Possibly some good news on Avon Trike tires... Now Bad News...

pwhoever

pwhoever

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There have been many rumors floating about that the Avon Cobra Chrome AV91 Trike tire has been discontinued. And checking with pretty much all motorcycle tire retailers showing "out of stock" for a very long time now lended some credibility to it. I decided to contact Avon and see what they had to say. I received a reply today that if a retailer will take the order, get it in soon as they should be showing up again mid October. Here is the response I received.

Screenshot_20230911_114441_Outlook.jpg


(FYI, this is an older post from last year. I have an updated response in post #10)

(And another update in post #19)
 
PW,

I also thanked you on the Gl1800 forum, :drinks:{Captron} this is wonderful news, cause I did have a hard time obtaining one.... and I love how the Avon TRIKE tire feels on my Roadsmith trike..

Ronnie

9/12/23
 
pwhoever said:
There have been many rumors floating about that the Avon Cobra Chrome AV91 Trike tire has been discontinued. And checking with pretty much all motorcycle tire retailers showing "out of stock" for a very long time now lended some credibility to it. I decided to contact Avon and see what they had to say. I received a reply today that if a retailer will take the order, get it in soon as they should be showing up again mid October. Here is the response I received.

View attachment 114723
Click to expand...
luckily I got mine after over 3 month wait in july i think it was. checked with themtrike 2 days later & none to b had, they went fast... thanks for sharing the letter.. mine is on for a couple months now & just as good as the previous 2 i had on 2 diff trikes
 
Avon Cobra Chrome AV91

"Avon Cobra Chrome AV91" Found in eBay sizes 16-23? Or am I doing something wrong?:Shrug:
 
Not sure why Avon is not making these - seems like there is a market.

Now, it might be that - if they can limit supply, they can raise the price. If this happens, I will simply move back to a regular Ultra tire and even use the BT and run it in reverse.
 
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  • #10
A quick update on this. As I'm sure many are aware that the so called shipment last Oct 2023 never seemed to materialize. A few tires did seem to make it to a handful of retailers but in such small supply that they sold out instantly.

Just for kicks, I decided to reach back out to Don over at Avon/Goodyear to see what he could tell me. Here is his response 2 days ago:

Screenshot_20240808_095407_Outlook.jpg

I am hopeful that he is correct but not going to hold my breath. And I'm also hopeful that with a decent supply, the price will drop some. I know I could buy one right now at a very, very small select number of shops but I'm not paying $300+ when the BT46 costs less that half of that. I could have used one late last year but so far my BT46 is holding up just fine.
 
pwhoever said:
A quick update on this. As I'm sure many are aware that the so called shipment last Oct 2023 never seemed to materialize. A few tires did seem to make it to a handful of retailers but in such small supply that they sold out instantly.

Just for kicks, I decided to reach back out to Don over at Avon/Goodyear to see what he could tell me. Here is his response 2 days ago:

View attachment 127415

I am hopeful that he is correct but not going to hold my breath. And I'm also hopeful that with a decent supply, the price will drop some. I know I could buy one right now at a very, very small select number of shops but I'm not paying $300+ when the BT46 costs less that half of that. I could have used one late last year but so far my BT46 is holding up just fine.
Click to expand...

Really appreciate your follow up. I talked to that same guy last year and he told me we should have them last year sometime.

I think it is a great tire and there is a market for it. Still, like others, I am not willing to pay the $300 cost, if that is what it will take. I will simply run the BT46 backwards. Use to run a rear tire backwards years ago on my wing.

For now, I think Avon will just start to lose some opportunities.
 
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  • #13
cycle7447 said:
Really appreciate your follow up. I talked to that same guy last year and he told me we should have them last year sometime.

I think it is a great tire and there is a market for it. Still, like others, I am not willing to pay the $300 cost, if that is what it will take. I will simply run the BT46 backwards. Use to run a rear tire backwards years ago on my wing.

For now, I think Avon will just start to lose some opportunities.
Click to expand...

I fully agree that they are losing out and I stressed that in my latest email to him. Hopefully he reaches out to the Avon Corp and is able to make that clear to the company. I have no doubt that if/when the inventory finally reached out shores, it won't last long. It would be nice if a steady supply starts to flow...
 
Just a point of fact, Avon was acquired twice, eventually being owned now by Goodyear Tires (not Tyres), so that didn't immediately help the situation. Still, it should eventually make the supply chain better.
 
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  • #15
IIRC, Avon was first grabbed up by Cooper which was then absorbed by Goodyear who owns it now.
 
Notgrownup said:
I’m gonna keep running a rear tire mounted backwards.
Click to expand...

I may have to go that way when the time comes. As of now, I only have 8K on this Avon so, there should be plenty of time left as it looks good. Only have about 2K lined up for trips the rest of the season.

