Cracking AVON Venoms

[Condor]

OK, I was probably the first rider to post a complaint about the Venom sever sidewall cracking back in '06 after Susanville. Twice. Avon warantee'd both front tires. What I'm wondering is just how many members have experienced sidewall cracking, and on how many tires. So let's start a list. Not interested in all the gorey details, just the facts listed below. PM me and I'll add your info to the list. From all the posts and threads about Avon tires cracking, I'd like to know just how many members are experiencing the problem.

This is an after thought, but if you haven't experienced any cracking I'd like to hear from you also. All I'll need would be miles on the tire(s) and number of year(s) on the bike.

I just think members are expeiencing way too much sidewall cracking, and sooner or later someone's going to throw a cap and get hurt. Although Avon has been very good on warantees, so far I don't think we've been given the straight story on sidewall cracking.

I need the number of tires cracked, milage when replaced, warantee'd?, DOT date, and date replaced.

Follow this link to see the results.

AVON CRACKING

Edited March 31, 2010 by Condor

[GB373]

Venons made in April 08, installed in March 09, both have major cracking @ under 9 000 miles. Did not try to get replacements because I don't trust them at all now, went with Michelin.

[sarges46]

Myself

 

brand new tire on 1st gen- front tire cracked over winter-warrantied

 

friend here-brand new on 1st gen- front tire cracked- warrantied and new one mounted in Minot

[LilBeaver]

Your "date" column, do you want the date on the tire or the date of the replacement?

 

Front and Rear tires (Avon Venom), cracked sevearly, less than 1,000 miles on each, replaced under warranty, Tires dated 2005

Replacement tires Dated late 2008, within the last 2 weeks started showing lots of cracks on sidewalls and in some places within the treads. Will replace but will not be Avons.

 

Sorry about not responding to your thread. I had considered setting up a poll to take care of this, but I never did it. Honestly, I saw the title and thought "oh boy, another Venom cracking thread" so I didn't open it until I saw it pop back up a few times...

Edited March 22, 2010 by LilBeaver

[Skid]

who has the best price on a set of Avon Venoms?

I need to order a set.....

[Yammer Dan]

South West Moto Tire last time I looked. Good quick service.

 

 

Anybody know any better???

[Leadwolf56]

OK, I was probably the first rider to post a complaint about the Venom seaver sidewall cracking back in '06 after Susanville. Twice. Avon warantee'd both of tires. What I'm wondering is just how many members have experienced sidewall cracking and on how many tires. So let's start a list. Not interested in all the gorry details, just the facts. PM me and I'll add your info to the list. DOT date and date replaced.

 

Member ......How many ....Milage .......Avon Warantee'd....... DOT Date...........Date

 

1. Condor......... 2 ............500 ...............yes................... 2605.................5/2006

2. GB373...........2............9000 ................no................... 1608.................3/2009

3. LilBeaver.......2............1000 ...............yes....................2605.................3/2009

3. LilBeaver.......2........cracked repl w/non avon..................2608.................pending

4. Leadwolf56....1............4000.................yes...................2406..................5/2009

5. Leadwolf56....1............6000.................pending..............0508..................3/2010

 

 

 

This thread has been up for over 24hrs and I guess we have a lot of folks that like to biatch and moan about the sidewall cracking but want to stay off the record. If this thing looks like it's going nowhere I'll ask that it be deleted.

 

 

 

Still waiting to hear on this one.

[Leadwolf56]

OK, I was probably the first rider to post a complaint about the Venom seaver sidewall cracking back in '06 after Susanville. Twice. Avon warantee'd both of tires. What I'm wondering is just how many members have experienced sidewall cracking and on how many tires. So let's start a list. Not interested in all the gorry details, just the facts. PM me and I'll add your info to the list. DOT date and date replaced.

 

Member ......How many ....Milage .......Avon Warantee'd....... DOT Date...........Date

 

1. Condor......... 2 ............500 ...............yes................... 2605.................5/2006

2. GB373...........2............9000 ................no................... 1608.................3/2009

3. LilBeaver.......2............1000 ...............yes....................2605.................3/2009

3. LilBeaver.......2........cracked repl w/non avon..................2608.................pending

4. Leadwolf56....1............4000.................yes...................2406..................5/2009

5. Leadwolf56....1.............6000................pending..............0508..................3/2010

 

 

This thread has been up for over 24hrs and I guess we have a lot of folks that like to biatch and moan about the sidewall cracking but want to stay off the record. If this thing looks like it's going nowhere I'll ask that it be deleted.

