Avon Storm ST's - First Impressions

[seedy100]

Cost £ 139.99 – Busters

Fitting £ 46.00 Drive in – Let them look after it for a week whist I go on holiday – Drive out

Tyres look good; there is still some debris from the labels left on the tread.

The whole bike felt different, very skittish, and unstable. :smt103

Took the bike straight home and checked the tyre pressures, both were well over on my (Calibrated) gauge.

Put that right and then go out for a bimble to start scrubbing in.

As soon as I started to lean the difference between these and the old Azaros was obvious. The first 30 miles was a gentle wander over to Ipswich, then about 20 miles around town making best use of the roundabouts, and 30 "spirited" miles home.
With most of the scrubbing in done the 70 mile commute on Monday finished the job off.

For the rest of the week I have been enjoying a new confidence in corners, getting further over than ever before and not feeling like I am suddenly going to fall over.

All the talk about “Squared off” tyres now makes more sense, the sudden “Oh Sh1t” feeling I used to get was probably due to coming off the flat bit.

I am sure that most of the difference was between new tyres and old, rather than between Azros and Storm ST’s.

The last 50 of this weeks 600 miles were ridden in the wet, all seemed fine but I need more wet miles to make a reasonable comparison (note – need not want!)

The one surprise so far is that there are no wear bars. – Must keep an eye on that as they get worn!

In summary I am very pleased with the Storms so far.
If I get the same mileage as I got from the Azaros I will be very pleased.

[RingDing]

I'd be interested in what you think of them over a period of time. I'm currently running Z6's, which are a great tyre (by far the best road tyre I've ever used) but are squaring off in a bit of a wierd way on my bike. Even the front has squared off a bit after 5500 miles. Yes the pressures are correct and I've not been doing rolling stoppies. :D

The Storm's sound like they should be at least as good as the Z6's from reviews I've seen but should kep their profile better due to the way the carcass flexes. I'd be interested in whether you find this to be the case.

Cheers.

[northwind]

Yep, I'm watching for more reviews of the Pilot Road 2, Storms, and the new BT021... Not that I don't love the Roadtecs but I'm not daft, these are all probably contenders to outlast them without any drawbacks, which is all you can ask really now that tyres are so good. Do you still get the puncture warranty with the Storms?

[mac99]

Do you still get the puncture warranty with the Storms?
The 1mm thing? I think so, but not absolutely sure. (Useful eh?)

I replaced my rear Azaro with a Storm about 4000 miles ago. It seems to be wearing at about the same rate as the Azaro did, and also like it, it doesn't really change much in feel as it wears. Certainly as compared to the original fitment Bridgestones.

I was fairly happy with the azaros overall. In the dry or when really wet they behaved as well as you'd expect. They only gave me a couple of scares when it was slightly damp. Having said that though, the storms do seem to be a step up in all conditions, noticeably so in the damp.

[northwind]

I thought the Azaro I had on was easily the worst tyre I've ever used on the SV, but then, I've only used very good tyres so that's not really much of a criticism ;) Hated it in winter though. Very good on snow, as road tyres go, though.

[seedy100]

I wasnt aware of any waranty when I bought them, and there was nothing with the tyres when they were delivered.

I will call Busters on Tuesday and find out.

[suzsv650]

Ive got these on my R6

Well!!

i had these put on brand new when i bought the bike ive doen about 3 4 k on them and they stil look good too... these tyers are realy imresive in the dry ive had one side and knee down action is so very easy with positve fead back from the tyer

however when it rains i find them very very slippy and i find myself slipping around on corners (when i had the SV with Z6s) i was fine and i could take corners much better in the rain than i can on the R6

but as soon as winter comes back ill b putting Z6s on the R6 for the winter and back to the avons for the summer cus they realy are soo good in the dry!

[BristolMatt]

I've had the Storms about 500 miles now and I find them great. Saying this I have no had much to compare them to apart from the old, squared BT020's that I got with the bike. 500 miles, not that that is alot, have not had much wearing affect on 'em. They seem to warm up quickly and give good grip both wet and dry.
Seedy100 - TWI is written around the edge of the tyres but I can't see any bars either, unless they make an apperance later on :confused:

You do get the puncture warrenty as I found out about 20 miles into my new rear, so only paid £12.50 to get another one fitted :D, which was nice.

[mac99]

Just got a new set fitted front and rear to replace the worn azaro/storm mix I had before.
I asked about the puncture guarantee, and he said that they have stopped it. Bugger. I bet I get a puncture now.
On the plus side, I can't believe how worn my old ones must have been. The handling's been a little off recently, even with correct pressures. Now it's rock solid stable and predictable in comparison. Went out for a brief 15 mile scrub in so that I don't have to ride home in the pouring rain on brand new rubber. :(

[seedy100]

Update.

