mostly backstreets where possible, with lots of corners, some of which are off-camber, 'traffic calming measures' (funny - the traffic still seems rabidly insane to me!), and variable road surfaces. I ride in all weathers. While I sometimes ride - ahem - in a way that might be frowned upon, I don't generally ride like a crazed loon on 'upside-down b'. The road is not a racetrack.:nono:
After some experimenting, I have found that riding with my tyres at or close to the recommended pressures (36/42) works best, as it gives the best feel, good grip, the carcases don't crack, and the treads wear more evenly.
On other bikes, I've previously tried Shinko Podiums, the older Azaros (AV35/36), Bridgestone BT012/020, Pirelli Dragons, and (briefly) Avon Azaro AV49SP/AV46ST. This bike had BT020s front and rear, which were OK (damned with faint praise!) but wore a little unevenly, and the front tyre was most uninspiring (see comments below).

Requirements
I don't measure mileage; if I get a year or so out of a pair of tyres, I'm happy. I want a tyre that gives me confidence to lean, that doesn't feel nervous on some surfaces such as wet roads or coarse-chip seal, and that grips well. I don't need race tyres (the road is not a racetrack!) and I'm not interested in saving money by buying some hard, cheapo tyres that last forever. Been there, done that, with a tyre that lasted more than 4 years.
The previous tyres were disappointing; they were near-new when I bought the bike, and lasted just under a year after buying it. The front BT020 was almost bald on the right, and the rear was bald in patches. The front was horrid for wandering on coarse-chip seal, for buzzing (the tread blocks wore unevenly), and didn't feel good when cornering.

The Azaros
As mentioned, I've had the Azaros before, on my VTR1000. Although sceptical, Kerry assured me I'd love them, and he was right. Despite this, a lower cost than the last set I bought ($475 fitted) and a 1000km satisfaction guarantee, I was still sceptical. I'd heard a lot about Metzeler Z6s, and wanted those. But almost as soon as I rode off on the new Azaros (AV49-SP front, AV46-ST rear), I was pleased. The ride was much softer than with the Bridgestones, due to the Azaro's soft carcases. The steering effort was much less, due to the sports profile of the front tyre.
As Avon uses a kind of wax rather than silicon as a mould-release, the tyres took very little scrubbing in, and were not slippery at all during the process.

I've now done a few hundred kilometres, and the tyres still look newish. The rear one still has small 'chicken strips', and the front quite large ones, but I don't care. I'm getting more and more confident about leaning on them, but the only way the rear ones are going to disappear completely is on a track, or riding at stupid speeds on my communtering route.
The tyres grip well in the wet, feel very good, aren't particularly affected by road surface irregularities or type of seal, and have boosted my cornering confidence quite markedly.

Zed
21st November 2005, 20:43
I hope they do you proud Viff. :yes:

zadok
22nd November 2005, 10:06
Sounds like a good recommendation. My rear will need doing before too much longer. I wonder if they do one in my size? I haven't had to buy any yet as the bike is still near new, but apparently the size limits the choice.

vifferman
22nd November 2005, 10:31
Sounds like a good recommendation. My rear will need doing before too much longer. I wonder if they do one in my size? I haven't had to buy any yet as the bike is still near new, but apparently the size limits the choice.
What size is that? I'm sure they're available, but I can find out for you.

I hope they do you proud Viff.
I've no doubt they will, Zed. I haven't found anything about them yet that I don't like, so as long as I don't get a puncture like I did in my last pair (less than three weeks after buying them!), I'll be happy. BTW - puncture repairs are free, for the life of the tyres.

I thought I'd found a potential fault - someone said that Azaros don't have the red/yellow dot on them for correct fitment relative to the valve, so they end up not balanced properly. So I asked Kerry about it.
"True - they don't. It's because Avon reckon having a red or yellow dot on the outside isn't aesthtically right, so they mark them on the inside of the carcase. Plus the tyre is balanced to within +/- 0.05g anyway." (I think that's the weight he said).

zadok
22nd November 2005, 11:03
Original Dunlop's on at the moment.
Rear: 150/80 R16 M/C 71V
Front: 120/70 R18 M/C 59V

The Stranger
22nd November 2005, 11:09
Not Avon Azaro's. I nearly got kicked off of here for purchasing these and suggesting that they were a good tyre.

Done 4,000 k on mine and have no complaints, certainly better than the bridgestones that were on there.