 

On the record Jack.

[Guest studiojma]

Just found bad cracking on rear that was replaced in November. Ordered a new one yesterday. 1000 miles. Have to check the sidewalls for date codes when it's not raining.

[Leadwolf56]

OK, I was probably the first rider to post a complaint about the Venom seaver sidewall cracking back in '06 after Susanville. Twice. Avon warantee'd both of tires. What I'm wondering is just how many members have experienced sidewall cracking and on how many tires. So let's start a list. Not interested in all the gorry details, just the facts. PM me and I'll add your info to the list. DOT date and date replaced.

 

Member ......How many ....Milage .......Avon Warantee'd....... DOT Date...........Date

 

1. Condor......... 2 ............500 ...............yes................... 2605.................5/2006

2. GB373...........2............9000 ................no................... 1608.................3/2009

3. LilBeaver.......2............1000 ...............yes....................2605.................3/2009

3. LilBeaver.......2........cracked repl w/non avon..................2608.................pending

4. sarges46.......2............1000.................yes...................xxxx..................6/2006-7

5. Leadwolf56....1............4000.................yes...................2406.................5/2009

6. Leadwolf56....1............6000.................yes...................0508.................3/2010

7. studiojma.......1...........xxxx...................xxx...................xxxx.................11/2009

 

Tire warranteed.

[saddlebum]

I installed 2 venoms on my bike in NOV 2008. In MAR 2009 after reading on the site here abouit the cracking I went out to check mine and found they were cracking. At this point the bike had been parked for the winter and only had less than 100 miles (ONE HUNDRED MILES)on them, the tibs were still on the tread. The DOT yr stamp was 05/08 9The dealer replaced them without hesitation and was even willing to sustitute dunlop EII's in there place at my request.

Edited March 31, 2010 by saddlebum

[Bummer]

Sorry I missed this post. Can't help you with the .doc file - no Microsoft products, so no license to use 'em.

 

Total of three tires. Not a lot of detail, I wasn't expecting issues so I didn't take much in the way of notes.

 

Rear - DOT date of 3207 - 12,000 miles - installed 06/08 replaced 03/09 - replacement offered by Avon after tire had been replaced - large and deep cracks.

Rear - DOT date unknown late 08 - 16k miles - installed 03/09 replaced 03/10 - didn't complain to Avon, replaced with Dunlop E3 - smaller cracks, not as deep as previous tire.

Front - DOT date unknown 07 - 28k miles - installed 06/08 replaced 03/10 - didn't complain to Avon, replaced with Dunlop E3 - small cracks in same area of sidewall.

[Condor]

Sorry I missed this post. Can't help you with the .doc file - no Microsoft products, so no license to use 'em.

 

Total of three tires. Not a lot of detail, I wasn't expecting issues so I didn't take much in the way of notes.

 

Rear - DOT date of 3207 - 12,000 miles - installed 06/08 replaced 03/09 - replacement offered by Avon after tire had been replaced - large and deep cracks.

Rear - DOT date unknown late 08 - 16k miles - installed 03/09 replaced 03/10 - didn't complain to Avon, replaced with Dunlop E3 - smaller cracks, not as deep as previous tire.

Front - DOT date unknown 07 - 28k miles - installed 06/08 replaced 03/10 - didn't complain to Avon, replaced with Dunlop E3 - small cracks in same area of sidewall.

 

Steve, Gotta check on this one. Are you saying that the tire was replaced at those milages on the odo or that's how many miles put on the tire??

[wes0778]

Posted this on another thread, but may ba applicable here;

 

Just curious how long, time wise, an Avon should last? I'm not sure at what mileage the PO put the Avon on the front of my '99 RSV, but the date code is 0906. The bike had 16,700 miles on it when I got it in September and has just shy of 22,000 miles on it now. When I got it I had to replace the rear tire, which also was an Avon, but it was slick. I inspected the front tire carefully when I saw cracking mentioned, some time ago, and found no cracks. Yesterday I made a quick check of the front tire and found at least one crack, which seems a little deeper than a cosmetic imperfection. Tread wise, the tire looks to have a good many miles left in it, but I don't have a tread gauge, nor do I know the depth of a new tire. I do have, thanks to one of our members, a 404 tire off of an '08 RSMV with very few miles on it, so I guess I'll be putting it on shortly. I had a blow out on a front tire many years ago and don't wanna do that again!!!

Did I see it mentioned here that Avon warrants their tires for 5 years? I wonder if I have a shot at some help?

