after considering the shinko 009, distanzias, roadattack rear-distanzia front, I'm leaning towards the storms....early reports from other forums note some inconsistencies in manufacture, but were supposedly corrected later. looks like this tire might work deflated, on gravel decently, and I'd bet it's good on the tarmac....anybody?

Ran them on my FJR (same front as Versys) and they are great on pavement. Turn in very easily and hold where you point em.

The question is, can you find 2 round ones? The fronts have (did have at least) a problem...wobble wooble wooble. First set good...indeed great. Second set way bad, gave up on the front w/ about half the tread remaining...headshake became unbearable. YMMV.

LOVE EM!

Good in all conditions. Grip like glue, wear well (5000KM and very little wear), Quiet, smooth, and the road hazard warranty is nice. So far they have not put a foot wrong. I ride in all sorts of weather, often very wet, and even icy. I will replace with the same.

1 good review, 1 bad (quality control) review....

Make that 2 good. I am on my 2nd Storm on the back. I put a matched set on at 6K miles and the back lasted 11K. The front is still on the bike.

I haven't run any others except the stockers, so I can't give you a comparison to other aftermarket.

I took the advice of mountainrider to buy them in the first place. He speaks very highly of them. He is a good rider that really pushes his bike, so I felt comfortable taking his advice. I have not been disappointed.

Well, I have been shopping for a set of tires and these were on the list. Mixed reviews, I found a good interweb deal on them and called my dealer looking to see if they could beat the price, without tipping my hand. After he listed their specials,I asked if they had Storms. He said that they had had so many problems with them, they no longer carried them...<sigh>.
Back to square one.

2 good, 2 bad....I dunno, distanzias are looking mighty good right about now.

I wouldn't think of Distanzias as an alternative to Avon Storms.

Didn't we establish that Distanzias in Versys sizes only come in supermotard compound, ergo 3,000 mile tires?

I considered the Storms but ended up going with the Dunlop Roadsmarts.
It's a dual-compound sport touring tire, but I got it for a bit cheaper than Avon Storms.

Considering my propensity for running over pointy objects I don't think I want to spend any more on the tire than $140.

My new Roadsmart rolls off the Brown truck tomorrow, maybe I'll post up some pics and a review if I manage not to get a flat in the first week.
They certainly seem to be a great deal for a sport touring tire.

I've had 2 rear tires and 1 front of the Storms and I'm very happy with them. Very predictable and grippy tire. Too bad some guys are having bad luck with them. The good thing about tires is you have to replace them every year or so (did I just say that was a good thing?), so if you don't like a particular tire try something different next time. I'll probably go for Roadsmarts next time just to see what's the difference.

When I was looking for tires last fall, I couldn't find a bad review about the storms.

When I was looking for tires last fall, I couldn't find a bad review about the storms.

+1 to that. I'm not second-guessing those that have 1st hand experience, but this thread is the first time I've heard anything bad about them. I'm thinking about trying something else next time just so for comparison, but I don't expect anything will be better than the Storms. Different maybe, but not necessarily better.

I had Storms on my Triumph Sprint ST and were very pleased with them. They are long wearing, sticky and great in the rain. But not cheap... I went with the Roadsmarts for replacement rubber on the versys because I only replaced the rear first and I wanted to keep them matched up as best as I could. I tried all kinds of different tires on my many bikes, and the most important thing is replacing them when they are worn....

I'm going with Roadsmarts even with the discount on Avons I can get through school. Many good reviews. I like the dual compound idea. I wanna keep the squaring off in line with the side wear, as i ride a decent amount of highway.

I ran a set of RoadSmarts to the wear bars @ 5K. Sticky even when wet, turn in good, even wear. Liked em a lot on the Versys and could have got a few more miles if not for a planned trip.

Thought I would run them again until I saw what a set of Shinko Advance 005s could be had for. The Shinkos are mounted and have all of about a 1 mile around the neighbhood shakedown run on them. They look good, but only time will tell.

