Don't worry about how it comes across RenoJohn. Some people will take it as negative and others as positive no matter what. B)
Here's the thing, you have legitimate questions, but many* tire threads end up in the Never-Ending Pointless Recurring Threads, (NEPRT), section due to the strong opinions on tires. (I originally said 'virtually all', but decided that wasn't accurate.)
We have a separate section for Insurance, but not tires. I agree
that seems strange. You would think that we could handle the occasional tire and insurance thread in the general FJR section w/o having a cow about it. Honestly, you're probably better off asking this question on the Micapeak listserv where you'll get feedback from several people with different opinions w/o getting dogpiled.
I'm as confused as you are. Are tires a 'part'? Certainly not a farkle. Is this Technical? Not in the sense of asking how it works or fits the FJR. We've been told that parts are not allowed to be discussed in the FJR Specific section, but should be in the Parts and Accessories area which is listed under the FJR Technical Forums section.
Best I can tell, Tires do go in the "Parts and Accessories" section of Technical Forums. Whether it ends up being moved to NEPRT or not becomes an admin issue.
Short answer to your actual tire question, Avons and Pilot Roads are the top favorites for long wear and good grip. BT-020s are excellent and consistant wearing tires, but the fronts
always cup, often badly, before they wear out and this causes a lot of vibration and extra noise in cornering that many don't care for. Me-6 tires have had some issues with cords separating, but like the Avon balance issue, not everyone has had those issues, and some folks love them.
Avons, as you discovered, can vary in quality. I've had many good sets of Avons w/o issues. I have noticed that if you need a lot of weight to balance the tire, it's going to be one of the bad ones. Avon had said themselves that at a certain amount of weight, they will replace the tire. Naturally, this is a little tough if we mail ordered the tires since they want to deal with the shop, not directly with us. No word if the Storms are better than the Azarros in this regard yet, but the word so far is they are equal to Azarros dry and better wet.
Sources - Lots of good things said about
SW Moto Tires I've had good luck with them, with
MAW and have used
OnOff Road as well. I have those three bookmarked along with
Tires Unlimited,
Competition Accessories,
American Motorcycle Tire and lets not forget
California Sport Touring! I've used CaSporttouring for many items with great service and prices.
Hope that helps!
As to this thread, I think Slapnpop was just fishing. I fell for it, but hey that happens. I do note that he hasn't posted here since his initial post. That's sometimes a sign that someone was trolling.
hwell:
