Ara had recommended Motorcycle Maniac to me so I thought I'd give 'em a try. They were the best price I found and free shipping to boot... Sweet!
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| *Harbor Freight Motorcycle lift and Avon Tires* |
Along with the Motorcycle Jack I picked up last week at Harbor Freight I'm ready to start pullin' wheels... Only problem is, I don't have time here! :) We have to leave this camp in the morning.
So... I'll do the tire swappin' up in Phoenix.
I've decided I will just take on the wheel removal and reinstall this time. I'll see about all the tire swappin' in the future. For now I'll leave the tire pulling and balancing to a shop. Truth is? That big, stiff back tire kinda bullied me.
Which brings up one lil' thing. One of the complaints about the Metzlers is the reversed tread on the rear tire... well... according to the directional arrows on the Avon tires... they sure look opposite of each other to me as well! Maybe I'm crosseyed... but I looked at those arrows several times... Weird.
Combine that with the fact that the front tires, Metzler and Avon, for the Raider are bias tires... and the rear tires are radial... and I've always been taught to NOT mix the two types... tells me there's more goin' on with Motorcycle tires than my puny lil' brain can get a hold of. So... if Metzler and Avon don't know anything 'bout building tires... I'm sure not gonna set 'em straight! :)
Guess I'll quit worryin' which direction the tread is goin'... and just pay attention to which way the bike is headed! :)
I'll just get these Avon Tires put on and hope they perform with better reliability and trust than I was coming to have with the Metzlers.
As I get the tires off so I can do a proper photo of that back tire I can show the tread and the bad section... so you can see what my displeasure is about...
Another bit of education I've been getting the past year or so is Harbor Freight. I never was a great fan of Harbor Freight. The few things I saw from there were real junk... but I gotta admit, the past few years they seem to have upgraded a lot of what they sell. The fit and finish of the jack I got there seems pretty decent to me. Time will tell how well it endures, but at this point, I'm pretty happy with the last few things I've bought there.
One thing about those Avon tires I'm kinda happy about is the tread depth. It must be nigh on to double what a Metzler has. I'm told the Avon is a softer compound. With the extra rubber I expect I'll be at least even to the Metzler for mileage.
I've talked to some that saw a significant improvement when they swapped out to the Avon Cobras. I'm hoping to see that myself! :)
Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian
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