Avon Cobra tires

[00562]

Has anyone installed radial tires on their Nomad? I did and here's the deal. I find myself constantly having to correct for over steering. Seems like these tires (Avon Cobra radials)are really sensitive to cornering. Is this normal for a radial tire? Sure hope it gets better or I get better at driving. LOL

[Top Cat]

Never tried those tires but I had to correct in the corners with my stock Bridgstones.
Have Metz 880's now and don't have to correct but have to listen to the growling noise in tight curves.

Originally Posted by Bob D.

Has anyone installed radial tires on their Nomad? I did and here's the deal. I find myself constantly having to correct for over steering. Seems like these tires (Avon Cobra radials)are really sensitive to cornering. Is this normal for a radial tire? Sure hope it gets better or I get better at driving. LOL

I'd play with the tire pressures a few psi up and down & see what happens. Chances are good that you can correct this.

Different tires have different profiles, and different stiffness, and they perform better with different air pressures. You can't really go with the factory recommended pressures once you've gone to a different style of tire.

Once you get the air pressure where you think it's better, play with the shock pressure & settings a little & see if it improves further.

[racinchef]

Here is an article on tires that is pretty informative. The nature of radial tires is that the sidewalls flex more, but that they don't heat up as much as bias ply so they are more suited for a lighter sportbike. The downside is that radials have a shorter sidewall and because of that they aren't well suited for the loads a heavy cruiser imposes. Bias ply tires are better suited for heavy cruisers.
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/Articl...eID=442&Page=1

[00562]

This really confuses me. If they weren't meant for cruisers then why do they put them on Goldwings and the Vulcan 2000? The application for the tires on Avon's site says "for the cruiser/ touring bike". I am going to play with the air pressure and try and make these work. The fact that Kaw recommends the bias tire for this bike doesn't necessarily mean that nothing else will work except that from their positon they have to recommend the stock size tire because guess what------ Bridgestone is the ONLY mfg. that makes the stock size for the rear. By upsizing the rear tire to a 180/70-16 it also corrects for the speedo error. Thanks for all the input.----Bob

Originally Posted by Bob D.

This really confuses me. If they weren't meant for cruisers then why do they put them on Goldwings and the Vulcan 2000?...

Bragging rights. I haven't heard enough good things about radials on touring bikes to make any more sense out of it than that.