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Comparison of
Avon Azaro AV45 / AV46 to Michelin Pilot Sports
on a Ducati ST4s
From the first day I removed the stock Michelin Pilot Sports and installed the AV45/46 ST's
the tires provided more feedback and the bike felt more secure, more planted and more
consistent under varying conditions. This in turn made me feel more confident and more
relaxed when the pace quickened. Additionally, they seem to need very little warm-up to
provide excellent traction. When the pavement gets rough and irregular with patches and
expansion joints these tires just get better. They seem to be able to absorb all types of
irregularities without batting an eye, especially when leaned over.
The Avons talk to me much more than the Pilot Sports. The Pilot Sports are great tires when
they are warmed up and riden on clean, smooth pavement. They feel like they are glued to
the road and would never let go. But, in places where the road has sand, water and oil, slick
lane markers or pavement irregularities like ridges and seams, they would let go without
much warning, especially so if the tires had not had enough time or speed to build some
heat. This is unsettling and could easily lead to a highside, particularly since they are
capable of hooking up quite suddenly. The Avons handle these difficult conditions with
much more poise. They seem to be less affected by sandy pavement, lane markers and oil
and when they do start to slide they tend to do it more gradually, not all at once. They also
hook back up more gradually making it much easier to recover and this helps avoid the
dreaded highside.
The Avons have wide, deep grooves that extend to within 1/2" of the edge of the tread
which do more than just channel water away from the contact patch. I feel they make the
tire much more forgiving when leaned over and much less likely to throw the rider into a
high-side should they encounter a spot of reduced traction such as a patch of sand or oil
or a sharp dip in the road. These grooves help the tire regain traction gradually which will
be much appreciated should you momentarily lose traction. They also provide the rider
with more feedback when the tire is nearing it's normal traction limits by gradually starting
to walk to the outside of the turn rather than abruptly letting go all at once. These qualities
help reduce demand on the rider as well as on the suspension, making for a wider "sweet
spot" when adjusting the various suspension controls.
The Avons provide more tactile feedback from the road surface while simultaneously creating
a smoother, silkier ride. I know it sounds like a contradiction and I can't fully explain it but
that's what I've experienced. In a corner at moderately high lean angles, both tires feel glued
to the road but the Avons make the bike feel like it's on rails while the Pilot Sports have a
little nebulous squirm to them which reduces confidence and hinders my ability to feel the
interaction between rubber and pavement. At even higher lean angles on clean dry pavement
the Avons still inspire confidence but they become a little loose, not in a scary way, they have
a predictable 'walk' to the outside of the turn, even front and back so it does not feel squirmy
or unsettling. The Michelins offer less 'walk' to the outside of the turn but do not exactly feel
planted, they feel a little squirmy until you load up the rear with a moderate amount of
acceleration. It feels like the Michelins allow a high horsepower bike to launch out of corners
earlier and harder but the Avons are still quite good in this respect. The Avons help me carry
more speed through the corner because they offer a superior feel of the road surface and the
interaction between rubber and pavement.
There is a concrete rain control ridge between my driveway and the street about 2" high.
I usually drive over it about 15 or 20 mph while leaned over a little bit to make the corner.
The Michelin front would always feel harsh while going over this, like I was going to bend
the rim and it would cause my line to change slightly. The Avon goes over it like silk without
upsetting my line at all. I experimented with pressures between 32 psi and 38 psi with the
Michelins, the higher the pressure the harsher the ride. I run the Avons at 38 F 40 R except
fully loaded for higher speeds I use 1-2 lbs. more. I don't know that the Michelins offer less
rim protection but that is my impression. It seems to me the Avons may offer more protection
(say if I hit a 2x4 that is kicked up in front of me on the freeway) because they work well at
higher pressures and feel better when hitting sharp bumps.
In my experience, the Avons offer more traction before they are warmed up or on cool days
when you are caught in slower moving traffic that can make it difficult to bring the tires up to
temperature. I found that riding the Michelins at 65 mph on the highway on a 45 degree day
was not enough to warm them up. It was necessary to take some corners and do a lot of
braking and accelerating, etc. This resulted in tires that were often cold and didn't offer as
much traction for emergency stopping or turning as the Avons under the same conditions.
It does seem the performance of the Avons falls off pretty rapidly at really cold temperatures
(somewhere below 40F or so). The Michelins do this also but I haven't ridden enough at low
temperatures to be able to make a direct comparison.
