Shinko 230 Torture Test

[Steve]

That would be the one. :encouragement:

.

 

[Chuck78]

Yes, that is the biggest you can put on most GS rims, as they are mostly 18 x 2.15 Rears. It should be stamped into the steel on your rim, look and see. Or cast onto the mag actually, yours sounds like a mag wheel bike. If it has a 2.50 rear rim, which usually would be a 17 in diameter, you can fit the 120 on their acceptably, and you can squeeze a 130 on there, but a 130/90 would be the preferred size, not the lower profile 80 series. Some of the later gs1150 rims came in 3.00 and 3.50 inch widths are these are a popular swap for the rear to run a wider 17 inch tire.

 

[Boriqua]

I just went and checked and the rim reads 18x2.15. I ordered the 120/90 18 and since I have never changed a tire on a motorcycle before .. it should be interesting!!

Was a bike bicycle guy so I have changed many a tire and tube so .. Time to read up.

 

[Chuck78]

I got some Motion Pro tire levers, and then I got some really long tire spoons with spun aluminum handles, from Summit Racing, they work amazingly easier.. You have to really just get the opposite side of the tire compressed into the center of the rim, some carpenter's squeeze clamps really help. Then you can try the tire on much easier on the opposite side. The key is keeping the beads on both sides of the tire (when you already have the first side on and are doing the second side) in the dropped center of the rim.
Breaking the bead can be a bit difficult. when I only had tire irons, I sometimes resorted to driving over them with my truck carefully just missing the rim. Or I used my hydraulic shop press and some scrap lumber.

I now have the harbor freight car tire changer stand, plus the motorcycle tire changer attachment, plus "mojoblocks" & a "mojolever" to make a harbor freight stuff actually usable on an aluminum car/truck wheel or motorcycle rim. The mojo blocks transformed the Harbor Freight motorcycle tire changer attachment from something that is almost completely unusable into something that works pretty darn well for the price.

 

[bwringer]

I dunno, Brian must be getting a discount from Avon for shilling them here…:-k
Plus, he don't mention a couple broken legs from crashing. How did those cost?

Heh. I actually haven't run Avons on my GS850 since the original post. I tend to put the big miles on my other bikes nowadays, so a set of Shinkos gets me through a season easily. I've been on the Shinko bandwagon for my GS for quite a while now.


FWIW, my V-Strom and KLR650 are both wearing Metzelers (Tourance Next and Karoo 3, respectively) at the moment.


I spooned a fresh set of Shinko 230s onto my GS850 late last fall, so it's ready to rumble if it ever cracks freezing around here. I continue to not be able to tell any difference between the 712 and 230 when in motion, and I've always gotten pretty much the same mileage (around 3,000 brutal but action-packed miles) from a set of either. The price difference last time was maybe $5.

As ever, YMWV; normal-ish people report much better mileage from their Shinkos.


So far, no word about sponsorship from Korea or Germany... will work for tires, folks.


And for the record, my crashes and assorted broken bones didn't have anything to do with the tires my bikes were wearing at the time, or my velocity. The tally is 1 chicken grease spill on a VX800, 1 left-turning triple fakeout phone poker on a KLR650, and 1 7 point buck on a different KLR650. And my GS850 has never been down.

...What size did you use on your rear and if anyone knows .. can I get that tire on my rim?

As others have mentioned, get something closer to the original tire size, whatever that is. You can look this up on the parts fiches for your bike's rear wheel.

I use 100/90-19 up front (most GS models use this size) and 130/90-17 out back (rear GS tire sizes vary a lot) on my GS850G.

The original size was 4.50H17, but this size is no longer available. It cross-references most directly to a 120/90-17; these are available but only in one or two tires and they're very hard to find.

So just about everyone with a shaftie goes up to the next size, which is 130/90-17 (or a 16" rim on the L and a few other models) and common in several different brands.

