Reflection on new tires

[junglejim]

Over the years I've put lots of new tires no lots of different bikes. But one thing is pretty consistent.
I always stew about the high price of new tires and finally, reluctantly, spend the $$$ and buy them.
Then I ride on them and marvel at the great improvement they make in ride and handeling.
Then I always conclude it was worth it to get the new tires and forget about the $$$ spent.

I just replaced the OEM front tire and rode on a new PR3 yesterday. It was great.
It rode, handled, and sounded much better. What an improvement.
But it could have been an Avon, Dunlop, Metzler, etc. - - at least initially.

There seem to be a lot of riders on this forum who are, like me, senior and conservative. I'll bet a bunch of NT guys go through the same thought process as I do about getting new tires. The "ace" that cintches the tire replacement for me is the safety concern. I simply want the best tires under me that I can get. I have no excuse for riding on tires that need replacing, but still hate to "waste" an un-used portion of an old tire - till I ride on a new one.

As a lower priced alternative I know a lot of folks who are happy with Shinko tires. (mostly on dual sports)
Has anyone tired them on an NT ?????

 

[Chucksklrst]

No, but a buddy of mine ran them on his FJR and was pleased with them. Not the milage a set of PR3's would give but for the price point, the Shinko is a great tire for the value. I run PR3's on my NT and ST and Shinko 705's on my Wee 650 and Shinko 700 is going on the DR650 later this year.

 

[skiper]

No - but since I was going to post my observation yesterday about tire pressure, maybe it's ok to say on this thread - I got a much better feel when raising pressure on front wheel from 36 to 39/40. On the stock tire. Does anyone think it's dangerous for traction ? It feels so much better to me.

 

[junglejim]

I got a much better feel when raising pressure on front wheel from 36 to 39/40. On the stock tire. Does anyone think it's dangerous for traction ? It feels so much better to me.

I ran mine at about 38. It seemed to lessen the effects of the cupping which was bad.

 

[RedNigel]

I am running at 35.5 and 41.5

 

[skiper]

I had noticeable cupping and feathering at one point. After watching pressures more carefully feathering went away very quickly and cupping is diminishing rapidly as well. I like the feel with front pressure around 39 and I don't lean hard or drag pegs so should be OK. Just wondering if it is a bad idea.

 

[Warren]

I have no experience with Shinko tires but when I needed a new set of tires I looked at them. I found that they are made in S. Korea and are based on the old Yokohama designs. At the time I was not able to identify which of their models were designed for sport touring. The 011 looked like it might be but I did not see a size that matched our rear tire.