Follow up on AM51/52

[JoChan23]

LOVE EM!  of course my opinions are subject to the fact that i was riding on a 15 year old front tire, and a bald rear tire...  I got the Avon AM51/52's from americanmototire.com  shipped to me for only $125..  took the rims off myself and had the local shop mount and spin balance the tires for $20 a piece.  Back to the tires... they are sticky.. never had that sensation with the old tires, they corner oh so well.. im pushin the bike pretty hard in the corners and haven't felt even close to losing traction... IMO great tires and cheap too.. would recommend!

- Jordan

[poormanracing]

..  took the rims off myself and had the local shop mount and spin balance the tires for $20 a piece.


Jordan

thanx for d review...im planning on getting them too...

anyways did you use a bead breaker tool to remove your tires? i know tire wrench are a must but i dont know about this tool...im planning to paint my wheels before i install the tires...

[davipu]

just go to a store that sells tools and get a 6 inch C-clamp.  they are like 7 bucks at home depot.

[r21xz]

I've been rollin' on em for a while too, holy crap. Better than the stockers,eh?? :lol:
Guess you noticed I'm a noob, just started riding my wifes '99 500e.We were selling, since she's really not into riding, but I kept it when gas went to 3 bucks.
All I did to it so far is Progressive springs in frt, and of course the tires.
I normally ride a 12R, so it's quite a departure from what I'm used too. Kinda like the ol days on my GS450L
Next it jetting....you all know the issues there

jeff

[milo]

Got'em too... great great tires. A hundred times better than stock.

[Bluebellylint]

What is stock for you, BT-45? :dunno:

[r21xz]

Bridgestone Excedra's were on mine.I've never felt tires slip like those before :guns:

[gsJack]

OEM stock tires for the GS500s thru 2002 were the Excedras, there was no 03 model sold in the US and the 04 and 05 GS500F models with the full fairings came with the BT45s as OEM tires.

I've got almost 30k miles on my 02 GS now and with 80k miles on the 97, I've got about 110k GS500 miles under my belt.  The last 7k miles on the AM51/52 Avons which replaced the AV45/46 tires on my 02.

The AV45/46 tires were the best I've tried on the GSs followed by the Z4/Z2 Metzelers.  These radials I used for the past 3 years were better than the AM51/52 tires, but certainly not twice as good and they cost almost twice as much as the AMs.

Day in and day out I'm running just as fast with confidence on the AMs as I did on the AVs on dry streets.  On a couple of hilly, curvy routes I run regularly there is one point where the rear breaks loose regularly and another point where the front breaks loose with the AMs that the radials didn't.  Both places are bridges, one where there is a very sharp left coming off the bridge with a maybe 6" wide steel plate on the bridge to road joint and the rear breaks loose and the other is where there is a tar strip across the bridge to road joint as I turn onto the bridge from a sharp right and the front breaks loose going onto the bridge.  Recovery from the front breaking loose is slower than recovery from the rear breaking loose and puts me over center if someone was on the bridge coming at me. Because of this I haven't tried running in the rain as fast as I did with the radials, but these AM51/52s are certainly adequate in the rain.  Just not as good as radials.

With 7k on the AMs now they look to be only about half worn so I'll have to wait till next year to report on the tire life but they will no doubt exceed the Excedras and also the BT45s by a considerable amount.  I got about 9500 miles from my first rear BT45, but a second one later had only 2k miles on it and was half worn when I removed it to put on the Z4/Z2 radials.  At their current selling price, these AM51/52 tires are a real bargain.  I might be putting on another set next year, but will have to see first how Avons new Roadriders price out in comparison to the AMs.

AS mentioned in previous posts, I went from the AM45/46 radials with a 140/80 rear to a OEM size 130/70 rear AM52 to make the bike about 3/4" lower and make mounting the bike a bit easier with the increasing arthritis in my hips.  No problem once I get on the horse and ride.   :lol:

[snowhownd]

Good timing for this post to be brought back to the top, just found a nail in my back tire yesterday     Just ordered a pair of AM51/52's... the 'ol kendas that were on the bike when I got it last month are a little cracky in the treads anyways    Express shipping from Arizona to Maine was $145- hopefully I'll have em on by the weekend... not too many good ones left to waste before the flakes start flying