Avon Venom tire

To put it shortly, it's the worst tire I've ever used. It absolutely sucks.

What? You want some details? Okay, I guess. Note: this is for a 150/90-15 rear tire.

Dry traction: Mediocre at best. My Max with the Venture drive can keep it lit up through most of third gear before it finally hooks up. Going WOT in first or second results in an instant burnout. Cornering is disconcerting and not exactly confidence-inspiring. For "general" riding, it's adequate, but when really pushed into corners it doesn't want to hold a line, and the slightest bump in the road induces a mild wobble. For easy riding it might be passable, but there's really no such thing on a Vmax, is there?

Wet traction: Absymal. If you get a picture of the Venom's tread, you'll see that over 90% of the tire there is NO center tread. At all. Most of the tire is half-chevrons on either side of a slick center, then there is a couple of wavy treads that cross the tire at about at 45 degree angle. It's the only non-symmetrical tire I've ever seen. Since there is no tread in the center to evacuate water, riding in the rain gets downright scary. It spins with anything but the most ginger touch on the throttle. What really killed this tire for me is wet cornering. Even when I'm in "rain mode" and riding more conservatively through corners, the rear tire walks all over the place. I've ridden knobby tire dirt bikes that took corners better. I have to slow waaaaaay down, often to 15 or 20mph to take the corner. It's really that bad.

Wear: Good. I suppose one redeeming factor for this tire is that it seems to wear extremely well. I've got over 3000 miles on it, with lots and lots of burnouts and hard acceleration and it still looks new. Suppose that comes with whatever ultra-hard compound it's made of. However, it's not even a year old and already dry-rotting on the sidewalls. What a piece of ****.

I'd say this tire may be passable for a low horsepower cruiser, but the absolutely frightening wet traction breaks the deal.

A burnout vid may be coming soon, smoke this thing and go get a new one.

I agree with you. My 98 came with them installed and surprise rolling burnouts arn't uncommon. Oddly enough, it sticks pretty good at the drag strip. Alot of better alternitives out there.

Good to know the pros and cons. Thanks for the info.

The rear tire works in conjunction with the front tire on a lot of setups. I'm guessing the venom is the same. My Metzeler Z6's on my SV have a solid strip down the center as well and are amazing in the rain. The front tire is designed to push the water out of the way for the rear. By having a solid strip it will wear better/longer. This is why I always stress that tires be replaced in pairs and with the same model front.

Did you replace the front with a venom as well?

Chris

i havent pushed my avon tire hard yet but i do experience the tire spinning on very mild acceleration thru turns. I always chocked it up to road surface and temp of tire, maybe its the compound as you said. I have Me880 on my stocker and like them very much but its also a 170 not the 150 avon.

HAd them on my bike when i got them, the rear was shot so it was replaced right away with a ME 880, front was ok so i left it. I just changd to a Continantal blitz and man what a difference. The Blitz is sooooooooo sticky compared to the Avon

My bike came with maybe a 25% worn Bridgestone Spitfire on the front, and this brand new Avon on the rear with not even 100 miles on it. I know....mismatched tires. BUZZ! strike one. But I couldn't bring myself (at first) to toss out a pair of nearly new tires and spend $300 on a new set, espicially since I had just dropped about $5k on the bike and DMV fees.

Just doing the "fingernail test", I can tell the front Bridgestone is considerably softer than the rear Avon. As such in corners, I almost feel like I'm going sideways as the front tire holds a line but the rear doesn't.

As for high speeds, it's tough to comment. Seems like almost everyone here has battled with speed wobble. I'm always fine under 110-115 or so. Beyond that, and it kind of randomly occurs. Sometimes I can push it to about 140 and not have any issues. Other times it starts to weave by 120. I really don't know if that's caused by the mismatched tires or not. Some people have claimed that switching tires helped the weave, but I really don't have anything to compare it to.

It's not even that cheap of a tire. Shinko's are still considerably cheaper and they seem to be a favorite around here along with the ME880's. I'm cheap by nature and I'm having a a hard time justifying the Metz tires when they're more than double the price of the Shinkos.

Well i must say i love my avon storms so far.
I tried to do a first gear rollling burnout like i've done a hundred times with the metzlers and the avon grabbed and shot my front end up in the air.