Ive now done 4000 miles on the Storm STs, and for some reason a few of these miles, about 3999 i reckon, have been WET

I can only say I find them fantastic.
Confidence in the wet has gone up immesurably.

My experiance of other tyres is limited, but as things stand at present I anticipate buying another set when these are worn out.

Cant say more than that really.

[21QUEST]

Just got a new set fitted front and rear to replace the worn azaro/storm mix I had before.
I asked about the puncture guarantee, and he said that they have stopped it. Bugger. I bet I get a puncture now.
On the plus side, I can't believe how worn my old ones must have been. The handling's been a little off recently, even with correct pressures. Now it's rock solid stable and predictable in comparison. Went out for a brief 15 mile scrub in so that I don't have to ride home in the pouring rain on brand new rubber. :(

That sounds like b*llox from the dealer to me. I say that because I've got a warranty claim going on at the moment. It may just be a case of THE dealer deciding not participating in the scheme but even that doesn't make much sense seeing as it doesn't really cost them anything.

Long story short, I bought the tyre mail order and even with that being the case, Avon has been very helpful with regards a claim. They couldn't deal with me directly but Ken from Avon pointed me in the right direction. Tyre had only done 100miles.

I'll stick a post up once it's all sorted.

Ben

[amarko5]

That sounds like b*llox from the dealer to me. I say that because I've got a warranty claim going on at the moment. It may just be a case of THE dealer deciding not participating in the scheme but even that doesn't make much sense seeing as it doesn't really cost them anything.

Long story short, I bought the tyre mail order and even with that being the case, Avon has been very helpful with regards a claim. They couldn't deal with me directly but Ken from Avon pointed me in the right direction. Tyre had only done 100miles.

I'll stick a post up once it's all sorted.

Ben

had them on the TDM for 2000 miles or so and find them at least the equal of the z6 if not slightly better in the wet. (and christ have we had plenty of that) only reservation is on white lines and continental overbanding. found that very slippy (more so with the storms than the z6's) they seem to be holding up quite well (as these tyres have done a lot of motorway miles)

all in all good tyres and very nice to turn in with seem to keep the profile better than the Z6's

ohh and they do have TWI bars and lots of them

[Lozzo]

Yep, I'm watching for more reviews of the Pilot Road 2,

I've got PR2s on the Daytona, they've been on for about 3500 miles so far and not showing any signs of squaring off. I'm really surprised at this because the confidence they give when cranked over is incredible, much like a full on sports tyre they feel very stable so I'd expect wear rates to be higher. At this rate of wear they should last about 7500 miles, which is unheard of on a bike like mine being ridden fairly hard. I do tend to give the Daytona some stick, and the centre section isn't tearing up after 50 hard motorway miles like an 014 does. Cornering is as I said, very confident and I'm not having any problems with getting my knee down if I desire. In the wet they are terrific, no slides or vagueness at all.

My only citicism is that they feel a little vague and wandery under extremely heavy braking, but that could be that my suspension needs a little tweaking to compensate. I spoke to John Baines at Baines Racing, who has them on a Guzzi and he says they are the best tyres for normal fast-road riding that he's ever used. He did suggest dropping 2psi from both ends as Michelin carcasses tend to be a touch stiffer, I did and didn't notice the difference.

HTH

[Lozzo]

Do you still get the puncture warranty with the Storms?

Yes you do. A friend has just had one replaced under Avon's warranty.

[northwind]

I've got PR2s on the Daytona, they've been on for about 3500 miles so far and not showing any signs of squaring off. I'm really surprised at this because the confidence they give when cranked over is incredible, much like a full on sports tyre they feel very stable so I'd expect wear rates to be higher. At this rate of wear they should last about 7500 miles, which is unheard of on a bike like mine being ridden fairly hard. I do tend to give the Daytona some stick, and the centre section isn't tearing up after 50 hard motorway miles like an 014 does. Cornering is as I said, very confident and I'm not having any problems with getting my knee down if I desire. In the wet they are terrific, no slides or vagueness at all.

My only citicism is that they feel a little vague and wandery under extremely heavy braking, but that could be that my suspension needs a little tweaking to compensate. I spoke to John Baines at Baines Racing, who has them on a Guzzi and he says they are the best tyres for normal fast-road riding that he's ever used. He did suggest dropping 2psi from both ends as Michelin carcasses tend to be a touch stiffer, I did and didn't notice the difference.


Excellent, cheers. DEfinately a contender. Them or 021s I think, now. But then, I've got a half-worn Roadtec front and another new one in the garage, waiting for these Sportecs to die and for the new rear wheel to get sorted, so maybe I'll be doing some more Roadtecs.