Slashed Rear Tire/Replacement Tire Question

[sam000lee]

Here's the story: I parked my bike out out from of my friend's warehouse the other day and we were all hanging out in the front. A couple of my friends were leaning on a car and when the kid whose car it was walked by, he gave us a bunch of attitude about it (When he asked they were happy to stop leaning but apparently he had already said something before I got there). Anyway there had been some animosity between a couple of the units in the space and when we got back from a walk to the refreshment store, the car was gone and my rear tire was flat - it was getting dark and in the limited light I couldn't find a nail/glass hole in the tire so am pretty sure he slashed it, especially since that has happened to a couple of mopeds parked outside in the past. Ugghhh. Had to sleep on a WWII cot that I thought was going to buckle over me in the night.

Here's the actual question:
I'm going to front and back since the front one has also been on there since I got the bike last year but am a little overwhelmed by all the choices
Is the general opinion of these Shinko 712 tire's pretty good:
Rear
Front

Also can somebody explain what the measurement specifications mean, and also maybe comment on your experiences of handling differences.
From what I have seen on a couple of other threads, a 120/90 - 18 or a 110/90-18 will work for the rear and 100/90-18 will work for the front.

[Steve]

Yes, the Shinkos are decent tires, either the 712s or the 230s. I have 230s on all my GSes at the moment.

Size? Neither one of them will work for your bike, if it is, indeed, a 450L.

Your front tire should probably be a 100/90-19 (not 18) and your rear should be a 120/90-16 (not 18)

Before you go ordering tires, please confirm what you actually have on the bike. Previous owners are devious creatures, and have been known to change things around a bit before passing the bike on to the next lucky victim.

.

[sam000lee]

The bike is a 1981 gs450L and the current rear tire is a 130/90 - 16, which I know is too wide and in the past gave me some problems. I'll have to check whats on the front. What do the 16/17/18/19 refer to?

[Baatfam]

I have never understood why anyone thinks it is OK to lean against a car that doesn't belong to them. Never.

[sam000lee]

I have never understood why anyone thinks it is OK to lean against a car that doesn't belong to them. Never.

When there's ten people hanging out on the 20sqft sidewalk area in front of the building, it kind of makes sense that one or two are going to lean on the car parked immediately in front (which most of the time belongs to somebody we know). In any case I wasn't doing any leaning and the punishment wouldn't fit the crime even if I were.

Hmmm - I'm not sure if the rear 712 comes in 120/90-16, at least I'm having trouble finding somewhere that sells it.

[Baatfam]

When there's ten people hanging out on the 20sqft sidewalk area in front of the building, it kind of makes sense that one or two are going to lean on the car parked immediately in front (which most of the time belongs to somebody we know). In any case I wasn't doing any leaning and the punishment wouldn't fit the crime even if I were.

Understood. And I wasn't speaking about your behavior at all.

It just that if you hang around with car guys, (or gals), it is considered very, very rude to lean up against someone's car without permission. Car shows, the drag strip, anywhere I've been where people like cars know this. Once I came out of work and found one of our engineers sitting on the front fender of my '94 Miata. I couldn't believe it. It still gets me angry every time I think about it.

Good luck on your tire quest.

[Larry D]

110/90/18 is what fits on the rear wheel of my 450S. The 110 is the width of the tire, the 90 is the sidewall height and the 18 is the inside diameter. So, a 120/100/19 for example, would be a bit wider/taller and bigger around.

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/15513068/d/motorcycle-tires

[mmattockx]

What do the 16/17/18/19 refer to?

That is the wheel size.


Mark

[sam000lee]

The front is currently a 100/90-19. I'm putting the Shinko 712 on it.
The rear is currently a 130/90-16 although it should be a 120 (like I said the one that's on there now is chewed up from the chain). Apparently Shinko doesn't make the rear 712 or the 230 in 120/90-16 so I'm going with this Kenda K657 Challanger instead which seems to get good reviews.
Thanks all for the help.