Alright, so after a hundred or so more miles of twisties on them, here's what I can report. For the most part, everything else will be mileage related as I'm sure you're all tired of my rambling on...
-Pressures per Suzuki are pretty right-on:
The build of the tires is more substantial than the Azaro's so the belts are much stiffer. At 29/35 I notice no squirminess and everything tracks as it should. The push I reported earlier I would get even with the PP's in the same section, so more than likely its more suspension related/road surface than anything else. No wallowing to be seen. So far the scrubbed-in areas are pretty comparable to the PP's, less the front tire who's tread is physically taller with the shorter sidewall. I'd have to get on a track with rearsets to get the front to scrub edge-to-edge the way the tire is shaped. The rears are similar, not as pointy as the PP's but shaped more like a 180 rear, the edges flatten out somewhat whereas the PP's were much more rounded.
These tires also take a bit more time to warm-up versus the PP's. Don't think you can go a block and hit it, you'll need a bit more time before they're up to temp.
-Tires are quite predictable:
Mid-corner line changes are no big deal to these tires. I had to tighten up my line fully commited due to a car starting to cross over the double yellow at one point. No fuss, just cranked over more lean angle and they willingly turned in. Drive out of the corners is fine, once again I don't think the 400 could ball these things up riding on normal surface roads, I'm sure on track with the sustained temps they would just like anything else. People have commented that feedback on these tires is a bit less than the PP's but I honestly can't really tell. I'll probably never get them so hot on the street that they start to give but they are pretty damn OK. The shape of tires probably has alot to do with this, the seemingly endless edge of the front coupled with the somewhat flatter shaped rear make for a good combination (for me, anyway).
-Good under braking and acceleration.
No fuss going deep into certain corners. Yes they stand up a bit when you go in too hot but what tire doesn't? I have a couple of "chicane" type corners on the loop I took and one of them requires braking from near 80mph depending on how ballsy you are going into the first RH bend then a 25 ft transition to a tight LH turn. Braking deep into the bend is not a problem and with some finess you can get them to turn-in and transition to throttle fine. They go from edge-to-edge as well as the PP's so no drama there. Reversing the corner (coming the other way) makes the LH turn increasing radius so if you nail the apex, you can really get a great drive out. On edge, the tires throttled out fine, but once again we're talking about 400cc hp here, not litrebike. I'm sure a big bike would have put these things up in smoke.
-No reports of wet weather performance.
Some of the roads I rode on yesterday were damp, but that certainly doesn't count. I'm pretty much a fair-weather kind of guy so perhaps I'm not the one to ask how these would perform in a monsoon as I'd either be at home or in my car. As far as damp roads go: they're fine, they didn't even realize the road was wet. This is also after it had rained for three days so I'm sure all the oils from the road had washed away by then.
So there you have it, as good as I can give it anyway. So far I'm happy with the tires and I've found the shape suits the way I ride a bit moreso than the PP's. If you like tires that fall into corners more, you may be a little disappointed but these are certainly a bit more predictable. I have no idea how these would perform on a track day as I never even got to take my PP's out to one so you're on your own with that.
As I stated before, Avon has extended their promotion till the end of Sept. so if you need new tires or are thinking about it, it's a good way to save $120. I was skeptical of these at first but am pretty happy with my scrupulous decision now. I might even consider getting them again if the mileage can come near the PP's, again, for another time.
-Randy
Topic: Free Avon tires.... (Read 5293 times)