Steve
GS Whisperer
Did you get a chance to ride with Brian at the Brown County rally? :-kOh and as usual my Shinko's still look brand new at 1,000 or so miles in
How do your riding styles compare?
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Shinko 230 Torture Test
- Thread starter bwringer
- Start date
How do your riding styles compare?
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I've ridden with Brian only briefly over the years so I don't really know but I would say we can be similarly motivated at times
Figured I'd give this thread a bump.
Just ordered another set of the Shinko Tour Masters. Not sure how my local dealer keeps prices so low, but the front was $55 and rear was $73, total was $138.08 with tax and they'll be here in a few days. I got 8k miles from the last set. Not as good as the previous which is interesting, but still for inexpensive tires that's pretty good bang for the buck.
They don't last very long on a heavier bike or an aggressive rider, but they sure do grip! Shinko has the best rubber compounds at least for being on a budget! It helps if you can change and balance your own tires due to the price paid for best grip equates to more frequent tire changes.
I'm currently running some 18" Continental Road Attack 3 radials (on wider aftermarket rims) which cost about as much as one could spend on tires for our bikes, but they grip excellent, and wear incredibly well and will last a lot longer. I just finished my second extended road trip and have approximately 3,200 mi on the tires with no significant tread wear noted. They grip phenomenally in the tight twisties. Although next time, with my 3.5 inch rim, I would look to see about getting a 140 rear perhaps, I get to the very edge of the rear tread on the 130/80-18 for scraping my stator cover, despite Continental I believe rating this as best fit on a 3.50 rim. 3" I recommendation for that size. 2.75 might work, but pinched in slightly, too much tread arcing for the engine/chassis available lean angle
UPDATE 5/23/22:
The treadwear is phenomenal despite the higher lean angle portions of the sides of the tread looking very "balled-up like a race tire" as my friend calls it. The tread sides look scuffed up like pencil eraser shavings, although the center of the tread is still nice and round with no substantial tread wear despite blazing through a massive amount of twisty roads very aggressively on the two major road trips which I've done on them.
Continental also makes the Conti Classic Attack radials which do come in the stock sizes for our bikes, although I believe I had read that they wear rather quickly, akin to the Shinko & Pirelli tread compounds. If this is the case, Continental probably was trying to compensate for the heavier weight of our vintage bikes to not have any compromise in traction with a skinny tire on a heavier bike.
Also, with my taller shocks and slightly shorter than stock forks, increasing the head angle rake/caster, and reducing the steering trail spec, ALL of the bias ply tires I ran, Shinko, Bridgestone, Avon, all created a minor steering head shake issue between 35-45, or 45-55 mph OY noticeable when taking hands off of the handlebars completely. The speed at which this occurred changed, lowered by 10 mph, when switching from 110/90-18 to 100/90-18 (Avon & Shinko, did not test a larger Bridgestone front).
Switching to 100/90-18 & 130/80-18 Conti RA3 radials COMPLETELY eliminated this issue entirely.
Best buy tires in this configuration in similar sizes and steering geometry alterations, would really necessitate the use of a mild steering damper to remediate this issue.
I'm currently running some 18" Continental Road Attack 3 radials (on wider aftermarket rims) which cost about as much as one could spend on tires for our bikes, but they grip excellent, and wear incredibly well and will last a lot longer. I just finished my second extended road trip and have approximately 3,200 mi on the tires with no significant tread wear noted. They grip phenomenally in the tight twisties. Although next time, with my 3.5 inch rim, I would look to see about getting a 140 rear perhaps, I get to the very edge of the rear tread on the 130/80-18 for scraping my stator cover, despite Continental I believe rating this as best fit on a 3.50 rim. 3" I recommendation for that size. 2.75 might work, but pinched in slightly, too much tread arcing for the engine/chassis available lean angle
UPDATE 5/23/22:
The treadwear is phenomenal despite the higher lean angle portions of the sides of the tread looking very "balled-up like a race tire" as my friend calls it. The tread sides look scuffed up like pencil eraser shavings, although the center of the tread is still nice and round with no substantial tread wear despite blazing through a massive amount of twisty roads very aggressively on the two major road trips which I've done on them.
