Shinko 230 Torture Test

[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...

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?

[tkent02]

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

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!

[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...

[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!

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]

One of the local guys here told me he uses the 140 705 (instead of the 130) as it is similar in performance in all situations except it's much better in the sand when aired down low... I'm not inclined to believe him but I guess it's possible!

I've also run the 705's on the Suzuki & if you had a long gravel driveway or lived where the roads are really bad I can see it working well....
I put 2,000 miles on a set (in Los Angeles & Baja), the amount of wear on those tyres was negligible, I'm expecting to get at least another 4k out of it now it's on the KLR.

[bwringer]

I'm 165lb & ride a little slower than Brian (at least some of the time).

I get AT LEAST 10k out of a rear Roadrider. On my 1000G (tubeless makes a difference) it was still going at 14k.

This should give a comparison as to what Brian puts his tyres through.

Brian - Out of interest, what do you get out of the 705's on the KLR? I got 6500 out of my rear. Front will probably go to 10k.

Sounds about right -- I've been getting about 3,500 to 4,000 mostly pavement miles out of a rear 705, and two rears for each front easily.

The last rear was the victim of a dual-sporting trip to North Carolina/Tennessee -- many miles of the highly abrasive rocks and gravel in the Smokies (lots of granite and quartz) and much thrashing on the paved twisties ground off an amazing amount of rubber in under 1,000 miles. The rear went a total of just over 3,000 miles before the center of the tread was smooth. Still plenty of knob on the sides, of course, and the tire didn't develop any bad habits on the pavement. These things stick like you wouldn't believe in the paved twisties, and work better than you'd think off-road.

For those playing along at home, a rear Shinko 705 for a KLR650 is only about $55. Cheap fun.

[salty_monk]

I'm 165lb & ride a little slower than Brian (at least some of the time).

I get AT LEAST 10k out of a rear Roadrider. On my 1000G (tubeless makes a difference) it was still going at 14k.

This should give a comparison as to what Brian puts his tyres through.

Brian - Out of interest, what do you get out of the 705's on the KLR? I got 6500 out of my rear. Front will probably go to 10k.

Thanks for the review….
I would agree that the Shinko 230 Tourmaster is a good inexpensive tire. Those who call them cheap and ask themselves “What’s your arse worth?”, well I think these tires pass muster. Now my arse ain’t worth much anyway, and maybe more dead but don’t tell my wife, but if you want to spend twice the amount on Michelin or Dunlops because of price and name recognition(more expensive is better), be my guest. That will push the demand lower on the Shinkos and go on sale more often for me! Most don’t push the GS to tire limits anyway, so settle on something that handles well at least to scraping of pegs, center stand and exhaust…. after that you’re sliding on metal anyway…and something that holds well in rain and on gravel/dirt roads, and wears evenly. The 230 will do that. Heck, even the cheaper H rated Shinko 712 will be ok too…since when was the last time you pushed your old GS to over 130mph and needing a V rated tire? The 712 will squirm a little on hard cornering because of it’s deeper tread design at the edges.
Now, I would add that you should get more like 6-8k on rears and 8-10K on front which in my experience is about the same I’ve gotten with Avon Roadriders and Bridgestone Spitfires, 2 other good tires for these GS bikes I’ve used. And the Shinko 230s wear evenly unlike some Michelin and Contis I’ve ridden. If you ride mostly highway then you’ll probably wear any tire square. But I really think Bwringer sanded his Shinkos down at night looking for more traction in the corners by day, knocking 3k off the life of his tires, but he won’t reveal that secret!
As far as price, consider cheaper labor in Korea, less marketing overhead, aggressive pricing against better known brands, and economy of scale, in why they are inexpensive, as opposed to poor quality or performance such as most Kenda or some old Cheng Shin tires I’ve had experience with. I’ve had over 20 motorcycles and logged close to 40k miles in the last few years on those bikes, FWIW.
BTW, I like Avon Roadriders when they’re on sale (not often because of reputation) and have scoffed them up when they occasionally dropped to under $70 a tire.

[bwringer]

Bear in mind 3 things:
The 850 is the second heaviest GS made.
Brian is no lightweight.
He rides his bike extremely hard. All the time.
So, this is the most extreme torture test for these tires.

Yep.

It would not surprise me if a normal person got double the miles out of their tires.

[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.

Good idea. I just spooned on the Avons last night. I'll get some pics of the Shinkos up tonight.

Basically, no cords were showing, but only faint traces of the line in the center were showing in a few spots. On the 450 mile trip home, the remaining tread was disappearing pretty quickly -- you could see a difference at every gas stop.

I was just wanting a visual on how far one can go and live to tell about it.

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..)

Bear in mind 3 things:
The 850 is the second heaviest GS made.
Brian is no lightweight.
He rides his bike extremely hard. All the time.
So, this is the most extreme torture test for these tires.