Over the Memorial Day weekend I loaded up the 99 with my wife and I to enjoy SW Virginia. I have the Storm 2 on the front with 11k miles and the Azaro rear with about 4500 miles on it. I figured we'd finish off these tires over the next 3-4 days and 1000+ miles. Hitting the road on Friday morning I noticed, when coasting, that something was lighly "popping" the bike. My first thought was a bad wheel bearing but I'd just replaced the front and rears at the last tire change and continued on the trip. The "pop" got a bit worse throughout the 350 mile day and I stopped and spun the tires looking for any problems and saw nothing. The next morning we set out for Burkes Garden and this time I noticed more of a bump, all the time. Pulled over and now I see a mild bulge in the rear tire, with no puncture, just a mild bulge. I figured we could ride a 200 day and then head home the next, wrong (don't give me a hard time I know I should have turned around then and will in the future). We rode the bike hard over the next couple of hours enjoying the Avons excellent traction while testing the bikes ground clearance. About 150 miles later we stopped for lunch and I looked at the rear tire and now I'm seeing steel threads and a 1/2 inch gash! I call around to motorcycle dealers but they're all closing because of the holiday weekend and are no help. I decide to limp back the next 50 miles to the motel and the "bumping" became worse and worse. Arrived at the hotel with a 1 inch gash and it's now not ridable. Also the tread depth was quickly thining at and around the bulge, but was fine on the rest of the tire. It's interesting that the tire is still holding air pressure like this, but the next day it was flat. Long story short we could not find a trailer or alternate transportation because of the holiday weekend and ended up being loaned a truck and trailer from a riding friend and we hauled the bike back to Richmond. Once home I mounted a new Avon set, Storm front and Azaro rear, on the C10 and all was well with the world. I contacted Avon about this because it seemed to me that this tire self destructed. Not good. They were concerned but were convinced that I punctured it somehow and they'd never heard of a failure like this with an Azaro. The PR guy also mentioned that they plan on making the Azaro for the C10 for the forseable future, and I'm glad to hear that. As a good will gesture Avon sold me another Azaro rear at their cost. I bet, and hope, that this is a fluke. I've loved the Avon combination of the Storm 2 front and Azaro rear and will continue to use them. These tires do everything I ask of them, peg feeler to peg feeler, except the rear won't last 10k miles. I typically run two rears for one front.
Here's a pic: