Avon Roadrunners?

[xwhatsit]

Anybody know where a stash of them is hidden away? The 18" 100/90 on the rear must have been designed for the 250RS. Narrower than OEM specced, but a BT45 has nothing on it in terms of peg-scraping stability (although works well on the front) and all-round feels-good-man©.

Roadrunner. Great tyre or greatest tyre?

Surely somebody's got some stacked up in the basement of his shop. Nobody buys 18" tyres these days anyway.

[Ixion]

I think they're still listed. Try the Avon agents. Very good tyre, I always trusted Avons.

[discotex]

Roadrunner. Great tyre or greatest tyre?


Loved them on my ZXR250. Good for the edges of the tyre no problems. No idea who still stocks them tho.

[vifferman]

Very good tyre, I always trusted Avons.
While my current Avons (Storms) are great (in fact, the best tyres I've ever had on any bike), I've had some that weren't so good.
Had an Avon on the back of my VF500 that was so hard I could spin it up in the dry going around corners. It was still on the bike when I sold it after nearly 5 year's use.
The first set of Avons I had on my VFR750 weren't the best either - didn't wear that well.

[AllanB]

Nobody buys 18" tyres these days anyway.


oddly the cruisers appear to be getting into this size of late. lots of the show bikes have big 18's and the latest HD Sporty sport thing is wearing 18's

care to cram a 180 onto the rear <_<

[xwhatsit]

I think they're still listed. Try the Avon agents. Very good tyre, I always trusted Avons.
Is that right? I'll check it out. The normal tyre places I talked to said they've been discontinued and they make the Roadrider instead now, which looks like a very different tyre with a different profile -- and it's exceedingly expensive, so I can't try it anyway.

I see on Avon UK's site they have a Roadrunner Universal (http://www.avon-tyres.co.uk/motorcycle/?page=tyres&method=showtyre&id=9), which is a `classic' tyre with one of those old-fashioned wavy-bar patterns. Probably overpriced as well just because of the aesthetics. Plus, it looks like they only have it in a couple of weird sizes.

[Motu]

The first Roadrunner,which is what they now list as the Roadrunner Universal was a bloody good tyre....I never really liked the newer version.The old Roadrunner was comparable,or maybe even slightly better than the Dunlop TT100.

I've got some good 19in tyres getting good and hard in my storage rack - a Pirelli MT53,a Roadrunner,and a Kenda speedway tyre.I would of been happy if the R65 came with a 19in front.What you need are Dunlop K70's - I am really impressed,and they have yet to hint that they aren't up to what I'm dishing out.

[xwhatsit]

Well if I could get either the Universal or the K70 in a 100/90 18" for reasonable money I'd be tempted to try it. It's not like I need the latest sticky rubber and dual-compounds to get my knee down and make the tyre last more than 3,000kms; the bike is light and sharp and clings to the road like anything, even ancient Chinese vinyl. Tyre wear is minimal. It's more about the profile and `feel' of the tyre.

Looks like the K70s only come in 19" front and 18" rear. 18" rear is 4.00, which is too tall and a touch wide as well.

[mouldy]

4.00 x 18 is standard fitment to the might RS

[xwhatsit]

4.00 x 18 is standard fitment to the might RS
I think 4.10 -- I remember you saying 4.00 is a tall-profile 4.10, the 4.00 BT45 that's on at the moment feels wrong. 4.10 is what's written on the rearsets.

[Motu]

The K70's will feel just right - but you will need to change your bars.Dunlop TT100's come in 4.10....and you can get race compound too.

[xwhatsit]

4.10 is a little bigger than 100/90 though, isn't it?

Bwahaha. I'm not doing a CB250RS street tracker, I haven't finished the café racer version yet :laugh: A standard 250RS would do a pretty good job though -- low seat height, relatively standard geometry, wide bars (at least by today's standards). Engine probably a bit revvy though.

I might have to find some TT100s then. Shame they don't do something suitable for the front (90/90, 3.00). Seems they used to, I've seen photos of skinny-tyred 125s in the 70s wearing them.

[Ixion]

3.00 is actually a 75/75. Near impossible to find slim enough tyres nowadays, everything is huge and designed for trucks.

[xwhatsit]

3.00 is actually a 75/75. Near impossible to find slim enough tyres nowadays, everything is huge and designed for trucks.
Odd, I'm so far away from standard, a much wider front tyre and a much narrower rear tyre than what Honda wrote is what feels best. Perhaps Motu's onto it when he says front & rear same size. Then again I've never tried an actual 3.00.

TT100/K70 are `vintage' tyres for things like A65s and T120s, right? Surely they didn't have 4.10 fronts. Is 3.00 particularly uncommon? What do the Goldies/Velo Thruxtons run at the classic racing if not slicks?

I mean it shouldn't be that hard, BT45s `sort of' fit, but `sort of'... well...

[Ixion]

3.50 front, 4.00 rear was the norm back in the day. 4.5 for high powered machines.

3.00/3.50 for 350s , some 500s. Little bikes went down to 2.5/300, even 2.00/2.5.

Same size front and back wasn't that uncommon, often a 3.50

The fractional sizes weren't around much then , if at all. I never encountered them.

I always ran Avon Speedmasters back in the day, if I had a choice , I never like Dunlops.

I have this same problem with thew arzhole, I just can't get small enough tyres.

[Motu]

TT100/K70 are `vintage' tyres for things like A65s and T120s, right? Surely they didn't have 4.10 fronts. Is 3.00 particularly uncommon? What do the Goldies/Velo Thruxtons run at the classic racing if not slicks?


They say the TT100 takes advantage of modern technolgy - more modern fabrics and construction methods,and certainly compound.They don't say it for the K70,but they grip a 100 times better than they did back in the day,and that's just the standard compound.The 4.10 was supposed to be a repacement for the 4.00.....but now they say the 4.25 is the 4.00 replacement.3.25 was the most common front tyre.....3.50 was often OE,but 3.25 used.

Race compound is available in many ''old'' tyres - TT100,K70...even the old ribbed Avon Speedmaster MkII.

[xwhatsit]

Hey! So much for Dunlop's website. Here's this from Cycletreads:

300-18 TT100GPA RACE CLOSEOUT No 140.25 140.25

Unfortunately, not available. A race compound 3.00 18 TT100 :(

However, they do have a 90/90 race TT100 :D $165 though, pretty expensive for a front tyre in my book :lol: But a 4.10 normal (?) compound rear at only $128. So hopefully they'll still be around in a month or two when I need new tyres. So I wonder if this is leftover stock because these sizes aren't on Dunlop's website.

90/90 is a rear tyre, oddly enough. Fit it to the front? There's another thread in itself :yes:

Now I'm going to ring around and try and find a 3.00 18" TT100.

[malcy25]

Hre's the specs with effective sectional width and rolling dia for comparitive purposes.

http://ridersnavi.com/catalogue/tyre/TT100GP/index.html

The 90/90 about 1cm wider and a few mm taller than the 3.00.

They are a very good tyre and have seen a number of guys race very effectively on the TT100GP's over the years (this century). Also note they are both front and rear fitment. There are no specific fronts or rears.

The biggest issue being availability.

Limited demand causes supply problems. Good tyres are available, just end up paying more and sometimes having to think ahead due to delivery times.

[Bonez]

xwhatsit another option is cheng shin barracudas. Had two 90/90s on the front of the GB now. They have a matching rear as well but I generally run the harder Hi Max on the back of mine.