Continental also makes the Conti Classic Attack radials which do come in the stock sizes for our bikes, although I believe I had read that they wear rather quickly, akin to the Shinko & Pirelli tread compounds. If this is the case, Continental probably was trying to compensate for the heavier weight of our vintage bikes to not have any compromise in traction with a skinny tire on a heavier bike.
Also, with my taller shocks and slightly shorter than stock forks, increasing the head angle rake/caster, and reducing the steering trail spec, ALL of the bias ply tires I ran, Shinko, Bridgestone, Avon, all created a minor steering head shake issue between 35-45, or 45-55 mph OY noticeable when taking hands off of the handlebars completely. The speed at which this occurred changed, lowered by 10 mph, when switching from 110/90-18 to 100/90-18 (Avon & Shinko, did not test a larger Bridgestone front).
Switching to 100/90-18 & 130/80-18 Conti RA3 radials COMPLETELY eliminated this issue entirely.
Best buy tires in this configuration in similar sizes and steering geometry alterations, would really necessitate the use of a mild steering damper to remediate this issue.
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The Shinko 230 and 712 are undoubtedly the best tires for the money that I have ever ran on these bikes, and I really really push them to the limits. They grip far better than Avon Road Riders and Bridgestone Battlax BT45/BT46 tires.
The Pirelli Sport Demon might be the only comparable gripping tire or slightly better, but for their cost I don't know if they are worth it, as they also wear excessively fast, or even more rapidly, yet cost almost double.
One member once said that the Shinko grip 90% as good as the Pirelli Sport Demons, with the Pirelli being basically untouchable by any other 18-inch/19-inch vintage tire.
Also I have found that dirt bike tires made by Shinko are of equal quality if selecting the right tread. And this is pretty common knowledge across the trail riding community. Their front 546 & 216 tires are unbeatable, they actually used to manufacture GoldenTyre Gummies, and a couple of their Shinko brand tires (216 models) are basically the GoldenTyre design which they owned, but with the Shinko logo. The GoldenTyre rubber cost about as much as one could spend on dirt bike tires ($110) and ran by a large amount of professional racers, yet the Shinko version was just a touch higher priced than Chinese tires! Same tire!
I'm running a MotoZ Arena Hybrid Gummy on the back of my Kawasaki KDX220R right now, best dirt tire I've ever owned, but for $105 a piece, I will be trying out the new dual compound semi gummy Shinko 520DC next.
The Pirelli Sport Demon might be the only comparable gripping tire or slightly better, but for their cost I don't know if they are worth it, as they also wear excessively fast, or even more rapidly, yet cost almost double.
One member once said that the Shinko grip 90% as good as the Pirelli Sport Demons, with the Pirelli being basically untouchable by any other 18-inch/19-inch vintage tire.
Also I have found that dirt bike tires made by Shinko are of equal quality if selecting the right tread. And this is pretty common knowledge across the trail riding community. Their front 546 & 216 tires are unbeatable, they actually used to manufacture GoldenTyre Gummies, and a couple of their Shinko brand tires (216 models) are basically the GoldenTyre design which they owned, but with the Shinko logo. The GoldenTyre rubber cost about as much as one could spend on dirt bike tires ($110) and ran by a large amount of professional racers, yet the Shinko version was just a touch higher priced than Chinese tires! Same tire!
I'm running a MotoZ Arena Hybrid Gummy on the back of my Kawasaki KDX220R right now, best dirt tire I've ever owned, but for $105 a piece, I will be trying out the new dual compound semi gummy Shinko 520DC next.
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I could get somewhere around 4500-5000 
I've probably run more Shinko tires on my bikes than any other brand, and I've remained a fan. They're on the Harley, they were on my Bandit and 1150, and I used them on the Max and FZ1.