One trip I rode really hard on really rough, abrasive and hot pavement that was covered with
"tar snakes", strips of road sealing tar that becomes slippery and goey on hot days causing
the bike to slide around a lot. The Avons handled the tar snakes better than other tires in the
group, probably because they hook back up more gradually than the rest and offer better
road feel. They were very confidence inspiring under this most difficult challenge. However,
I think I built too much heat in the tires because of the extreme conditions, hard riding, etc.
and this may have been compounded by low air pressure. I may have been a couple of lbs.
low when I started because the next morning they measured about 5 lbs. low. While the tires
felt fine at the lower pressure, I think the heat of the day coupled with all the continuous
tar-snake scrubbing cooked the rubber compound. I don't think the tires offered quite as
much traction after that, particularly noticed in the cold, but their performance was still
acceptable. Moral of the story? Don't let the pressure get too low, especially if you have a
heavy load and will be riding really hard on hot pavement in order to avoid cooking the
rubber. The Avons like a higher pressure than the Michelins. Actually, I think those tar snakes
allowed the tire temps to reach the sort of temps a tire would see on the track because the
road was full of 75-95 mph corners (not really any straights) and everytime my tires would
go over a hot, goey tar snake it would slide about 6" (the width of the snakes) before it even
began to hook up. The tires were sliding much of the day because the tar snakes were
everywhere. That can build a lot of heat.
And this brings up one reason why I don't think running different compounds front and rear
is necessarily beneficial but actually offers some downside. One reason the tar snakes were
not upsetting the handling of my bike too much (besides it's excellent suspension) was
because the front and rear tires were behaving similarly, ie., if the front tire was displaced 9"
before it regained traction, so did the rear. Imagine the handful you would have if the front
tire was hooking up in only 7" while the rear was sliding 9". This same concept applies under
other slide conditions also. Any patch of reduced traction becomes more problematic if the
rear tire is displaced more than the front because then you are pointed the wrong way when
you hook back up. The tire and motorcycle manufacturers know what they are doing when
they equip a bike with matched tire pairs. Furthermore, sport compounds generally take
longer and are harder to heat up than more street based tires. Because the front tire is slower
to warm up in normal riding and since it is responsible for 80+% of your emergency straight
line braking, it is extra important that it not be made of a compound that doesn't work well
until it's warmed up. After all, when sport riding in the twisties you can wait for some heat to
build before pushing the tire to it's edge but, in traffic you never know when you will need to
suddenly avoid a cell-phone talking cager. Does it make sense to run a front tire that offers
poor traction until it's warmed up? In my experience, sport compounds actually have less
traction than tires one step down the ladder until they reach design temperature. If they reach
design temperature the equation is reversed but it may not be noticed as much because,
when warm, either type of tire will produce enough traction to lift the rear off the ground for
emergency stopping. In other words, when both types of tires are warmed up, the sport
compound will not stop the bike appreciable faster than the sport-touring compound
because the stopping in both instances is limited by rear wheel lift.
I consider a tire worn out when the tread is worn to the wear bars (or nearly so) or has
changed shape enough to significantly affect handling. My Avons appear to wear out about
the same time front and rear, the rear hitting the wear bars in the center almost the same
time the front tire hits the wear bars halfway out to the edge of the tread. The Michelins
lasted about 3500 miles in temperatures of 45F to 65F before the rear hit the wear bars and
the tire was very squared off at this point but the front could have continued on. My last two
sets of Avons have provided around 5500 miles each set, under warmer and more abrasive
conditions than the Michelins saw. Taking the different conditions into account I would say
the Avons lasted roughly twice as long as the Michelin Pilot Sports and the rears were not
nearly as squared off when they hit the wear bars. But I would use the Avons over the
Michelins even if they both lasted the same simply because the Avons work so well under
the wide range of conditions encountered on public roads. I know plenty of Ducati riders
who have tried the Avons and not one of them was disappointed with their decision so you
really don't have much to lose.
Tire technology has advanced by leaps and bounds over the last 20 years but, unfortunately,
much of the development expertise has been put into designing tires that work well on the
track. Even the street versions of many popular tires are biased to track like conditions.
I would put the Michelin Pilot Sports in this category. The Avon AV 45/46 ST are ideally
suited to sporty riding on public roads and come with the durability to make them a
practical choice.
Mike Mullen
(To go to Mike's website look at Page 5 under: DUCATI OWNER'S HOME PAGES - Mike's Ducati
'Views & Reviews')
Editors Note: Mike's review of Avon Vs. Michelin is still valid today because some riders still
opt for the Michelin Pilot Sports and have not heard the word about the superiority of Avons.
Michelin however has not stood still, releasing the Michelin: Pilot® Power and Pilot® Road 2
tires which are thought to be a big improvement over the Michelin Pilot Sports.
