The Tire Thread

11,294 miles, and the rear tire is down to about 4/32nds of tread down from 10/32nds 2600 miles and 40 days ago, not bad considering the tire starts at 14/32nds according to Bridgestone. This backs up my previous experience of ~4000 miles of wear on the OE rear tire on my first WRR.

On the strength of the reviews from the WRX guys, plus my hurting wallet, just ordered a set of Shinko 244's. 3.00-21 front, 4.60-18 rear, total cost was less than the price of just the D606 rear. Lets see how long motorcycle superstore takes this time around...

I wish I had kept track of the wear rate on the front as well. After running around on the stockers for a while, they really aren't bad tires at all. I used to hate the front, but proper pressure adjustments make it work more than well enough on hard terrain and rocks that are prevelent here. Not as good as a full on intermediate-hard knobby like I ran all summer but not as hateful as I once thought. It does still absolutely suck in any kind of slop or loosey stuff, but damn if it isn't great at wearing like iron and riding smooth on the highway. The rear has similar characteristics and limits, they really are a good pairing for light off-roading with lots of pavement miles. I do think the bike and rear tire would be happier in a different size, the 120/80/18 looks small visually and feels too small to me after running a bunch of miles on a 120/90/18, 110/100/18, and 4.00-18. I feel like the suspension soaks up bumps better with the big tires, rolls over things easier too, and looks better.

Edit: Tires are here, motorcycle superstore appears to have fixed their former shipping delays. No time to install until next week. 4.60x18 appears to be equivalent to the 120/80/18 stock size, probably should have considered a 5.10x18...

you guys should drop a link to a standardized place for the tires. This thread would have more meaning if people could easily look to see what tire you are talking about instead of guessing and taking a long time searching for said tire.

Here you go.

Linky to tires for the R!

I went thru this whole thread and still have a Q:

I've got the Perelli Scorpion Pros and am looking for something more at home on the road. (Hunting season! )

Are the 606's a good move or will I be swapping one mostly off road tire for another? How do the 606's compare to stock on pavement? I like to travel at 75mph for long stretches.

mileage 12,336, off comes the now very very worn stock bridgestone TW302 (~4000 miles since I put it on, so ~4800 total) and on goes the new Shinko 244 in 4.60x18.





As you can see, these are very close if not slightly shorter than the stock 120/80/18's... in the future I'll go with the 5.10x18 if I end up like them. First ride this afternoon was to work, they feel very similar but need to be balanced. Hope the longevity is good as I'm not looking forward to changing tires again this winter, other than the front which will get done soon enough.

skierd wrote:

mileage 12,336, off comes the now very very worn stock bridgestone TW302 (~4000 miles since I put it on, so ~4800 total) and on goes the new Shinko 244 in 4.60x18.





As you can see, these are very close if not slightly shorter than the stock 120/80/18's... in the future I'll go with the 5.10x18 if I end up like them. First ride this afternoon was to work, they feel very similar but need to be balanced. Hope the longevity is good as I'm not looking forward to changing tires again this winter, other than the front which will get done soon enough.

skierd,

I'm curious to see what you think of the Shinko 244's. Scotty is using them on his X 17" wheels and said he liked them a lot. I think he said he has over 5000 on them and maybe a thou or two left.

He says to air them down quite a ways in the rough stuff due to stiff sidewalls.

Based on rydnseek's first info, I tried 15 front, 18 rear to work well, Scotty says go even lower and no slippage without rimlocks yet (12??).

Scotty said he didn't have to balance his, but I had to balance mine. Took a couple ounces, too. Smooth now, though.

I liked the aired down Shinko's a lot on a ride with boulders and dry dirt. Also like them on pavement; I think they are pretty good for knobbies - other than balance issue at first.

I found them to be a little lacking on snow and ice on Spring Creek Trail (Cuchara, CO) and banged up a knee pretty good, but that's partially my riding skills bein' out of date. Also, I didn't air them down there. Don't know if that would've helped or not.

I measured the height of the brand new 5.10-17 on my X and found it to be exactly the same height as the stock WRR's 18" trail wing. Not that it matters, just an odd coincidence.

Sure like the cheap price! Well, at least the 17" sizes I bought were cheap; like $87 for the pair.

BigFeet

BTW, I paid a bike shop to balance my Shinko's. The guy reported back that they were so close, there was no purpose in balancing them. He happily accepted the money for balancing them, though.

So it should ride nice and smooth, right? Wrong.