 

[bwringer]

I just went and checked and the rim reads 18x2.15. I ordered the 120/90 18 and since I have never changed a tire on a motorcycle before .. it should be interesting!!

Was a bike bicycle guy so I have changed many a tire and tube so .. Time to read up.

I was also an avid mountain bike enthusiast and honestly I found motorcycle tires were much the same, only bigger and far more reluctant. In general the principles and skills are similar, just on an entirely different scale.

Not sure whether your bike requires tubes. I've never pinched a tube in a motorcycle tire; I think I got all the tube pinching out of the way with inexpensive bicycle tires. You also need a valve fishing tool or you'll make yourself crazy.

 

[Boriqua]

I got some Motion Pro tire levers, and then I got some really long tire spoons with spun aluminum handles, from Summit Racing, they work amazingly easier.. You have to really just get the opposite side of the tire compressed into the center of the room, some carpenter's The squeeze clamps really help.

I am looking at the motion pro and some videos right now. I made the awful mistake of buying a really cheap tool when I did my chain and sprockets and the job was not only made much more irritating but it took some 4 hours longer as I improvised. Wont do it again so if I have to spend a few bucks more I want decent tools. I wont be dong this hundreds of times but when I do it ... I want the right tool!

Are you saying you didnt like the Motion pro or that you used it in conjunction with spoons?

Here is what I was looking at and mostly because of the leverage of those long tools

https://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-0...x=tire+spoons,aps,236&sr=8-10#customerReviews

 

[Nessism]

The hard part with changing motorcycle tires is breaking the bead loose from the rim. With the tube type tires that shouldn't be a horrible experience though compared to tubeless. Lubing the bead makes a huge difference when the time comes to lever the tire onto/off the rim, and I'll give out a kudos to Brian here in that he recommended purchasing some REAL tire lube in a thread some time back, which I did, and am thankful for. It was cheap and I've still got enough left to do about a bazillion more tires.

 

[Gorminrider]

Here is what I was looking at and mostly because of the leverage of those long tools

https://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-08...ustomerReviews

I've wondered about those too, so please get some and report back!

just a few notes I found handy-

- You want protection on your rims while you lever away so get some margarine plastic tubs or old motor oil bottles (recycle symbol is 5 or 6?) and cut them up into chunks about 3x5" or so try that to start..... Motion pro sells rim protectors but they are too thick and useless...
The space you want to get the iron into is awful small. That speaks to the tips of the irons too...but not so sharp they will cut into rubber...I got some real strong prybars (about 10") from Princess auto and ground the tips down.
- not the best but in a pinch you can break the beads with C clamps and wood blocks carefully placed. Or put a scissor jack under the car and on the tire with suitable wood blocks toprotect from damage and direct force to rubber only! or at least very well spread across the rim. The lever-thing against a wall will be mentioned but my shop wall lifts before the bead will break so I can't use it
-lubricant has been mentioned.

-you need some kind of compressor with a tank..there are possible tricks todo without--ie: fill a cartire and use it as a "tank" but you wont want to put more than 45psi in it.
- WARM the tires. Makes a big difference this time of year
-definitely try the "pull-tie" method ..ask if you don't recall seeing it - get the longish ones at the dollar store. I didn't believe it would be useful but I'm happy to eat crow and say yes, it saves half of the levering on with all the other tips (warm,lubricant,etc)

If it's REALLY REALLY hard ,STOP and rethink or goto a shop. It is possible to bend a rim in your shop with hand tools. Remember that.

 

[Boriqua]

I've wondered about those too, so please get some and report back!

just a few notes I found handy-

- You want protection on your rims while you lever away so get some margarine plastic tubs or old motor oil bottles (recycle symbol is 5 or 6?) and cut them up into chunks about 3x5" or so try that to start..... Motion pro sells rim protectors but they are too thick and useless...
The space you want to get the iron into is awful small. That speaks to the tips of the irons too...but not so sharp they will cut into rubber...I got some real strong prybars (about 10") from Princess auto and ground the tips down.
- not the best but in a pinch you can break the beads with C clamps and wood blocks carefully placed. Or put a scissor jack under the car and on the tire with suitable wood blocks toprotect from damage and direct force to rubber only! or at least very well spread across the rim. The lever-thing against a wall will be mentioned but my shop wall lifts before the bead will break so I can't use it
-lubricant has been mentioned.

