Another Sad Tire Story

[GeorgeS]

OK, I put on New Avon's last year about April. And put in a can of " Ride ON " in both front and rear. 8000 miles on them now.

 

Beginning of my SAD story:

Around last Nov. 30th, I parked in garage, and noticed a Stone about 3/16 wide stuck in Front Avon, near Center line.

This was pure chance, that I noticed it.

 

I pulled the stone out with needle nose, it was about 3/16 wide, and near 1/4 in deep. It was embedded in the Thickest part of the Tread.

( very little wear on the front with only 8K on it. ) Stone was shaped sort of like a Pyramid, and had 3 sharp points.

 

I checked the Pressure, was normal, so at the time I forgot about it.

 

Bike sat in garage unused for about 2 months, except for a 20 mile ride around 3 Jan. 08.

Two weeks ago, I go for a ride, and about a block from the house I realized that something was wrong, so came back. Found only 18lb. of air in front. ????? Hmmmm I aired it up, went for a ride, all seemed OK.

 

Yesterday I checked press, it had gone down to 28LB from 45 in two weeks. Hmmmm. ????

 

Ok time for the Soap Suds leak detector. Then I remembered the little pyramide shaped sharp stone. ??? NO WAY, that little stone was not big enough to go thru the Tread, and the Caseing, Right ??

 

Put suds, on the wound from the Stone, And all around both sides of the rim Bead. Waited, over 30 min. and WA LA !! The bubble was growing, ever so slowly. Right where the stone came out.

 

Conclusion!!

1. Ride On Works !!!

 

2. My " Stop + Go Tire Plugger works Great "

 

3. That little Stone, Should Not Have Punctured the tire, it

was not that big. I base this statement on 50 years of buying

and installing, and repairing Motorcycle tires !!! ( I'm not a

green horn at this.)

 

4. I need to find out, the answer to this question !!

 

( How thick is the caseing of an AVON Venom Front tire,

after All the Tread is worn off ????????? )

 

Can anybody answer this for me ??

 

Does anybody have a worn out Avon Venom Front tire, that they could cut a Cross Section out of, and take some close ups, and post here ???

 

Any, help and comments are much appriciated.

 

Anyway, I doubt I will be buying another Avon Front Tire.

Yes the handleing , and the ride , is great, I agree with that.

 

But being punctured by that little stone, is NOT ACCEPTABLE IN MY BOOK !!

 

I know, this will start a fire storm, but hey, its Winter, and we need something to discuss other then Snow, and the Oil shortage, and now I hear, we have a " Wheat ' Shortage, caused by the farmers all switching to Corn to make " Fake Gasoline "

[BuddyRich]

Is it possible that part of the stone broke off inside the tire. So it was actually longer than what you removed. Stone can be like glass and work its way in a tire.

[GeorgeS]

Is it possible that part of the stone broke off inside the tire. So it was actually longer than what you removed. Stone can be like glass and work its way in a tire.

 

No way to tell, I should have kept it. However at the time I pulled it out, do to the size it never occured to me to even consider that it might have gone beyond the Tread, Much less punctured the caseing.

 

I drove on gravel roads for many years, never saw anything like this.

 

I was just looking at the Plug, and it seems to be bulging around the 1/4 dia. plug. So I guess I will be getting a new tire.

 

I will cross section the tire after removal, I want to know how thick the caseing is on these Avon's.

 

The tread wear, is so little where the stone went thru, its not possible to even measure it.

 

Looks like I will be going back to Dunlop, "Elite III " Series, unless I find something better.

[cmiles3]

Softer rubber allows more penetration from stones and other road hazards. The stone sticks to the rubber better, penetrates quicker. But if it's pointed in the right direction, it will penetrate any tire. If the stone's big enough, it will penetrate a little farther with each revolution. The wide base will cause it to back out a little, but the damage is done, and gets worse with each rev. Should have stopped and bought a lottey ticket; just your luck that day.

 

Even with 8,000 miles, you have half the rubber left. All my tire issues happened in the last half of the tire wear, with more happening in the last 1/4 of the wear.

[Condor]

The AVON warantee is right up there around where you live George. Email Keith at kost@avonmotorcycleusa.com See what he says about thicknesses etc. And if it's only been a year you may have some pro-rated warantee coming??

[tazmocycle]

i would think that most tire mfgers make their casings about the same tickness. i think that rock would have punctured about any brand tire. i had a friend who had a new dunlop tire on his fjr with only a couple of hundred miles on it and had a flat. where they broke it down to fix, they found a small piece of the white reflectors that are on the roads. it had hit between the thick rows of threads in one of the groves. this got me thinking about my wreck in 05 of my venture. i had a venon-x on the rear with about 5,000 miles on it. when i moved from the left lane to the right lane, i remembered running over something, and just a few second later the tire went completely flat causing me to wreck. i think i may have hit a broken reflector in the center line of the road. from what i've read of brad and lonna's wreck, it's very similiar to what happen to me, the back tire went down very fast, putting the bike in a violent fishtailing, which lead to the crash. you can run over a pile of nails and only till one flips upright, will it puncture your tire. this is just one of the risk we take when we ride the roads with all the debris on them.

[GeorgeS]

The piece of Stone that I pulled out, with needle nose, was NO thicker the the Tread Thickness, if even that. maby it had a shard that had broken before I pulled it out and had gone thru.

 

However, this little stone, did not seem any different from the Average little stone on your Average Gravel Road !!!

 

Thats whats got me so upset over this.

 

Also, I had to really force the plugger tool to get it to go thru the caseing to put the plug in.

So the hole was extremely small.

 

Also, I will be putting " Ride ON " into every new tire installation from now on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Anyway, we live and learn, and I am aware of the risks in rideing.

[Guest KitCarson]

Hey do you all remember about 15 years ago when a tire would only last about 8000 miles? A lot of improvements have been made in tires......in fact I am watching Metzler very closely.....always liked a Metzler tire...before the big chunk out started......seems they have fixed it......still not trusting...

Anyway and I know it is excessive.......I still simply change my tires at 8000 miles...or at least start thinking about it at that point and usually get it done around 8500......Yep costs like 300 bucks......Sure gives me peace of mind and keeps the performance and handling up on the bike......once half the tread is gone......that is when a bike likes to act up usually. You can push it on a car......on a bike to me top condition tires simply are cheap insurance.

[Redneck]

here is a cross

section. http://venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16471&highlight=avon+cross+section

[Tartan Terror]

Actually there is a cross section of a Tire on here to show the thickness of the tread area. I deal with tires all day and the thing I have found through experience is that all tires will get flats. Ive seen flats on my customers vehicles from earrings, Stones, Clamshells, wood splinters and even a Raccoons tooth ( that was his revenge). You figure speed, angle and weight of the bike pretty much anything can get through. If it was leaking i would say the Ride-On didnt really work right but then I am no fan of Fix-a-flat type products. False sense of security. I would rather plug in an emergency but I recommend changing the tire out now. Best bet is to check your pressure often and be alert. Even at that you never know what can happen, just ask Brad and Lonna.