[jbranson]

John,

I've run both.
And let me be specific here... the AVON in the SIZES that we are likely to run in 200gp are CRAP! I've done two sets of them, first set had to go back..dried out and unbalanceable. The second set was fresher but still so out of round that I had to use about 5oz to balance it. And under the best of conditions rotate the wheel on a balance stand and watch the centerline of the tire...it's all over the place. The larger AVONs seem to have considerably better quality.

The Dunlops...in a word... ROCK! Very sticky, nice modern profile, actually round unlike the Avons, the mount nicely and have a good quality appearance. If you are into lean angles... I mean for real..all boasting aside, if you regularly drag pegs, pipes, toes, knees... you better have the Dunlops...put them side by side and look at the contact patch at high lean angles...no contest.

I run the soft (unobtanium now) compound on the front of our bikes and the med compound on the rear.

Be aware that you will have to change your gearing to compensate for the lower profile of the Dunlops.

Did I mention they were 3 lbs lighter than the Avons when used on front and rear?

JohnnyB

PS. I'm pretty sure Aaron was using the larger Avons (at least on the rear). I'm talking about 80/90 and the 90/90 Avons that are crappy.



Edited by - jbranson on Dec 09 2004 5:33:52 PM

 

[jbranson]

One of the reasons I went with the Dunlops was the way D'angelo praised them in the rain. I've run them twice in the wet and have been very happy with them...I don't have enough experience in the wet on the Avons to pass any judgement there.

I did run into the same thing with the side walls, and watched Yannerilla do the same thing to his Avons...when you are getting over that far you want the tread of the tire on the road, not the side wall.

I did have a set of soft dunlops on the back of mine for a while and was totally roasting them. After a race once, and after sitting in the pits a few moments Frank C. put the gauge on them...168 degrees..had to be hitting 180 degree during the race. Greasy that hot on the track but very predictable.

I ran 80/90 Avons in front (7.5 lbs) and 90/90 Avon in the rear ( 9 lbs) so for me going to the Dunlops at between 6.5 and 7 lbs was a nice weight savings. Like Aaron says..wouldn't be such a big deal if one was running 80/90 Avons on front and back.

John, I was getting my Avons from WERA vintage...I've heard they are not the best source, and often have old tires. I'm picky about wheels and tires, I like my rims trued to .010 - .015" and I like the tires to run very straight and true. Probably makes no difference..but there you go.. I'm anal about wheels.

I just can't get past the contact patch, I know what touches ground on my bike, I know where the tires are on their road surface at those angles, and the Dunlop has the same patch at 45 degrees as it does at 10 degrees... the Avons are off the tread surface by then.

I guess a lot of it is confidence, I have a ton of confidence in the Dunlops. I'm 207 lbs in race gear, I think I push my little bike pretty hard, and the rear tire takes a ton of abuse (like Zack says..weight on this bike is about 60/40 on the rear), not to mention most of my weight back there. I can count how many times I've exited corners to have the back end do two or three quick slip and grips that in my baised opinion probably would have been a high/low side with Avons. No I have no hard evidence to prove that.

At the level most of us ride (not Zack), confidence is probably more of an issue than actual tire performance. But if you are running off the tread then that's a visible sign you are exceeded the design parameters of the tire.

I one thing I remember back when I was running Avons. After a race a guy came over the pits and looked at my bike. He said...I was watching over in turn three, if you keep riding like that you better put some Dunlops on there...... For all I know he sold Dunlops, or was a goof ball...but he didn't seem like a goof ball.

Anyway...give the Dunlops a try. I've yet to speak to anyone that tried them that didn't like them. Check the fast guys running your sizes...see what they run. If turk is running Avons on his MT...well then I'm guessing we are all safe on Avons, if he's running Dunlops like Yannerilla, might want to give them a try.

Once again...I can't address the performance of any Dunlop/Avon tires except the 80/90 90/90 Avon Universals and the KR825 Dunlops in soft and Med.

JohnnyB

 

[jbranson]

Rob,
There was a day when D'angelo wasn't so slow. He had a bad crash about eight years ago that slowed him down a lot. He's only got back up to speed the last year or so.

I mean he was never a Turk, but he was quicker than he is now. And....he's super paranoid about rain..
JohnnyB

 

[jbranson]

Steve has run an absolutely brutal race schedule that last couple of years...had to be making a dozen races a year at least from Mosport, to schuby to Jennings.

The guy I saw run at Gunstock last year was a new Steve, that had obviously gotten over his caution of the previous years.

Rob, crashes effect everybody differently...you don't strike me as the kind to be slowed up by a crash in a mental way...might take you a while to get back 100% physical though. Sometimes people, like Steve, who REALLY don't like to crash, and don't expect to crash, take it kind of bad when they do.

When I don't get hurt, and it doesn't cost too much, I ALMOST, don't mind a crash... it can be a very good learning experience. Course I broke three verts in my back, both wrists, cut the ball of my right foot off, got 57 stitches in my head and did enough internal damage to spend 7 weeks in the hospital from a crash on the street. So in general I'm not excessively worried about a crash on my 200gp bike...athough any freak thing can kill you. As Strempfer can probably attest to.

At my age an injury is almost a vacation...with you youngsters it probably puts a cramp in your lifestyle.

JohnnyB

PS. They had to stick a camera up my peepee and look around several times, I didn't care for that much.

 

[jbranson]

He takes very good care of himself. He's got some of the best personal grooming I've ever seen on a man. And of course we all know about his penchant for "Pimp" paint jobs and fancy boy leathers.

Ok...I don't really want to suggest where this is leading.
JohnnyB

PS. Joe...Aaron and I got our egos by removing all of yours and splitting it between ourselves. It was tasty...kind of like the heart meat of a small animal