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Avon's tour

blumeeni

blumeeni

Registered User
The nice men at Avon did a good job today showing us around the factory we were suprised how labour intensive the prossesss is.
Stan did his best to get me linched ref the thread I started Avon crap or not(bastard)but failed :lol:
Shit motorway ride up and back though
nice to meet some old and new faces from here hope your all coming to the sheep fest next month.
 
R

R2B2

Guest
I have to say, I thought it was interesting. I had no idea that the production process was so attentative and labour intensive.

All the Avons we use (radials) are individually handmade!! :eek: Yes, there are huge machines which roll out rubber and extrude rubber etc, but the build process - and there are a lot of components to a performance bike tyre - is all done by hand, one at a time. :eek: (and they are knocking out 1200 bike tyres per day).

The tour started with a slide show and video presentation which was presented by a great couple of down to earth guys, one of whom was the acutal designer of the ST, SP, and Viper range. :eek:

Very impressive for me was the extensive testing criteria that is in place for their (W) rated tyres....... the high speed stability test involves a Busa (spit!) absolutely balls out flat out round this banked oval circuit for a continuous six laps!!, amongst other things.

It's worth mentioning, and was very reassuring to see that Avon DO take their bike tyres VERY seriously.

All in all, a great insight into what happens before we buy a tyre..... believe me, I now think they are bloody good value for money!

Good to meet Simon C, Martin (mid life crisis), Blu (now silver!), Murt and pretty boy Blue........ :-: and the weird guy on a Ducati who asked if they tested the performance tyres on on ice!! Me and Gyppo only just managed not to laugh out loud :}
 
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stan the man

stan the man

you are not capable
as pete said...very good and informative tour of the avon factory in melksham,wilts. so a bit thank you to pete,whom took "us"round,and the other one(sorry can't remember his name) who took "them" around.also a big thanks to jaws who sorted it in the first place(i think).nice to see gypo,robbo,rob-R2B2,1200 pete and some new faces...mid life crisis,simon c,murt,pretty blue.sorry if i've left anybody out.the northerners didn't want to come for food with us suverners...tight barstuards,'tis true what they say :f :f anyway,it looked like they had already eaten enough for a month,and robbo took enough of robs sausages home to last the rest of the year :p
 
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ianrobbo1

ianrobbo1

good looking AND modest
got home at 8/30 now tucking into a couple of the "Welsh dragons" :bow: :lick: nearly blowing me socks off, :eek:
seems the tyre pressure "debate" is well and truly ended, and guess who was right and who was wrong!! g0551p
good tour and very informative, bloody HOT in that factory, but a couple of the bods working there seemed happy with the wages!! "yes I did ask em" :rolleyes:
I was impressed with "Stans" Karate demonstration on Gyppo!! :} but still cant understand why he wears his mum's glasses!!!! :rolleyes:
good to meet some "old" in Blu's case VERY old faces again and a couple of "new" ones, the Ducrappi riding "gent"!!! asking if they tested on ice certainly wouldn't last two minutes on here,LOL
 
M

Mid Life Crisis

Registered User
Cracking day out, enjoyed the visit, have to agree with the previous comments on how labour intensive the process is to produce a tyre :eek:

Avon presented themselves well in my opinion.

Nice to finally meet other BIRD members :bow: :bow:

Stan, thanks for the invite to the Sheepfest will do my best to get over mate.
 
Murt

Murt

Letch
Tour was very interesting ( and HOT). nice to see some of the gang again..
M6 was a nightmare on the way home. must have filtered for over 10 miles :eek:

Anyway.. I managed to get some photo's of the Avon trye process.

First of all they roll out a big hot rubbery thingy, onto a round thingy that has all the different layers of rubber and the laminate 'cross ply' stuff.

Then its put onto the carcase and they are molded together on another big hot machine in a very hot room, and the sidewalls are added..

Then its all put into a massive machine and heated even HOTTER to bond all the different bits together.

Im sure they said that the bloke cuts EVERY tread pattern by hand with a stanley knife, if you look really close on the side wall, you can see his signature.

:rolleyes:

Did I mention it was hot enough to cook your brains !!
 

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1200Pete

1200Pete

Registered User
Have to agree, I found the whole process very interesting and informative. I was amazed to see that there was NO releasing agent used in the moulds, none!, nothing!

This may explain how they scrub in so quick!

Once again, good to see some old and new faces :yo:
 
P

pretty blue

Guest
Thing I learn't

It was hot :mad:
Avon recommend reducing tyre pressure for track days :rolleyes:
It was good to meet you guys although you are much thinner than I imagined :xm
Stan the man is Welsh :}
The thin incision on the ST's are mainly for looks :dunno:
 
stan the man

stan the man

you are not capable
pretty blue said:
It was hot :mad:

Stan the man is Welsh :}
Click to expand...

NOOOOOO.....whatever gave you that impression,me,welsh!!!!!! :rolleyes:

it was bloody hot though....i was sweating like bert,chasing his girlfriend(or boyfriend) %$fan
 
ianrobbo1

ianrobbo1

good looking AND modest
I'm glad Murt got my "good" side in his pictures, and NO even though it was hot enough to fry your brains, the "green" stuff coming out of my ear was a "plug" NOT my "frying" brains!! :eek:
has anyone mentioned it were LOUD in there as well, :eek:
Murt sorry we got "separated" whilst "filtering" :}
 
ianrobbo1

ianrobbo1

good looking AND modest
and ONLY a Duccatti rider {or Bert} could ask those :lol: questions!! and the bloke was being serious!! :eek:
so Derek-Simon when you getting your Duccattiis's then??? :dunno: :rolleyes:
 
stan the man

stan the man

you are not capable
derek kelly said:
Sooo........












Do they...........































Test em on Ice? :dunno:








:rolleyes: :p
Click to expand...


some guy asked that question c7u8 and the answer is no...





























but they're looking for a test rider to do it....
























fancy it derek :eek:
 
S

SimonC

Guest
Stan,

I second Derek for Ice testing, :lol: :lol:

Hi to all,
R2, Stan, Blu/Silver meni (do sort this out its toooo confusing!), MLC. Gypsy (larger in life than I was expecting :h
It was a good if slow and hot day out! (M4 to be avoided at all costs :puke: .

R2, many thanks for co-ordinating the local.
Jaws, many thanks for arranging

Wot do I remember

Grip. life, tyre

100 50, Viper extreeme
95 60 Viper sport
90 70 Viper
85 100 ST !! :beer:

And only 3% of riders can use all a tyre has to offer, so thats Pete and ? g0551p.

Cheers all, lookforward to a another outing.


TTFN
 
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