Quite a lively thread this aint it g0551p
I will tell you all a story......
First off, as most of you know, I ride like a complete twat on the road and have been for the last 25 years, I normally try to take the Blackbird (and me) to our absolute limit at some point during my ride.
All my Blackbirds have had an 8mm ride height spacer and stiffer front springs, this allows for a much greater angle of lean. Basically what I am saying is my tyres do get a lot of stick.
I am not a professional racer, nor do I consider myself a riding god, but I do pay a lot of attention to my tyres and I do test them to the limit wet or dry.
Tyres are an extremely passionate point for most bikers and we all know how important a part they are, but most tyres today will do the job and do it more than well enough for most riders. Tyres are mostly psychological if you're not 100% confident with your tyres then you will never be happy with them. Regardless of whether the tyre is good or bad, if you have a bad step out or a twitchy moment and lose confidence in that tyre put something else on, something that you're happy with.
I have been in the fortunate position to try most types of tyre in most road and weather conditions, I have had the added benefit of having a riding partner who also rides to the limit so we could do comparison tests, we have put two identical Blackbirds side by side on a wet road and pulled away time and time again keeping the bikes side by side, it was never the Avon that let go first, the other tyre in this case was a popular tyre that's name begins with a "B"
The last "riders skill training day" I was actually using a pair of Bridgestone 020's that came on the bike I was riding when I bought it, I was having allsorts of problems with them, big rear end step outs, twitchy on the rear, grip fading as they got hot, front end washing out quite badly when it got wet.
Don't get me wrong, this is not to say they are a bad tyre and I do not know how the Avon would have performed in the same circumstances on the same track, what I am trying to say is I have tried most tyres at their extreme limits wet and dry and I would still recommend the Avon ST at this point in time, trust me I can make a lot more money selling Bridgestone's and although I show my bike on the Avon tyres stand I really do not have any loyalty to them and if I thought that their product was in any way iffy or inferior then A, I would not be selling them and B, I definitely would not be riding on them!.
Do not be put off by some of the comments and criticisms that have been posted on this thread and do not be scared to try something new, as far as I am concerned these tyres do not have a wet weather problem. The reason they last so well is they have 6.5mm of tread depth it is nothing to do with compound, in fact they run a virtually identical compound to the AV50 sport tyre, just deeper with more silica. They also run a larger contact patch which along with more grip also constitutes less wear because the tyre is not having to work so hard.
At the end of the day the Bird is a very heavy powerful bike and what ever tyres you use it is never going to feel planted.
Please be careful if you are using 010's on your Blackbird, the sidewalls were never designed to take the weight of the Bird This can be felt under hard acceleration out of long sweeping corners. And there are cases of the tyre de-laminating due to overheating.