-you need some kind of compressor with a tank..there are possible tricks todo without--ie: fill a cartire and use it as a "tank" but you wont want to put more than 45psi in it.
- WARM the tires. Makes a big difference this time of year
-definitely try the "pull-tie" method ..ask if you don't recall seeing it - get the longish ones at the dollar store. I didn't believe it would be useful but I'm happy to eat crow and say yes, it saves half of the levering on with all the other tips (warm,lubricant,etc)

If it's REALLY REALLY hard ,STOP and rethink or goto a shop. It is possible to bend a rim in your shop with hand tools. Remember that.

Thank you for all the info. I have watched a few vids and it is very similar to changing Bicycle tires so a little sweat equity and I think it should go ok. I went ahead and ordered the motion pro set and I ordered 4 rim protectors. Should they break I am going over to recycled plastic but I wanted to do it the first time with approved tools and see how it goes and what I might need or not on the next go.

I looked up the zip tie removal and may pick up a package.

I will be sure to post back what I thought of the Motion pro tools and any problems I ran into.

With the tools, tire and tube my total came out to $170. When the shop did my front tire they charged me $165. I figure the rear would have cost a bit more since the tire is more expensive and its a fair bit more work to remove the rear wheel. Now I have the tools so all future changes will just be the cost of tire and tube. That and not having to find a way to the shop, find a ride home and then find a way back to the shop to pick it up along with the pleasure of doing it myself will be worth it.

 

[Chuck78]

You will also went to pick up some stick-on motorcycle rim balancing weights. If you have the bike on the center stand without the chain hooked up, you can just balance them on the bike and that should be plenty good for a fair bit above highway speeds. A real perk to having a shop do it, aside from saving you the manual labor which I don't mind at all honestly vs the shop $$$, is that they will have a computerized balance machine that will get it better then what you can at home. I have yet to receive any complaints for the dozen tires that I have mounted for my bike and all of my friends' bikes as far as balancing issues.

 

[Chuck78]

And I'm very curious to see how that tire lever / bead breaker setup will work out. That might be a handy thing to have on the road for sure, but I think you're still going to have trouble breaking the bead. Please report how they work.

Also some GS models will have inner tubes in them, but will come with tubeless-ready rims with the safety bead, so they will still be very difficult to break loose. Some bikes come with one tube only mag, and one that can be run tubeless and has the safety bead safety bead rim, as well have an MT in the rim size markings.

 

[Guest]

I am looking at the motion pro and some videos right now. I made the awful mistake of buying a really cheap tool when I did my chain and sprockets and the job was not only made much more irritating but it took some 4 hours longer as I improvised. Wont do it again so if I have to spend a few bucks more I want decent tools. I wont be dong this hundreds of times but when I do it ... I want the right tool!

Are you saying you didnt like the Motion pro or that you used it in conjunction with spoons?

Here is what I was looking at and mostly because of the leverage of those long tools

https://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-0...x=tire+spoons,aps,236&sr=8-10#customerReviews

I used that Motion pro set once, and then returned them. Maybe I was using them wrong, but it was not as easy to the videos and instructions make it appear. I had to go basically around the entire rim before the bead would break. Not worth the $50 IMO, when a C-clamp is just as frustrating, but also has more uses than just breaking a bead on motorcycle tires.

 

[Guest]

I just replaced a set of Shinkos (front was a Barracuda...it was 18 years old! Rear was 8 years old; perhaps a 712 model). Replaced with a set of Bridgestone S11 Spitfire?s. I wanted the raised white letter look and it was hard to find. Went with these. Like the way they look on the bike. Liven it up a little bit and are a bit nostalgic, I suppose.