Now i havent ridden in the rain yet, and i'm also comparing a metzler 170 to my radial avon 200. So i know i'm not comparing apples to apples, but so far i'm liking it...

I didn't have any issues with the Venoms on my chopper. I ran one out front and a 230 out back. Handles just fine in the rain and did great in the corners (as well as a 10' long bike would perform)

One afternoon I was doing about 20mph with some friends and I punched the big twin and tore 13 out of 35 spokes from the rim, so no traction issues there.

Maybe I was just one of the lucky ones with this set of rubber.

KJ that chopper is BAD ***!!

RaWarrior said:

It's not even that cheap of a tire. Shinko's are still considerably cheaper and they seem to be a favorite around here along with the ME880's. I'm cheap by nature and I'm having a a hard time justifying the Metz tires when they're more than double the price of the Shinkos.

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I think it's been proven that the Metz last longer too.

Metz has NEVER been known for having the best price.

I have Metz on both of my bikes and love them.

Chris

You've been complaing about this tire since you joined the forum. Get a new one already, LOL!

The shinko's are a great bang for the buck IMO. Motorcycle superstore had them for around $75 a bit ago and if you were spending $75 shipping was free. As mentioned, they don't last as long as some of the other tires but they do hook pretty well.

06VMAXIMUS said:

KJ that chopper is BAD ***!!

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Thanks, if it wasn't such a back killer I'd probably still have it. I got rid of it on '07 then bought my 07 Vmax 8 months later. I still miss it from time to time though.

I finally did get a new one. The Avon was showing cords at about 7000 miles, to be fair I was trying to "use it up" towards the end. Couple of those burnouts to the top of third will do it in.

Went with a stock size Metz 880 in the front, and a 170/80-15 in the back. The larger size fit fine for me, you could fit two quarters in the clearance between tire and swingarm. No "washer swap" needed. I have the Venture drive, if that makes any difference there.

It's a whole new bike. Cornering is so much easier, the bike "flicks" with much less effort, and it no longer wobbles if you hit a bump while cornering, so it's a lot more confidence inspiring. Straight line hookup is considerably better, though it will still light up on demand in first and the higher end of second, though once you hit third it's hooked up good.

Front ran me $120, rear was $160, and installation/balance was $30/tire (off the bike).

I was amazed at the difference switching to Metz's made....I can really slam it into corners with no ***-end "walking" like before, and have it hold a perfect line at any lean. Before the harder you leaned, the more the rear tire walked out on you.

So a big thumbs-up to the Metz. Not the cheapest option, but it's a million times better than the Avon/Bridgestone combo that the p/o left me.

I actually love my rear Venom AM42. I think that it looks good, hooks great, offers okay wet traction, and lasts forever. My first one lasted 14,000 miles with fairly hard riding, and it rips the front wheel off the ground (w/o spinning) when I hit the throttle. The only down side that I see to this tire is cost. For what the Venom's cost you can get 2 Shinkos. The Avon was a HUGE improvement over the factory Dunlop. After 4,000 miles the Dunlop allowed for easy rolling burnouts in the first 2 gears, and was showing cords at 5,000 miles. Granted the last 1,000 miles accounted for probably 50% of the wear. The Avon stayed sticky until it was worn all the way.

Heretic said:

I actually love my rear Venom AM42. I think that it looks good, hooks great, offers okay wet traction, and lasts forever. My first one lasted 14,000 miles with fairly hard riding, and it rips the front wheel off the ground (w/o spinning) when I hit the throttle. The only down side that I see to this tire is cost. For what the Venom's cost you can get 2 Shinkos. The Avon was a HUGE improvement over the factory Dunlop.

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i AGREE! I've got them front and rear... Ridden about 1000 miles and no real sign of wear. Never did a rolling burnout on these. Just pulls the front end into the sky everytime. About to take them through the blue ridge mountains. I can take corners usually 25-30 over posted turn limits. The New Works shocks and Avon Venoms are an amazing combo.

I have a set and find them pretty good. I take it pretty easy in the wet and the rear has only broken loose when I expected it to. The Dunlops were scary, well the front one was anyway. The combination of the crappy stock brakes and the Dunlops didn't instill enough confidence for me to push the bike the first month I had it. Got the radials and new brakes soon thereafter. I like the way it handles and stops now. Mind you, 3rd gear rubber is doable but I kind of like it...