Hi all,
I recently purchased an Avon AV71 130/60B-19 front tire for my 2015 RGS from Rocky Mtn ATV in Utah. It was losing air so I take it back to my local Harley dealer who installed it for me. It seems the tire bead has 2 warbles in it. Dealership says its a defective tire, RM ATV says improper install and will not warranty it. I am going to attach a pic I took. It's my local HD dealer and I'm going to have a hard time putting this on them especially if I ever expect decent service from them. So I am between a rock and a hard place. My next question is running a tube in it an option? I have found a 130/70/19 tube that I'm thinking might fit. Tire has 600 miles on it total.

Thanks ..... goldie

 

That can be an issue when taking in your own parts. Sometimes the few dollars saved is not worth it. I myself would replace that tire. Good luck!

 

I have no idea of causes but it is screwed up.
Don't use it , your life probably is worth more than a fked up tire?
IF a shop installed it for you then are they no responsible for it?

 

Like you said, if you stick it to the dealership, you'll pay for it later. Your only hope is to stick it to the manufacturer if you can. Otherwise, you'd be best to eat the cost of a new tire and label it an expensive lesson about trying to save a few dollars.

 

I'd contact Avon and see what they'll do. They manufactured it, they should make good on it.

 

On 2nd look, sure appears that it was abused during the install. Those short sidewall tires can be a bear to mount. And dealers don't always put their best and brightest on tire and oil change duty. Still, your best bet at this point is to contact Avon.

 

My guess is that it was the install. I highly doubt any shop would have mounted that tire if it looked like that prior to install.

 

Surprised that a shop agreed to install parts sourced elsewhere. Now you know why many won't. Something goes wrong both point the finger at the other and neither will accept responsibility.

You get stuck in the middle.

In order for the tire mfg. to do anything, you'd have to convince them somehow that this tire was factory defective- since it's been mounted and unmounted at least once, not sure how you'd do that.

I don't know anything about running tubes, but you're gonna have to do something, I assume the bike is at the dealer waiting for you to decide something.

Maybe buy a new tire from the dealer and move on with a lesson learned?

 

So much truth here. I owned an off-road shop for several years, and people would get pissed when I refused to install parts they supplied. Mostly because I got real tired of the low quality or incorrect parts. I would simply respond with "What do they tell you at Waffle House when you bring in your own bacon & eggs?"

 

I buy my tyres at my local bike shop (actually a Yamaha dealer) and get them to install. I do take in my wheels. To my eye, having fitted tyres since the '60s, that poor tyre looks like a butcher attacked it. I've used mostly Avon tyres on my Harleys since the '70s and only ever had problems with one, which had been slightly damaged due to poor storage.