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What tires do you like?

2K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  Russgary 
#1 ·
I gotta give a shout out to Shinko. I can't say I've bought a ton of tires. If some of you had seen the rubber i've ridden on, well I can hear the lectures now.....

But yeah, I let a shop sell me Duros for an '86 Nighthawk 700S I had, I wore through those in six months! Didn't even get a whole year out of them! Will never buy Duro again.

I've bought a few bikes with Dunlops and sold the bikes without ever having changed tires, which I supposes says good things.

The next bike I had needed rubber was a 1981 CB900F, and that was the first Shinko rubber I bought. Best tire purchase ever, rode it over a year, sold it still looking newish. JUst got a Shinko front for my Nighthawk 450. Not only were both amazing values around $50 each, but damn good tires with excelllent driving and hardy wearing tires. I can't say enough about the value and quality of Shinko tires!
 
#2 ·
A lot of people don't know Shinko purchased their motorcycle tire line from Yokohama in the late 90s. So there's a fair amount of automotive expertise behind the brand. I've read that they have load rating issues with some larger bikes, but for my situation the price is right. I have a pair of 712s sitting in my garage waiting to go on whenever I get around to replacing my current ones.
 
#3 ·
I was not aware of Shinko's origin, but Yokohama tires weren't bad back in the day. Not sure I ever bought any for previous bikes, but during that era I bought a lot of Bridgestone Super Speeds (inexpensive rear tires for the abuse I was regularly giving them with my 750s and Gold Wings due to burnouts and drag strip activities) and Dunlop K81s. I bought a Shinko for my V65 about 6 months ago and like it very much, good tire for a good price. Wearout mileage and/or time is directly related to how you ride and the softness of the compound... the Duros were probably softer for good cornering but don't wear as well for that reason. Sometimes compromising for wear durability can lead to below-average cornering capability if the tire is a harder compound
 
#6 ·
I have been using Duros on my CM400 and find they wear just fine. I just replaced the tires last month .... that's almost 7 years! The rear was down to the wear bars, but the front still had hardly any wear....and I put a lot of miles on them. I should have taken note of the mileage when I last put them on. (I've changed speedos since then, but could have calculated it)
 
#8 ·
I've run one Shinko, no complaints about grip or wear but it was a PITA to get the bead seated and balanced. I Tried to cheap out and bought the tire online and mounted it myself. I ended up having to bring it into a shop to seat the bead, and they had to use ratchet straps and what-not.

I learned from that experiance and I now purchase my tires from the local Honda dealer. They always sell me tires for under MSRP but slightly more than online retailers. The difference is the dealer will mount and balance them for free if I buy them there.

I switched to Bridgestone Battlaxs when I swapped the font out on my Nighthawk 450 (only Metzler and Bridgestone make a 100/90R16). They are a little pricey but I've been totally satisfied with them.

My VFR750F is rolling on Dunlop Sportmax Qualifiers and while the grip is immense the wear rate is aswell. Only took me about 3.5k miles to be just above the wear bars. Thats really a whole other kettle of fish though as it's putting down more than twice the power of my 450.
 
#11 ·
Horsepower alone will make tread go away as fast as anything... even when it doesn't feel like you're accelerating that hard (because we tend to get used to the power at our disposal), a bigger bike will cause accelerated wear to a rear tire just by riding it in a spirited fashion, no burnouts required. Getting 3500 miles out of a good-gripping rear tire on something while riding aggressively with 80 to 100 crankshaft horsepower is really about average for what I've seen... on a hot day down here, you can see a tire mark on the pavement just from hard acceleration in first gear on a big bike
 
#12 ·
I recently bought a pair of the MMG, generic k70 tires on Amazon.. $63.00 for the set.. Free shipping 3.50x18 for the rear of my cb350.. And I'll use the 2.75x18 for the front of my Yamaha rd200, paired with my duro 3.00x18 k70 copy. They're smooth and quiet. I should mention I don't ask for a lot out of my tires, long life, and resistance to dry rot and I'm happy. I don't lean.

I had a really mixed experience on the rd200 with Michelin gazelle. Wore out fast, and dry rot.
 
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