 

[Chuck78]

I just replaced a set of Shinkos (front was a Barracuda...it was 18 years old! Rear was 8 years old; perhaps a 712 model). Replaced with a set of Bridgestone S11 Spitfire’s. I wanted the raised white letter look and it was hard to find. Went with these. Like the way they look on the bike. Liven it up a little bit and are a bit nostalgic, I suppose.

Cruiser tires... Good for cruisin' & the look. Not high performance though. The 712 & 230 are awesome budget high performance street tires... Like the Bridgestone BT45 Battlax.

 

[bwringer]

Man, I remember those Barracudas... absolutely dreadful tires. Deadly. And fortunately long gone. Cheng Shin used to make some tires in these sizes that had a similar niche; they worked great for not much money.

There are some Kendas still sold... Challengers, I think, that are similarly pants-crappingly frightening.


And yeah, the Shinko 712 and 230 perform far better than those old design Spitfires. But they don't have the groovy raised white letters.

For me, the biggest indicator of good modern engineering are tires that don't turn evil as they wear. Both the Shinkos we've been discussing fill the bill -- they stick and handle great down past the wear indicators.

Those Bridgestone Spitfires are an ancient design that get positively nasty as they wear. Bridgestone's own BT45 Battlax is a far better, thoroughly modern tire.

Same for a few other old tire models that you might run across, such as the Dunlop 404 and Metzeler Lasertec. Ancient history, they don't last long, and they are downright evil when they get a little wear.

The street tires we can get now exceed anything the racebikes had back in the '80s; there's no reason not to take advantage of modern technology.

 

[Chuck78]

^^^^ YES to everything above in Brian's post...

 

[Gorminrider]

Boriqua, This also really helps me so keep it in mind if handling the job turns out to be awkward in the event... it really saves trying to hold the rim with your arms or knees while you shift irons and (slippery) rim protectors.

A car tire rim: to put the motorcycle rim on so you're not sitting on the brake disk while you wonk hard...split garden hose around the steel rim's edge or Gee! , maybe just use a rim with tire still on but I haven't tried this myself...anyways, you can bolt up through both rims from your solid bench with a long threaded rod or the like and a block of wood as a clamp with the nut and washer to hold it all down- that is, long enough to come up through the motorcycle rim from the bench. Handtight is all this homemade tire clamp needs .

 

[Boriqua]

Boriqua, This also really helps me so keep it in mind if handling the job turns out to be awkward in the event... it really saves trying to hold the rim with your arms or knees while you shift irons and (slippery) rim protectors.

A car tire rim: to put the motorcycle rim on so you're not sitting on the brake disk while you wonk hard...split garden hose around the steel rim's edge or Gee! , maybe just use a rim with tire still on but I haven't tried this myself...anyways, you can bolt up through both rims from your solid bench with a long threaded rod or the like and a block of wood as a clamp with the nut and washer to hold it all down- that is, long enough to come up through the motorcycle rim from the bench. Handtight is all this homemade tire clamp needs .

Oh man the hose is a perfect idea and not only sounds better than the slippery plastic things I ordered but I have a hose ready for sacrifice.

When I was seriously into bicycling .. I used to give a light coat of powder, whatever the wife had around, to the inside of the tire and to the outside of the tube so it wouldn't bind when inflating. My spare tube was actually coated with powder and then put in one of those air seal bags in my kit.

Any reason not to do this when installing the tube in the MC tire?

 

[Chuck78]

I have used talc powder in mounting them before, but now I just use Murphy's Oil Soap. In a spray bottle. It works amazing. Murphy's also makes a separate tire lube product as well.

Instead of a car tire rim, I used to use a 5 gallon bucket with a section of rubber automotive heater hose split lengthwise and wrapped around the rim. If not bolting it down, it works all the same, the bucket is a little bit taller so will be a little more wobbly.
The car wheel would work better if you are trying to bolt it down, for sure.