NEW Front tire - weird damage, safety issue?

[loud et]

I will take a look and let you know if I find any I will take a look and let you know if I find any strange casting marks

[tkent02]

Thinking of getting Shinko 230s for the 1100G, has anyone run them hard enough and long enough to wear them out yet?

How do they stick?
How do they feel?
Did they last very long and did they ride well to the end?
Would you buy another?

Comments?

[exzachtly1]

Thinking of getting Shinko 230s for the 1100G, has anyone run them hard enough and long enough to wear them out yet?

How do they stick?
How do they feel?
Did they last very long and did they ride well to the end?
Would you buy another?

Comments?

I've been very happy with it when riding. Bought it on the recommendation of many forum members here. The customer reviews are very good too.

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/28/395/6187/ITEM/Shinko-230-Tour-Master-Front-Tire.aspx

[tkent02]

You've ridden less than 100 miles on them???

[cowboyup3371]

Tom, I've had them on since the beginning of the season and although I don't ride anywhere near as hard as you they've stuck pretty well for me.

[exzachtly1]

You've ridden less than 100 miles on them???

A few hundred. I'm by no means an expert, just expressing that I've enjoyed it

[tkent02]

OK, cool. Cowboy, how many miles so far?

[rustybronco]

The guys at the shop think that this damaged happened during manufacturing; maybe an issue with the mold. I expected them to say this even if it's not the truth... but I am slightly inclined to agree, especially since there is also some weird EXTRA rubber near the lip on the other side of the tire. I'll post a shot of this later.

Wow, intriguing! Maybe there is a bad batch going around? Very interested to see this.

Mine is no where near as poorly manufactured as the tire you posted. Now that I can see the area in question a bit more clearly, it looks like your tire has a bit of a mfg defect rather than damage incurred from mounting the tire.

One side of the tire is nicely made, the other suffers from excess rubber all over the tire.

[cowboyup3371]

OK, cool. Cowboy, how many miles so far?

A smidgen over 2000. It's down though for the winter; lost a seal in my right front brake caliper so I'm just going to start in on my engine rebuild now. Me and the eldest will be fixing the leaking base gasket, cleaning and repainting the frame, and repainting the tank and side covers. Plus I found a local guy who'll make a new seat cover a bit cheaper than the online folks and I won't lose the seat for near as long.

[bwringer]

To the OP: to me, that is obviously installer damage. Personally, I would never darken the door of that shop again for putting me in danger like that. Get a replacement tire and install it yerdamself. It ain't hard.

Look at it this way -- if the tire had that damage from the factory, why the HELL did they go ahead and install it? The answer is that your $20 was more important than your life.

Obviously, opinions vary... maybe you can pry a new tire out of Shinko or MSS. But DON'T take it back to that shop.

Thinking of getting Shinko 230s for the 1100G, has anyone run them hard enough and long enough to wear them out yet?

How do they stick?
How do they feel?
Did they last very long and did they ride well to the end?
Would you buy another?

Comments?

I'm going to post a full review with pics soon, but I just completed my torture test of a set of unsuspecting Shinko 230s.

Bear in mind I am a large galoot and I ride like a flaming bat out of hell. Normal people get a LOT more miles out of their tires. The numbers below represent extreme abuse -- your mileage will probably be a lot better.


In a nutshell:


- They stick great in all conditions and under extreme cornering -- dry, wet, cold, etc.


- They feel great -- very neutral.


- They didn't last long at all -- I got about 3,000 miles (between 3,000 and 3,200) out of my rear, and it is way past the tread wear indicators and the center tread is completely smooth (normally I won't ride a tire down that far, but I was in the middle of a trip to Wisconsin when it became apparent they were near the TWIs.). The front shows pretty normal wear (fronts don't flat spot like rears), but it is worn and also needs to be replaced -- you probably shouldn't run 2 rears for 1 front with these.


- They felt great all the way up to the end. This indicates to me the tire is very well-designed and well-built (it's V-rated), but uses a soft tread compound to achieve a high level of performance. I suspect that more expensive tires use more expensive rubber compounds to achieve adhesion along with better wear.


- No, I personally would not buy another set. I ride too many miles and go on too many long trips, so cost per mile matters to me. I know that I can reliably and safely get at least 6,000 miles out of each rear Avon RoadRider, and that I can use one front through two rears. Two Avon rears and one front will take me 12,000 miles easily at a far lower cost than four sets of Shinko 230s. A new set of Avons is on its way to me right now, in fact.