Which tire are you running, the BT46. I know the trike is pretty new to you - but did you also run a rear tire on the previous trike>
 
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  • #19
Bad news! Looks like I was flat out lied to back in 2023 and again in 2024. As I showed the emails above from Don Argento promising both times that the trike tires would be on their way, he was less than honest. Cooper tires had already made plans by the end of 2022 to shut down production of Avon tires soon. And Dec 20th 2023, the last tire by Avon was completed and the factory shut down. It's hard to ship tires that haven't been made yet.

melkshamnews.com

Historic moment as last ever tyre is built at Avon ending production after 118 years

The last tyres came off the production line at Cooper Tires last week, in a poignant moment for staff and
melkshamnews.com melkshamnews.com
 
pwhoever said:
Bad news! Looks like I was flat out lied to back in 2023 and again in 2024. As I showed the emails above from Don Argento promising both times that the trike tires would be on their way, he was less than honest. Cooper tires had already made plans by the end of 2022 to shut down production of Avon tires soon. And Dec 20th 2023, the last tire by Avon was completed and the factory shut down. It's hard to ship tires that haven't been made yet.

melkshamnews.com

Historic moment as last ever tyre is built at Avon ending production after 118 years

The last tyres came off the production line at Cooper Tires last week, in a poignant moment for staff and
melkshamnews.com melkshamnews.com
Click to expand...

Looks like you and me both - he also sent me an email (plus a t-shirt) saying they were coming soon.

That tire got awful expensive and with all of the delays, I was already considering putting the BT46 (backwards) on the trike. If there is a problem, I can always still run the standard Harley tire.

The original tire had 10K on it when I changed to the Avon. Still plenty of tread - but I was anxious to try the Avon. Now the bike has 21K on it - so, that's 11K for the Avon - still plenty of tread.

I have a few rides planned this year and will hopefully get about 5 - 6K more this summer. This would put me at say 17K on that tire. For me, it would be time to change for the next season.
 
I got a hat, T-Shirt, and some stickers!

A lot of confusion going on. Cooper bought out Avon. Cooper was then bought out by Goodyear. Avon tyre in England gets shut down. They then sold off the Avon car tire racing name, tech, and moulds to Nova Motorsports. Its sister Nova Motorcycles bought out and are producing German Heidenau vintage motorcycle tires. Goodyear buys out Dunlop car, truck, and motorcycle tires. Goodyear then sells Dunlop motorcycle tires to Sumitomo. Sounds like something is still in the works for the Avon motorcycle tire line with Cooper/Goodyear. Whether it got sold with Dunlop to Sumitomo, to Nova Motorcycles, or something else, who knows. Something must be in the works as the Avon Tyres website and social media is still online like nothing has changed.

IMG_1602.jpeg
 
Got this response from Don at Avon Tyre a few minutes ago:

Hi Carl,

The Avon factory in Melksham was closed a few years ago. We moved production of Cobra Chrome, Spirit ST, and 3D Supersport to a Goodyear/Dunlop factory in France. Other ranges are being produced elsewhere in Europe.

Kind Regards,

Don Argento
Manager Motorcycle Sales & Marketing North America
Avon Tyres
cell +01 614-580-7956
donald_argento@goodyear.com
 
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  • #26
HDUSA1 said:
Got this response from Don at Avon Tyre a few minutes ago:

Hi Carl,

The Avon factory in Melksham was closed a few years ago. We moved production of Cobra Chrome, Spirit ST, and 3D Supersport to a Goodyear/Dunlop factory in France. Other ranges are being produced elsewhere in Europe.

Kind Regards,

Don Argento
Manager Motorcycle Sales & Marketing North America
Avon Tyres
cell +01 614-580-7956
donald_argento@goodyear.com
Click to expand...

Interesting. But the lack of availability seems to show this might not be the case. For well over 2 years now, he has assured me that supply would be there as far as the AV-91 Trike tire and a reasonable supply has yet to materialize. And not just the AV-91 Trike tire. Many retailers are out of stock on all the different offerings on Avon brand tires. Only a select few retailers have seemed to get their hands on a limited supply which vanishes almost immediately. Im not sure I can believe anything he says. He seems to just be paying lip service and not actually delivering on his word.
 
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  • #28
HDUSA1 said:
I know. I sent him a reply asking when they will be available in the US again. I’ve had one on order from Summit for over a year and a half now.
Click to expand...

If he does reply, he will give you a standard answer that there is a supply destined to be shipped end of summer or early fall. You will patiently (maybe not) be waiting until the first snowflakes begin to fall and will still be without your order. And next year the cycle will repeat. I truly wish he would be more honest about the situation. Maybe he just doesn't care.
 
pwhoever said:
If he does reply, he will give you a standard answer that there is a supply destined to be shipped end of summer or early fall. You will patiently (maybe not) be waiting until the first snowflakes begin to fall and will still be without your order. And next year the cycle will repeat. I truly wish he would be more honest about the situation. Maybe he just doesn't care.
Click to expand...
Yes, got the standard response from him several times before and not holding my breath to ever see the tire. Just keeping my order in to be in the queue if they ever do start getting some in. I don’t think he really knows what’s going on in their own conglomerated company.

Honestly, even if they do start shipping them, I’ll probably cancel the order anyway. I don’t want to be the guinea pig of a tire being made in another facility of unknown quality.

Was thinking about going with the Dunlop American Elite as my next front tire, but they sold to Sumitomo and not sure what I think of that. Pretty much leaves the Bridgestone BT46, but a few guys on one of the other Honda Forums are complaining of them not balancing well and being slightly out of round.
 
You know what - they can keep telling me, it's coming. At this point, I don't think I am interested.

Both the BT46 and the stock tire will do the job for me. For the most part, I get three seasons out of my tires. I figure around 17-18K and I am ready to change anyway. Usually change when I do my final for the season, so I am ready to ride the next season.

As I shared, I have about 11K on this tire now - so, I will change at the end of this riding season.
 
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