venox tire

[max oradea]

Hi guys was out yesterday for a tank worth of ride with the group and the GF in the back seat, and during turns i realized that i am losing grip on the front, had to slow down big time otherwise it feels like the front is going to slide out.
An old chopper guy had a look and felt the tires and said the front was too old and hard for any good traction. the bike is a 2004 with original maxxis tires so i guess we are looking at 9 years...
anyways dont feel safe doing corners and any decent speed, so was wondering since maxxis are not making the 120/80 17 inch front tires does anyone know what other brands are out there?
was thinking about also wet tires for extra grip. any help will be very nice because want to change it soon for this season.

[Hairy Bob]

G'day Max. There's quite a few good quality brand 120/80-17's out there mate. Check the Avon AM26 Road Rider out. It has a really good looking tread pattern that looks like it would handle well in the wet. There's also the usual big guns ... Dunlop, Bridgestone, Metzler etc, that do that size, but the Avon really took my fancy, or the Metzler 880 Marathon looked good too. Incidently, how many klms/miles have you clocked up on those original tyres Max ? Are you going to change the rear while your at it ?
Anyway, hope that was some help.
Best regards, Hairy Bob.

[max oradea]

Thanks Bob after you said those names I agree, Avon and metzeler are pretty good.
The amount of km is only close to 8000km not much so the tire threads are pretty good, just the rubber is hard. Was looking at ways to do something about it like sanding or washing to get rid off the outside oxide shell and get to the fresh rubber underneath.
Will take the bike in for my mechanic friend to give me opinions of weather to change or not.
But what do you think? A ten year tire with near to 8000km... and if I do change it will be only for the front.

[ophelia]

I have no idea how much rubber you would have to shave, and if it will make the whole tire pliable again. Have a look at the rest of the tire besides the sidewall too. Are the tires showing rot too? Look for cracking in the rubber.

Check the rear tire too. Usually the rear tire gets consumed twice as quickly as the front tire. Watch the tire pressure too for long tire wear and good grip.

My mechanic would tell me to throw the nine year old tires away (five years for easy riding is crazy enough) and get new ones pronto. The entire tire carcass gets hard over time, not just the tread. Not worth the risk of a crash for me. New tires will feel like a night and day difference.

My significant other already replaced her rear tire on her Downtown 300i. Two years, 9000 km. The original Maxxis tire still had tread, but it was rock hard and showed a slow leak.

Good luck.

[max oradea]

Thanks you just sent me over the edge for getting it, the walls and everything looks good no cracks or any other defect, just its rock hard.
will get the front asap because the back is kind of ok never felt any slip but the front big time, if the road is slightly uneven on a turn it will start to slide out, have to slow down even more during the turn which lifts the bike up more and had a few close calls of either not making the turn out or the front end sliding out. all the time my girl was on the back so i know i can step on the rear break hard and it wont skid out.
was able to track down Metzeler me880 for 170 dollars. and also looking for wet tires which will wear out big time but the thing is i get roughly 6000km max per season if i dont do long trips and now days more with my girl in the back, want to be extra safe.
Thanks for the info.

[max oradea]

just fitted the a front tires i got, went for wet tires from 08 with a good amount of thread for half the price of a new tire.
the ride changed totally, the front has a lot of control and when i turn in on a round about the bike wants to lean in even more i guess it might be the profile difference. wet only comes in race tires.
The other difference is that acceleration is reduced by a bit, and that the break disks are getting hot, and also had bad breaking power for the first few but now slowly getting better, hopefully the it will go back to normal after a few km, possible grease went on them when the fitting of the tires were done.
over all i feel more in control, dont feel any slide or loss of traction on the front.
kept the old tire if i have a puncture or something one day and need a quick replacement.

[Vivo]

Tires have rubber conditioners that make them pliable... these conditioners gets lost with heat and after a few years your tire becomes harder and more brittle... old tires are not safe even with lots of treads left on them... just a reminder ...  ride safe man! 

[Hairy Bob]

  G'day Max.  Mate, now I don't want to cast any negative waves or any thing, but I've got to agree with Vivo and the Surgeon on this one. Each to their own obviously, but me personaly, I wouldn't touch second hand tyres, not even on a car. More so for my bike, coz you've only got two of the mothers underneath you. I do realize new tyres are'nt cheap, but firstly, if it's an original off an 08, that tyre is five years old, so as both Vivo and the Surgeon said ... IT IS OLD !!  Secondly, you don't know the history of it, such as did it come off a bike that's been in a smash or something that could have given the tyre a bad whack and compromised its beading or stucture in any way that might not be visible ?  Or thirdly, and most importantly, besides your own safety, you've got your girl on the back some of the time. So just take friggin it easy mate, and keep a bloody close eye on it, and if you've got any doubts about it what so ever, get rid of it that's all I can say. I for one, certainly don't want to hear that you've come a gutser or possibly worse because of it. I mean, sh**, who the hell else are we gonna look to for help on the Venox if you get your wings early  .
Anyway, take care and ride safe amigo.
Best regards, Hairy Bob.

[max oradea]

Thanks Bob, really feel the care you guys!
The tire is old and i dont know about the history, that does worry me and should for everyone.
I got it because one thing i had in mind is the superior grip it has... can not describe it, can ride it like a track bike and still no hesitation of grip.
I am a person in Romania but i will leave here in 1 and a half years, where i am going is not possible to take two bikes, i have another Honda NSR 250 track bike 45hp and the bike is only 110kg. where i am going is maybe back to Taiwan... which produces the venox but with speed limits to 60km/h and bikes are not allowed to go on high ways... i will sale the venox when i leave.
This is one of the reason i got a second hand dunlop wet track tires, i was told that they only used it for 4 laps because it was raining on track day. but all that is worth nothing because you never know.
For future reference people should really get new tires because old ones are really not hard rock safe.
been putting it through some stress test like breaking hard and hard turns at high speed and so far so good, will never do it on regular rides half the amount of stress. so knock on wood it will be good for another 18 months and goodbye venox.
This bike really catches people been getting offers already and when ever you stop at somewhere for a drink with the lads someone out of no where will come up to ask about the price... like up front how much you want to sale it.