I ran a set of RoadSmarts to the wear bars @ 5K. Sticky even when wet, turn in good, even wear. Liked em a lot on the Versys and could have got a few more miles if not for a planned trip.

Thought I would run them again until I saw what a set of Shinko Advance 005s could be had for. The Shinkos are mounted and have all of about a 1 mile around the neighbhood shakedown run on them. They look good, but only time will tell.

Good luck with the Stinkos, be careful.

Good luck with the Stinkos, be careful.

10-4 and thank you.

I ran a set of RoadSmarts to the wear bars @ 5K. Sticky even when wet, turn in good, even wear. Liked em a lot on the Versys and could have got a few more miles if not for a planned trip.

Thought I would run them again until I saw what a set of Shinko Advance 005s could be had for. The Shinkos are mounted and have all of about a 1 mile around the neighbhood shakedown run on them. They look good, but only time will tell.

Only 5K you got on the Roadsmarts. Hell I got over 8k on the D221 rear... I must ride like an old man :huh:

I had some Avon Storms on my FZ1 and they were pretty good tires. Rode much better than the stock Bridgestones and the grip was much better as well. I also like Pirelli Diablo Stradas and I would consider Dunlop Roadsmarts and Metzler Z6s as well. Lots of good choices out there...:goodluck:

Only 5K you got on the Roadsmarts. Hell I got over 8k on the D221 rear... I must ride like an old man :huh:

My Versys lives on 80 grit one laners and gravel connectors. Most likely accounts for the difference. Or maybe you just ride like an old man :))

I also like Pirelli Diablo Stradas

Me too. Have nearly killed another set on the FJR. The lack of wear indicators can be a PIA but they sure get sticky when those little flakes and rolls of rubber appear all of sudden just prior to cords showing!

Yikes, hubby's got Storms on his VFR and spent most of the spring thinking he needed to replace the steering head bearings (until he scoped out just how much he was going to have to tear down to do that). Maybe he needs a tire replacement instead.

Oh, that'll break his frugal heart...I'll bet those tires have less than 2K on them...he's not a moto-commuter like me.

Only 5K you got on the Roadsmarts. Hell I got over 8k on the D221 rear... I must ride like an old man :huh:

Wow, I am about to replace my D221 at over 10 000kms. I must be buffeted on a cushion of air! :stickpoke:

Wow, I am about to replace my D221 at over 10 000kms. I must be buffeted on a cushion of air! :stickpoke:


Well... Since deweybrian is in NY he probably means 8K miles vs your 6K+ miles. I replaced my stock tires cause the rear was squared off way too much. Did it at ~6800 miles. I have 1 week and 1000 miles on my new Road Smarts. So far I love them. Grip level seems just as good as stock, but smoother ride. I'm hoping I get better wear! I better as I'm doing 4500 miles in the next 8 days...

Ok here is an update on my Roadsmarts. I now have 6000 miles on them. Most of that is combination super slab and two lane highway, however the last 1800 miles has been super slab only (and put on over 3-days 750/900/150). Wear has been great, but they are starting to square off some, they showed no square off until the 1800 mile stretch, so under normal conditions I doubt they would square off much at all.

Here is the front:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2525/3752382845_ae95bd4a50.jpg

And rear:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2473/3753179950_32d029995c.jpg

I spoke to a tire guy the other day, and he told me avon storms don't have a high failure rate anymore, not like the shinko's.....I think I'm gonna roll the dice and try them.

keep us posted on what you think of them!

Atta boy. I personally guarantee you you will like them A LOT!

Only 5K you got on the Roadsmarts. Hell I got over 8k on the D221 rear... I must ride like an old man :huh:

When I find a sport-touring tires that lasts more than 4K I'm buying stock in the company. :D I have Roadsmarts now, we'll see if Dunlop makes the cut...

I have friends that run Avon Storm's on their FJR and they swear by them for performance. They claim 10K miles out of a rear. They do ride like old ladies, though... ;)

Gustavo