Reader Review: Avon Distanzia Tyres | Reader review

Name: Graham Mudd From: Bedfordshire Riding for: 17 years

Price paid for it: £210 for the pair plus fitting, in March 2014, from www.discountmotorcycletyres.co.uk

What type of riding do you do:  I enjoy the full spectrum of riding from long distance commutes to touring to B road blasts to Greenlaning, all on my trusty Versys workhorse.

Why did you buy it? My rear tyre (Michelin Road Pilot) was shot and even though the front (Pirelli Diablo Strada) had a bit of life in it, I wanted tyres that would be more versatile on the rough stuff.

Tell us about it: I was a little nervous in opting to fit the Distanzias  dual purpose on road/off road tyres, as I wanted something that was better than road tyres off road, but without compromising on road ability, where I spend 95% of my riding!

My fears, as it turns out, were completely unfounded. Initially they do take a bit of getting used to as the more angled profile gives them quite an aggressive pitch in, feeling almost like the bike is falling over. However get used to this sensation and they are simply phenomenal in the dry! That aggressive pitch translates into incredible agility and is backed up with amazing levels of grip and good line holding, I’ve yet to drift wide or experience a loss of traction even with some “spirited” riding around Snowdonia.

In the wet things are even better, they grip almost as well as my last tyres did in the dry – and they were well reviewed tyres! I’ve never before been shod with rubber that inspires such confidence in the rain!

Off-road is a slightly different matter though. In any conditions they are a marked improvement over road tyres on the byways, and in the dry they have a good level of ability. However in the wet and on mud they have a tendency to slew alarmingly and struggle to break out of ruts. I suppose this is to be expected on “jack of all trades” tyres with a 216kg bike and 90(ish)kg rider!

So far I’ve done 1500 miles on them in all conditions and they’re wearing pretty well, I’d expect 4-5k miles.

In summary if you have an adventure bike and spend the vast majority on roads interspersed with a few forays on the rough stuff, you won’t go far wrong with these!

Give us three good points: Brilliant dry grip.; Unbelievable wet grip; Good off road as long as it’s dry

And three bad ones: Increased vibration (chunky tread); Pretty bad off road if it’s wet!

More info: www.avon-tyres.co.uk/motorcycle

[button link=”http://www.morebikes.co.uk/submit-kit-review/” type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Send us YOUR kit review[/button]