Avon Roadrider

I have a set of these that came with my NT650 Deauville. Where to start?

Overall they lack feel and can best be described as wooden. If you have ever ridden a Deauville on the OEM Michelin Macadams you will know what I mean except these are even more wooden if that's possible. Grip is OK in the dry but the complete lack of feedback in the wet inspires zero confidence. Worse still is the squirming and twitching that goes on when running over cats eyes and other road deformities, especially bad when two up. If longevity is your thing these tyres will suit you well. 11,000 miles in most of it on motorways and they are still little more than half worn. Now to be fair, a lot of this maybe down to the Deauville being designed for radial tyres (Avon Roadriders are cross ply)and perhaps the weight of the Deauville doesn't help but my overall feeling is one of astonishment at how Avon can come up with a superb tyre in the Storm ST and such a pile of poo in the Roadrider.

These are fitted to my RD500LC and have transformed the bike from the horrible old Bridgestone BT45s. The suspension works well with these tyres and they give lots of feedback and confidence. I did a track day on them and the grip was seemingly endless. No 'moments', no slides, predictable and fantastic!