Tire recommendation?

I was thinking about getting some avon tires for my 81 xj 650. Anyone have a recommendation from their line of products? Long highway hauls will be the most common type of driving, some of it on pretty windy/dirt roads so handling is a must. Suggestions?

 

No specific suggestions, my preference is my tires be round and black. I have tried several brands but none that stick out as surerior. Most of us don't ride on the edge of our tires in turns so any gereral touring tire works fine. I currently have Pirelli Route 66 tires on the XJ no issues with them .

 

I have bridgestone s11 spitfires on my 1985 xj700. I picked them because I like the look of the white lettering and i was able to get front and rear for a total of $125 at bikebandit.com. Ride great and a good looking tire for the money. 1000 miles and no complaints so far

 

If that includes a lot of freeways or Interstates with rain grooves, stay away from anything with a continuous center groove on the front. (Tends to want to follow the drunken wobble of the rain grooves.) That factor weighs HEAVILY on my tire choices, I have Dunlop D404's on one of my Secas and will be installing Avons on the other one soon. VERY happy with the D404's as well as the Dunlop K81-TT100's on my Norton; haven't had a chance to ride on Avons yet but have not heard anything bad about them.

 

I put Avon Roadriders on my 550 Seca and have been quite happy with them.

 

I checked the Avon fitment guide and they recommend roadriders.

Avon is a premium tire. If you go with it use their recommended inflation pressure, which will likely be higher than the Yamaha recommendation.

One beef I have with Avon tires is they don't have the light spot marked. According to the Avon rep this is because they want to force people to balance them rather than just aligning the mark with the valve stem. I like to find the heavy spot on the wheel and align the light mark on the tire. This lets me balance with minimal weight. With the Avon tires you could end up with the heavy part of the tire on the heavy part of the wheel and need a lot of weight.

Avon recommends that if you go over 2oz on weight you dismount the tire, rotate it, and try again.

I haven't mounted an Avon since I found out what's up with the marks. I'd assumed that they were such high quality the mark was unnecessary. Next time I mount one I think I'll balance the empty wheel, then find the light spot of the mounted tire, then rotate it so it makes the most sense. I'll probably up my charge on mounting Avons to cover the extra labor.