Shinko 230 Torture Test

[koolaid_kid]

Absolutely lowering the pressure will yield a wider patch and better traction off-road. Two things to watch out for: Don't go too low or you will spin the tire on the rim. Second, you need to pump it back up when you get back on the road.

[salty_monk]

Sure... I air down to about 16/17PSI Front & 21 PSI Rear off road.

The bit I am not sure about is his comment that the 140 is much better off-road than the 130 whilst not making any noticeable difference on the street (KLR is only a 2.5" Rim).

I can see that it would provide a touch more contact patch but it also might be pinched in general use... As Brian says - they are cheap so maybe one day I'll give it a go!

[bwringer]

Did you happen to take a photo of the burned out rear 230? Just curious.
Did the carcass have any thickness at all at that point?
I recently pulled a Dunlop out of service sort of early in the name of safety and I was just wanting a visual on how far one can go and live to tell about it.

Here's the thickness of the carcass on the worn-out 230. It was well past legal limits, but not unsafe yet, at least in the dry. Heck, I had a whole millimeter or so before showing cords...

[lurch12_2000]

Here's the thickness of the carcass on the worn-out 230. It was well past legal limits, but not unsafe yet, at least in the dry. Heck, I had a whole millimeter or so before showing cords...

Looks like another 3k left on the side tread to me....spend less time on burnouts, hard braking and the highway and just stay on the twisties and you'll stretch that Shinko out to less than 3 cents a mile. ...oh, and get your riding weight down to 160lbs, like me, and you'll be fine too!

[tkent02]

Or you could just buy new tires a little more often.
The last new tires I didn't buy cost about $60,000.

[GSScoobie]

Or you could just buy new tires a little more often.
The last new tires I didn't buy cost about $60,000.

Please elaborate.
Hospital bills?

[psyguy]

thanks for the write up brian.

it shows what HARD riding does to tires - i've recently had to replace bridgestone bt-45's after aprox 7000kms (rear was a lot more worn whereas the front was just past the legal limit).

also, coarse roads that we have over here certainly add to the expense...

[Chuck78]

You can go thru the first two layers of canvas before they blow..




Tracton gets a bit iffy around the first layer...

Usally once you wear thru the tread compond the very thin soft rubber will blister n bubble over the first layer of canvas, you can feel this when riding. Also once your wearing the canvas the wheel will spin up more and more easily, wearing even faster.
your demise follows soon after...

(pic is sidecar touring, not burn out..)

How many miles can one get between the tread being bald to the point of the rubber blistering and exposing the inner canvas carcass of the tire? I've been spinning the cold tire a lot on cold pavement lately and I still can see slight marks of the tread on my SR741 140/70-18. I realized cold tires on cold weather pavement wear a lot longer but grip less.
Anyway I want to get in two more 300&200 mile rides the next two weekends in the hills of SE Ohio, not sure if my tire will make it but it's seeming to last much longer in cold weather.

[Chuck78]

I should .mention that the sr741 uses the same compound as my front 230 TourMaster, and comes in the size I was looking for that the 230 does not.

[Crankthat]

How many miles can one get between the tread being bald to the point of the rubber blistering and exposing the inner canvas carcass of the tire? I've been spinning the cold tire a lot on cold pavement lately and I still can see slight marks of the tread on my SR741 140/70-18. I realized cold tires on cold weather pavement wear a lot longer but grip lees - rolling on hard to WOT@ 15mph in 1st gear lights up the tires quite a bit, but aftera vety short fishtail, tye now warmed up tire hooks hard and pops the front end up when launching/hooking.

Anyway I want to get in two more 300&200 mile rides the next two weekends in the hills of SE Ohio, not sure if my tire will make it but it's seeming to last much longer in cold weather.

I have ridden some tires past the point of common sense.
Ever seen a edged pebble in the road?
You take your chances?
When a tire is already real thin (almost canvas) put your finger in the middle and push down.
It will push real easy.
A non noticeable pebble could deflate that tire in under a second.
This is from experience, and yes I was lucky.

[Chuck78]

Ever seen a edged pebble in the road?
You take your chances?
A non noticeable pebble could deflate that tire in under a second.
This is from experience, and yes I was lucky.

Aaahhhhhhhh.... Yes, thank you for instilling some common sense in me! Not only would I not want to get a flat so far from home, but at speed in a turn could be very detrimental. Time for one last hurrah tomorrow before I yank the rear wheel off. Thanks, Crank.

I think next time I am probably going to start running an Avon AM26 rear but keep the Shinko 230 front. Nice to not have to worry about wearing through your tire on a 700-1500 mile vacation if you already have a few thousand miles on it. Money is tight, and so I bought another Shinko SR741 rear 140/70-18 for this time around.

[tkent02]

I think next time I am probably going to start running an Avon AM26 rear but keep the Shinko 230 front.

Please let us know how that combination handles.

[bluewool]

Please let us know how that combination handles.

Please let us know about the $60000 tire change...

[Steve]

[Paul Harvey voice] And now for the rest of the story. [/Paul Harvey voice]

From Brian's original post, about 4 years ago:

Earlier this summer, I spooned an unsuspecting set of Shinko 230 Tourmaster tires onto my GS850G in the name of Science.

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.

<snip>

- They didn't last long at all. The rear was at the TWIs in about 3,000 miles, and WAY past worn out at about 3,500. The center tread is completely smooth.

- The front shows pretty normal wear (fronts don't flat spot like rears, so you have to look closer), but it is visibly very worn and also needs to be replaced at about 4,500 miles -- not sure if you could get away with running two rears for each front with these.

I changed the oil on my 850 last night. When entering that into my service log, I noted the mileage on the bike when I installed my Shinko 230s. Keep in mind that my gravitational attraction is not quite the same as Brian's and my riding style is not quite as "batty". I do ride in a somewhat "spirited" manner, so am not vertical all the time.

The mile count on my tires last night was right around 7650, still had just over 4/32" on the rear tire and just under 4/32" on the front tire. At that rate, I will probably get 9-10,000 miles on my set.

Using his cost of $136.35 for the tires (I got mine about the same time from the same store), and assuming replacement at 9,000 miles, that is a cost per mile of just 1.5 cents, compared to his 4.5.

Just wanted to show that your cost per mile will depend a LOT on how you ride.

I still thank Brian for his objective torture test several years ago, just wanted to show them in another light.

.

[mmattockx]

[Paul Harvey voice] The mile count on my tires last night was right around 7650, still had just over 4/32" on the rear tire and just under 4/32" on the front tire. At that rate, I will probably get 9-10,000 miles on my set.

Wow, that is great mileage. I got used to sport bike rubber and am really happy if I get 8000km out of a rear on my GSXR1000. That explains why my 230's are showing no visible wear after 1700km, they are hardly getting worked in...


Mark