The bike had a pretty pronouced shake; BAD at some speeds. I was baffled, so I undertook some web reading. I quickly found frequent horror stories about many (most?) shops blowing off balancing pretty much any knobby.

Based on some other inmates suggestions, I bought the Marc Parnes motorcycle wheel balancer. I had to pull 3 out of 4 wheel seals to prevent friction against the alignment cones of the balancer, but that's no big deal. The seals come out and go back in easily with no damage.

Anyway, I paid $105 for the balancer and it works great. I set the balancer "axle" up between 2 truck jack stands. Those tires that the shop said were at zero grams front and "only" one to two grams out on the rear?

Remove those lies and the truth was: 43 grams of lead on the front, 63 grams of lead on the rear.

It rides very smooth all the way up to 80 mph actual now. Higher, I dunno. Haven't had it over 80 much.


And as long as I'm doing a shameless plug for the Parnes balancer (because it works so well), I'll also say this: Excellent & FAST communications and shipment, nice looking product. Stores in a nice small box (I just used the shipping box as it's permanent home).

Now I can balance my tires ANY TIME I want to and it'll take way less time than even the drive time to the shop. And I'll tolerate no more BS from shops who don't give a flying bleep.

One minor caveat: The balancer axle is NOT stainless, so I wipe it down with WD40 after use to keep my fingerprints from rusting it. Not that it would affect it's function much with some rusty fingerprints... just want to keep a nice product like this looking nice.

It's been given an honored position in my rollaway as a surprisingly effective device.


BigFeet

so is there any difference between the tred pattern the "C" class tires and the "Sport Extreme" class and is there any con's on having a wide tire on the rear? or is slimmer better? what is the widest tire that can be applied on the R2? thanks in advance .

Its a new year and time for a new front tire! Wiping the snow off the bike today I noticed the knobs were getting badly cupped and really short. The weather kept me out of work, so instead I'm doing chores.

Mileage is 14,102. Front went on somewhere around 8500 miles and had around 700 on it to start with, so call it 8000 miles of wear.


Side by side after the swap


New sweetness, plus a new rim strip and new tube as the one that was in there was fairly corroded at the valve stem.


Impressions tomorrow on my ride to work, too much snow blowing around today. Really wish I was able to do an oil change, but with all the powder flying around I'm afraid of getting as much snow as oil in the bike.

The rear shinko is working like a champ still. Near enough to 2000 miles and wearing like iron. So far I really really like it, smooth and quiet on the highway but plenty of traction the few times I've been able to go play with it. Looking like it actually will make it all the way through to summer like I hoped.

Hey everyone.
I am looking for new tires. Live in wet PNW. I hope to do 80 percent off road. Leaning towards the ac10. However has anyone any experience with Bridgestone E663 & E668.

skierd wrote:

2000 miles on the Kenda Trakmaster II K760 rear, worn to 9/32nds. I hate this tire for the places and way I ride, plain and simple. It sucks on rocks and roots, imo as bad as the stock deathwing. It sucks on hardpack. It sucks in gravel. Its pretty ok on the pavement. Fantastically amazing in loamy soil, sand, and mud, just drives drives and drives, but once the soil becomes drier or more rocks than dirt it can't find grip and has me bucking all over the place.

skierd, this sounds like the perfect tire for Florida. We spend most of our time in sugar sand and mud. What do you think?

On a related note, can anyone recommend a good sand oriented front tire?

Never ridden in Florida or much sand, though that will likely be changing soon, so I can't really say. The D606 front has never steered me wrong ( ) but I can't get the life I want out of it. The IRC VE-39 I ran last summer was pretty decent everywhere, but never really got much sand with it. Worked decent in mud when new though, awful when old, intermediate tire though. Maybe a Dunlop MX31?

Update: I decided to go with Kenda 760 Trackmaster II 110/100-18 on the rear and a Kenda 777f 90/90-21 up front. I'll update with results and pics.

2nd Update: Tires arrived

These things are wonderful in the sugar sand. If you ride in areas like we do in Florida most ride a Trackmaster II rear if they're riding DOT tires. I can't recommend them enough if you ride similar terrain.

Mileage is 15,524.

Swapped out the rear tire tonight in preparation for my big trip. Here's the Shinko 4.60x18 rear after a total of 3188 miles.