After using the Michelin Pilot Sports that came stock on my first Ducati ST4, a 2001 bike,
I replaced them with the Avon Azaro ST's having read Mike's review on his website. I put
13,000 miles on that bike, replacing the Michelins with 2 pairs of the Avons. After eight
months I bought a new 2004 Ducati ST4S and replaced the stock Michelin's (right out of
the box) with Avon Azaro ST's. I took the new stock Michelins off the 2004 bike and put
them on the 2001 bike. I could have just used the new bike with the stock Michelins, but why
would I ride with Michelins when I could use the far superior Avons, saving money at the cost
of my riding experience, not to mention the safety factor didn't appeal to me. I also felt the
2001 bike would be more appealing to potential buyers, with new rubber. I made the right
choice. I have ridden with the Avon Azaro ST tires for 2 years, (5000 to 8000 miles each pair).
An Avon representative suggested that I might want to try the Avon Viper Sport tires. I'm
running them now and I love these tires!!! They might not last as long as the Azaro's or the
Storm-ST's, but I do love the way the handle.
I have had a pair of Avon Storm's on my '04 Ducati ST4S since last Fall and will be replacing
them in about a thousand miles.These have been the second best tires that I have ever used
on any of my 8 bikes. The best tires were the Avon Viper Sport. The Avon Viper is found on
Avon's website under "High Performance" and is available in four compounds, Viper Xtreme,
Viper Supersport, Viper Sport, and Azaro Pro-Xtreme Rain. Because I have a Sport Touring
bike, the Viper Sport is just right for the type of riding I do. The profile of the tires is perfect
and has stayed round in the front with a little more wear on the sides when I changed to my
current tires the Avon Storm's. The second best tires are indeed the Avon Storm, found at
Avon's website under "Sport Touring" and comes in one compound. When I first started
using the Storms, I felt that they were a little less responsive then the Vipers. They have
keep the round profile and have been seeming to last longer then the Vipers. I had a
thought that if I pumped up the air pressure from what I had been using (36 front, 39 back)
and increase it towards the maximum (39 front, 41 back) I might get the same response
that I was getting from the Vipers. That actually worked! Now the only reason I would go
back to the Vipers would be to have stickier tires to give me just a little better adhesion in
very tight corners. Of course, because the Vipers are stickier tires they won't last as long as
the Storms. If I replace my tires with another set of Storms and keep the pressure up I think
I will get the better milage and almost the same ride as with the Vipers. It might be worth
the extra price of the Vipers, in terms of cohesion, to get the extra confidence in corners
over the Storms. It's so close of a choice I don't know what I'm going to do. The one thing
about choosing between Storms and Vipers is no matter which I choose, I can't go wrong!
Avon's impresses me with the 'state of the art' technology that they seem to keep coming
up with, with every new set of tires!
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Below you will find text from
Avon's Website on their new Sport Touring Storm-ST Tires.
(My full review is in the works)
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MOTORCYCLE TIRES: Sport Touring Storm-ST
The long-lasting, all-weather, high performance sports touring tyre. Incorporates the very latest bike tyre technology 'Reactive Footprint'. The tyres contact patch changes size and shape depending on lean angle - for the life of the tyre. Unique construction means excellent performance combined with very long life 'Super-Rich Silica' rubber compound gives superb wet road grip. Front tread pattern optimized for shorter stopping distances in the wet. Excellent stability and handling whatever the lean angle.
The Storm-ST replaces Avon's Azaro-ST and builds on its predecessor's talents. Employing what's called 'Reactive Footprint' (RF) technology, the Storm-ST produces a footprint that changes size and shape depending on the bike's lean angle, growing in size the further over the bike goes. It means you get high grip through the corners yet in a straight line have a footprint which increases the Storm-STs lifespan. Avon's RF Technology is a quantum leap in technology from the dual compound tread, and will provide unparalleled evenness in wear patterns.
The wet weather performance of the Storm-ST is outstanding, thanks in part to the tire's Super-Rich Silica (SRS) compound. The extremely high silica content delivers optimum grip in the wet and dry. It also has the added benefit of warming up quickly. On the front tyres, the Storm-ST benefits from Inverted Front Grooves (IFG) that resist stepped-wear and cupping, ensuring smooth handling for the life of the tyre and improving wet weather braking. The Enhanced Aqua Flow (EAF) pattern of the rear tyre also increases your safety and confidence in wet conditions.
With all this (together with many other unique-to-Avon technologies) it's no wonder the Storm-ST has gained numerous approvals from the tough German testing organization, the TUV.
(For more info about these tires, click the link under the photo, below.)
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Avon's Storm - ST
Motorcycle Accident
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