However, I would not hesitate to put Shinko 230s on a bike that doesn't get ridden as much, or if budget for purchase price is a big consideration. (They're about $80 less per set.)

They work great, they're inexpensive, but they don't last very long.

[loud et]

I just looked at my new, unmounted set of this Shinko 230, and have no type of gouging or defect like in the pics. One thing I did notice is that looking at the direction of both tires, the right side must be favored for the best finish side. Which would make sense as when bike is on sidestand, its the most visible. Right sides are flawless, both left sides have a bit of over cast rubber and not as sharp of details.
MSS will prob tell you its a manufacturer issue. Shinko may step up and admit its a bad tire, but probably tell you the installer did it. The tire shop will certainly not admit wrong doing and turn you away making you feel like a liar who messed up his own tires or say its a mfg. defect.
If anyone stands up, I will be highly surprised.
Like another member said, the shop should have inspected the tire and pointed out the damage if it was pre existing. It shows zero pride in the work of the installer, who is no doubt a monkey. Its either some dumb kid who does not care, or an owner operator who wont eat the cost of his own damage.
it looks like stress/stretching/ripping to me.

[lurch12_2000]

There’s a difference between some factory molding rubber overhang and those pieces missing around that bead of the OP’s tire. I wouldn’t dismiss Shinko because there are some small flaps of rubber overhang in some areas unless it’s major around the bead area causing potential problems with seating the bead. I'd be more concerned with premature cracking when looking for problems. Also, there’s obvious abrasion in the original picture before being “cleaned up” after. And I definitely say that it was caused in the mounting process. For future reference, whether you mount yourself or have someone do it, you should carefully inspect any new tires when first received for factory defects or even damage in mishandling while shipped before mounting.
Sounds like you’re not getting anything from the installer. Do the mounting yourself or don’t go there again if you want someone to do it for you. The front 100/90-19 Shinko 230 is a $58 tire so unless you want to fight for that just forget about using that shop again. It “ain’t” a factory defect!!
I used a set of 230’s on an old 750E a few years back and had over 4k on them before selling bike. Front probably had less than 40% wear and rear about 60% wear. 8-10k on front and 6-8k for rear would be realistic to expect, and more if you are not an aggressive rider. Tires handled great in corners, rain, dirt, and high speed (>85mph) and were wearing evenly. Not sure V rating is as important since most old GSes aren’t really going past 130mph.

[exzachtly1]

Ugh, yeah this whole situation sucks and I feel like I'm getting screwed out of my money. 65 for the tire plus install fee. I'm tempted to go back to the shop again and fight them on this but it's probably not going to do any good since I have no proof.

I have never had an issue like this with a car. I would have considered doing it myself, but my thought was that I'd have to buy a bunch of stuff to do it (at a minimum a few tire irons, maybe an air compressor, etc.) and that it'd be more cost effective to have the shop do it since I'm probably gonna get like 2 years out of this tire. I'm not a heavy rider and don't anticipate driving 10k miles next year.

I'm feeling 50/50 as to whether I even want to ride on this tire. Half the people I've asked say the damage is nothing to worry about, while the other half say they wouldn't ride on it. My gut tells me I should bite the bullet and buy a new one but I really don't want to eat this cost. Also this is affecting the last few weeks that I'll actually be able to ride.

Super bummed

[tkent02]

I'm feeling 50/50 as to whether I even want to ride on this tire. Half the people I've asked say the damage is nothing to worry about, while the other half say they wouldn't ride on it. (

Can you give us a better picture of the damaged area, as good as the pictures of the other side in the later posts? I still can't really see what I'm looking at in the first picture. Maybe a closer close up with good lighting and focus?

Is it an extra little flap of rubber or it it a huge gouged out area?

[exzachtly1]

Can you give us a better picture of the damaged area, as good as the pictures of the other side in the later posts? I still can't really see what I'm looking at in the first picture. Maybe a closer close up with good lighting and focus?

Is it an extra little flap of rubber or it it a huge gouged out area?

Sure, I can take more pictures later. The pictures are the same in the original and the new, here are the ones I have:

ORIGINAL - before taking it to the shop and having it cleaned up:



At the shop, cleaned up:





It's not very deep really, just that one spot concerns me where it seems broken through.