[a1bummer]

Well I just noticed yesterday that my rear Avon that I had replaced last summer has a lot of sidewall cracking after sitting this winter. Date code is 0608. It only has about 5000 - 6000 miles on it. The ME880 on the front that has gone through a couple seasons already looks great.

 

So who does a guy get a hold of to ask about warranties? I got it through Jake Wilson if that matters. I'm assuming I need to get a hold of someone at Avon? Anybody have the number?

[Condor]

Well I just noticed yesterday that my rear Avon that I had replaced last summer has a lot of sidewall cracking after sitting this winter. Date code is 0608. It only has about 5000 - 6000 miles on it. The ME880 on the front that has gone through a couple seasons already looks great.

 

So who does a guy get a hold of to ask about warranties? I got it through Jake Wilson if that matters. I'm assuming I need to get a hold of someone at Avon? Anybody have the number?

 

The AVON warantee number is

1-800-624-7470

[Monty]

I noticed today, as I was putting my pipes back on, that my rear Avon is dry-rotted on the sidewall, with lots of tread left. I think Roadkill put them on, but I don't know how many miles are on them. I am planning on replacing it before MD anyway, and now, I may just go with E3s. Not sure yet.

[Condor]

I also cleaned up the first post to make it easier to give feedback. There's also a webpage with a cleaner table of the results.

[Bummer]

Steve, Gotta check on this one. Are you saying that the tire was replaced at those milages on the odo or that's how many miles put on the tire??

Those are the miles the tires went. And they had quite a bit of good tread left. The first one had 2/3 of Abe's head left. I think I could have gotten at least 18k out of 'em if not for the cracks. The rears were beginning to flatten out in the middle from living in Indiana, but still had some miles left. The front still had a good cross section profile.

 

I'm certainly not complaining about the mileage, just the cracks. With the miles I ride, I think I should be able to wear a tire to the cords long before the sidewalls crack. Not that I want to ride to the cords, mind you, I just think the sidewalls shouldn't be cracking before the tires are quite old.

[footsie]

Don't place too much confidence in the E 3's, I have already had to change the frount tire on my old valkyrie, that was put on in may of 2009 just before my nephew got it from me, the tire was dated Mar 09, It has cracked to the cord. They all have bad runs of tires.

 

Gregg

[BuddyRich]

All my sets cracked. Used them till they were wore out if I remember right. Don't think I ever used the warranty on any of them. Cracks just didn't seem big enough to worry about at the time

[saddlebum]

Hey Condor, on your list you put me down as having 1000 miles on my tires, instead of 100 miles. You probably thought it was a misprint but it wasn't. One hundred miles and only a few months is all there was on those tires when I noticed hairline cracks all over the side walls.

[Bummer]

Don't place too much confidence in the E 3's, I have already had to change the frount tire on my old valkyrie, that was put on in may of 2009 just before my nephew got it from me, the tire was dated Mar 09, It has cracked to the cord. They all have bad runs of tires.

 

Gregg

At this point I'm not sure if I actually have confidence in any tire. I just think that a couple of years is a bit of a long time for a "bad batch".

[Condor]

Hey Condor, on your list you put me down as having 1000 miles on my tires, instead of 100 miles. You probably thought it was a misprint but it wasn't. One hundred miles and only a few months is all there was on those tires when I noticed hairline cracks all over the side walls.

 

Changed the milage.

There's a big difference between hairlines and cracks. Avon states that small hairlines are cosmetic, but I still think they're enough to keep a close eye on. They may be a harbinger of things to come. Tire inspections should be performed regularly no matter what brand tire.

I have a few small hairlines in the third front tire on the '83 for over a year now, but nothing like the first two which were replaced under warantee. Cracks are BIG and DEEP... enough to stick a quarter into, and scarry.

Another point that needs to be made is Avon will pick up the tab for the remounting costs, and will deal with the dealer directly. There's no need to pick up the tab for mounting and balancing when replacing a waranteed tire.

[Condor]

At this point I'm not sure if I actually have confidence in any tire. I just think that a couple of years is a bit of a long time for a "bad batch".

 

After following any thread about tires on this board, there seems to be one tire that I just haven't heard anything bad about. Mitchelin Commanders. While doing a half fast search on Google I ran across this site. Almost makes me want to buy a set just because.... MOTORCYCLE SUPERSTORE I'm not endorsing this dealer, but their prices are comparable to South West Moto, and over $75 bucks is free shipping. Heck that would be one tire most of the time....