Avon Distanzia

Ate up my rear stocker at about 1900 miles.
Picked up some Avon Distanzias. 150/60 rear 120/70 front. Anyone who rides an X and likes to ride dirt every now and then, should really considers these tires. Great for street give up nothing leaned over and really hook up in the dirt. I should put the word "mild" in front of dirt. Fire roads, dirt trails, is as far as my X gets dirty.

Looks good Frank. I had thought of getting the Avons if I had kept my old wheels. The wider tires look good on the X too.

I am interested to know how long these last with the majority of riding being on asphalt.

Once my stock tires are toast I think I'll go with the Distanzias too.

Please post up your experiences with these.

I went with 150/60. I've read that it's the sumo compound(a little softer) 150/70 is the dual sport compound. So 150/70 would last longer. But I ride mostly street.

motokid wrote:

I am interested to know how long these last with the majority of riding being on asphalt.

Once my stock tires are toast I think I'll go with the Distanzias too.

2Please post up your experiences with these.

Depending on riding I would expect 1000-2000 out of a rear and up to double that on a front. I have had distanzias on for almost 1000 miles with a track day and could maybe get another 500 out of the rear. Not a high mileage tire, a fun tire though.

I'd better get more than 1000 miles from a rear on a 250cc that only makes (30.0) or less horsepower.

How does the 150 rear work vs the 140? Do you notice any difference? Good? Bad? I know when I tried a 190 (instead of 180) on my 600 I noticed a gearing change (190 was taller) and the bike seemed a tad more planted at full lean.

That's why I went with a 60 series instead of 70. It does take a little more effort to flick it over. Went riding the other with my brother. He was following me through some twisties and said I was laying down rubber on the hard turns and when power shifting

INSTIGATOR wrote:

That's why I went with a 60 series instead of 70. It does take a little more effort to flick it over. Went riding the other with my brother. He was following me through some twisties and said I was laying down rubber on the hard turns and when power shifting

Cool, thanks, man! I think I am gonna try this setup next.

OK Frank...... where are these twisties in flat straight road south Florida? Inquiring minds want to know.

ride up here and I'll show ya..then I'll have to kill ya...

Let me know too, it may be worth the ride.

Where did you order these from? Looking around I was not able to find front 17's very easily and the cost of what I did find was a bit staggering.


Like almost $200 US for just the front.

motokid wrote:

Where did you order these from? Looking around I was not able to find front 17's very easily and the cost of what I did find was a bit staggering.


Like almost $200 US for just the front.

here ya go....

http://www.americanmototire.com/catalog/

Sweet. Thanks.

Rather than start a new thread, can anyone who's switched to the Distanzia SM from the stock BT090's describe how the handling has changed with these tires ? I'm assuming the bike steers a little slower. Anything else to be aware of ?

I did the math to see how much the front was raised and the rear dropped after noticing the slower steering. It's a decent amount, and I raised the forks accordingly to get the quickness where I want it. Feels great now.

bhmax wrote:

I did the math to see how much the front was raised and the rear dropped after noticing the slower steering. It's a decent amount, and I raised the forks accordingly to get the quickness where I want it. Feels great now.

Got an exact measurement on how much you raised them to get back to the stock feeling ?

Are you running the 150/70 or the 150/60 ?

I've got the 150/60. Going by tire size alone without actually taking measurements, this should raise the front 7mm and drop the rear 8mm. The service manual shows 3mm is the standard height of the fork showing above the top triple clamp. I just measured mine and I've got it at 15mm showing. Haven't gotten to ride much lately with the cold, but I'm pretty sure that got it where I liked it with regards to steering quickness vs stability. Just play around with it until you find what you like. The torque specs are 17ft-lb for the upper pinch bolts and 14 for the lower.

I'm just finishing off a pair of Distanzias. I'm into the wear bars on the rear tire at about 2800 miles. The front would probably go twice as far. Both are sliding badly in dirt and the rear is sliding even on pavement. I got the sumo compound. Like motokid said, for their cost and the bike being just a 250, I expected more life.

Handling is a little heavier. I made no geometry changes. The tire size difference is small enough to not matter all that much.

In terms of street handling, the BT090s handled better. They're just stickier. I could get enough heat into the 090s to shred rubber on the edges on street rides. I never did that with Distanzias. Of course, I didn't lean over as far on the Distanzias because they're wider.

In terms of dirt handling, the Distanzias are 100x better in dry dirt. In mud, they're less consistent. They pack up almost as fast as the 090s and become just as slippery. Because they start with better grip they deteriorate more, if that makes sense. They grab great until they don't and then they suck. The 090s progressively suck in mud.

On gravel the Distanzias are only slightly better than 090s. Since I ride gravel almost as much as pavement and much more than mud, I was disappointed in this.

Would I try them again? Maybe, but only with the non-SM compound. If I were doing track days, I'd try some skinny sport bike tires (Metz and Dunlop both make 150 width sportbike tires). If I were doing more street touring, I'd try some Dunlop Roadsmarts. I'm going to try some Shinko 244s to see if I like knobbies around here. Only if I were planning on lots of gravel road touring would I get non-SM Distanzias.

Reports of tyres/tires toasting after 2000 miles seems really early. In the UK, legal minimum tread depth is 1mm, but even then, only around 75% of the tyre. I bought my X with 2000 miles on the clock, & around 2mm tread at the centre of the tyre; the BT090s I think will last to at least 3500 miles. I guess the previous owner had not really ripped up the tarmac very much!! Anyway, what is the legal minimum tread in US/Canada/elsewhere?

no one really gives a shit unless it can be directly related to the cause of an injury....LEO here worry about your ride behavor

I ran my R1 tire down to chords.

It'd only be a problem at inspection...and maybe not even then depending on the doofus who inspects bikes on any given day.

The center groove on my stock rear tire is all but gone now. I have to order tires soon.

Looks like I'm going with Distanzias from here

unless somebody can point me to cheaper tires some place else.....

Quick question from a guy who's never had a motorcycle with tubed tires.

Do you have to replace the tubes when you replace tires?

Even with my R² I change out the tubes. Can't have enuf spares.