I figured I'd chime in with my Avon Storm 3DXM experience to provide another data point. It was fundamentally positive for me, but I went into it with my expectations set at a certain level.
To set context: I had previously run about 50k miles on my '01 C10 starting with the original Dunlops and then using a combination of gold wing size tires. I liked the Michelin Pilot GT's but they stopped making them. I was getting 15-20k miles out of the wing size tires, mostly straights and sweepers, with the occasional twisties. No commuting.
I wanted better performance for my 3 week, 6k mile trip to the Kerrville National, with Devil's Highway and other twisties between Nevada and Kerrville. I was looking for stock size and figured radials would be higher performance and the Storm is what I found. I read through the threads here and assessed the good, the bad, and the ugly. I decided I would run them on the Kerrville trip and then REPLACE THEM right after the trip regardless of how much tread was left.
I bought them from Dennis Kirk and tried to get them to send me ones with recent date codes. What I got was 1-yr old fronts and 2.5-yr old rears. Time was short so I went with them rather than return them, since the tires would be on the bike for only a couple months.
The handling was great! Holy crap it was so much better than stock Dunlop or even the Michelin Pilot GT (wing size) radials. I put about 1k miles on them before Kerrville, running through Death Valley. My trip down Devil's Highway was so much more enjoyable this year than on my trip to Big Bend in 2016. They handled great with no issues on the way to Kerrville and in and around Kerrville, and on the trip back. My bike was heavily loaded during the trip, with saddlebags, Givi 52L trunk, and a 260-lb rider/Aerostich/helmet.
I had no problems at all, no wobbles, nothing for about the first 6k miles. I ran them at 42 psi front and rear. No deceleration wobble at 50, nothing. Around 6k I felt a kind of small "wobble" in the front like I have felt with cupped tires in the past. It didn't disturb the handling at my speeds (I'm a medium speed rider). There was also a slight deceleration wobble at 50. I got home just fine with 7k on the tires and was never worried.
There was no cupping, no visible issues with the front tire at all. The rear was squaring off, but I'm not surprised because there are long straights between the twisties out here in the Southwest. I had probably 50% of the tread left. I got what I expected out of the tire, which was great handling during the trip. Something was going on internally with the tire at the end, but it was not a catastrophic situation. I had no qualms about just replacing them. I understand some might not consider this a positive experience. ;D However, I'd consider these again for a high performance trip situation.
Based on Jim Snyder's comments, I'm now trying out the Avon Roadrider AM26 bias plies. They did well on the Devil's Highway a couple weeks ago! We will see how they last. If the Roadriders get better mileage than the Storms, I will stick with them because of the mileage factor.
To set context: I had previously run about 50k miles on my '01 C10 starting with the original Dunlops and then using a combination of gold wing size tires. I liked the Michelin Pilot GT's but they stopped making them. I was getting 15-20k miles out of the wing size tires, mostly straights and sweepers, with the occasional twisties. No commuting.
I wanted better performance for my 3 week, 6k mile trip to the Kerrville National, with Devil's Highway and other twisties between Nevada and Kerrville. I was looking for stock size and figured radials would be higher performance and the Storm is what I found. I read through the threads here and assessed the good, the bad, and the ugly. I decided I would run them on the Kerrville trip and then REPLACE THEM right after the trip regardless of how much tread was left.
I bought them from Dennis Kirk and tried to get them to send me ones with recent date codes. What I got was 1-yr old fronts and 2.5-yr old rears. Time was short so I went with them rather than return them, since the tires would be on the bike for only a couple months.
The handling was great! Holy crap it was so much better than stock Dunlop or even the Michelin Pilot GT (wing size) radials. I put about 1k miles on them before Kerrville, running through Death Valley. My trip down Devil's Highway was so much more enjoyable this year than on my trip to Big Bend in 2016. They handled great with no issues on the way to Kerrville and in and around Kerrville, and on the trip back. My bike was heavily loaded during the trip, with saddlebags, Givi 52L trunk, and a 260-lb rider/Aerostich/helmet.
I had no problems at all, no wobbles, nothing for about the first 6k miles. I ran them at 42 psi front and rear. No deceleration wobble at 50, nothing. Around 6k I felt a kind of small "wobble" in the front like I have felt with cupped tires in the past. It didn't disturb the handling at my speeds (I'm a medium speed rider). There was also a slight deceleration wobble at 50. I got home just fine with 7k on the tires and was never worried.
There was no cupping, no visible issues with the front tire at all. The rear was squaring off, but I'm not surprised because there are long straights between the twisties out here in the Southwest. I had probably 50% of the tread left. I got what I expected out of the tire, which was great handling during the trip. Something was going on internally with the tire at the end, but it was not a catastrophic situation. I had no qualms about just replacing them. I understand some might not consider this a positive experience. ;D However, I'd consider these again for a high performance trip situation.
Based on Jim Snyder's comments, I'm now trying out the Avon Roadrider AM26 bias plies. They did well on the Devil's Highway a couple weeks ago! We will see how they last. If the Roadriders get better mileage than the Storms, I will stick with them because of the mileage factor.