I'd guestimate another 1000 miles before I'd want to toss it. It still worked good in some sticky and soupy mud I found last weekend, and was still a pleasure on street and hard dirt. I only swapped now because I also had a new chain and sprockets to swap on and the 14T front sprocket was getting fairly hooked and in need of replacment after ~7000 miles on this bike about 3000+ miles on the first bike. I didn't want to run the 14T with the d606 and swapped back to a 13T front. I also lowered the bike again using the factory adjustment, before I was running stock ride height.

I have a new front D606 waiting here, but I think i'll stay with the shinko and carry the d606 along for the time being. The shinko barely looks worn up front, still has the dimples on the center knobs, but it is only ~1500 miles old.

Skierd, Im thinking to get some Shinko 244's and wondering about sizes and how the sizes compare to the Dunlop 606 tires I currently have on my bike.

Did you ever get the 5.10x18 Skinko 244 rear? Im curious if that size is closer to the Dunlop 606 120/90x18?

Also, is the Shinko 244 front 3.00x21 close to the Dunlop 606 90/90x21?

The front tires are similarly sized. I'd get a pic but its raining pretty good right now.

I did not order a 5.10x18 Shinko, but I'd guestimate it to be close in size to the 120/90-18 D606 (and others of that size) since the 4.60x18 is stock sized. You'd probably get more miles out of the larger shinko size too, since there's more tire to be worn compared to the smaller size.

thanks .. i think i will get the 5.10x18 .. i will let you know how it compares

Mileage is 22,488

My rear D606 is toast. Worn to the point that the carcass is showing wear, not just the knobs. Just a hair under 7000 miles.



This will likely conclude my experimentation with rear tires. The D606 lasts longer and has better traction than just about everything else I've tried over all types of terrain and conditions. It even still has decent traction on gravel and hardpack worn down to the bitter end as you see it here. Additionally, I find it to be a very predictable tire in its handling characteristics on and off road, particularly at and beyond the limit of traction. I'm sticking with the D606 or 244 rear from now on.

The front shinko 244 is still kickin, but barely. ~8300 miles on it.



I never got particularly comfortable with the 244 front. Its sweet spot is definitely hardpack gravel or dirt, where it shines. Sketchy at best on sand or mud. Numb and a bit slow reacting on pavement when pushed. Quiet when slabbing it and only started following cracks and uneven pavement in the last 750 miles or so.

I've got a fresh set of D606's waiting to go on, both probably tomorrow if I feel like it.

22.488, new D606's front and rear. Lets see how long these go, particularly the front. Also took time to repack the wheel bearings again. Reused the same rear tube (MSR HD), but replaced the front with a beefy bridgestone HD over the thin bikemaster.



Also, I noticed something scary when I took the Shinko front off...




Only on the left side, all the way around the tire. I have a feeling I was going to lose that part of the tire carcass soon. I figured the handling had gone a little wonky because of wear, turns out the tire was starting to chunk apart. M

Good thing you did what you did...losing that front would have been devastating.

skierd wrote:

22.488, new D606's front and rear. Lets see how long these go, particularly the front. Also took time to repack the wheel bearings again. Reused the same rear tube (MSR HD), but replaced the front with a beefy bridgestone HD over the thin bikemaster.

Also, I noticed something scary when I took the Shinko front off...



Only on the left side, all the way around the tire. I have a feeling I was going to lose that part of the tire carcass soon. I figured the handling had gone a little wonky because of wear, turns out the tire was starting to chunk apart. M

Glad you decided to change tires!!!

Curious-what pressure in your front Shinko?

What size rear 606?

TIA

SheWolf wrote:

Good thing you did what you did...losing that front would have been devastating.

SW, was curious about your front Mita-how do/did you like it?

What kind of mileage?

Better than 606 front?

TIA

Usually 18-22psi in the Shinko front.

120-90-18 rear D606.

I still have the Mitas on the front, it's about 1/2 gone. I like it better than the 606 front tire by far; it's very stable in really loose stuff where I found the 606 tended to wander a bit (it was still controllable, but this tire inspires more confidence). It wears better I've found which was surprising considering how fast it started to wear to begin with. It seemed to hit a certain spot and then it didn't really wear much. It doesn't scallop like the 606 did either. I've probably got about 6000 m on it; the rear one is over 3/4 shot. Gonna run it until I hit the wear bars then switch it out. Can't really get to the good riding spots just yet; higher up there's still a whack of snow so I'll burn it off on the pavement.

skierd wrote:

22.488, new D606's front and rear. Lets see how long these go, particularly the front. Also took time to repack the wheel bearings again. Reused the same rear tube (MSR HD), but replaced the front with a beefy bridgestone HD over the thin bikemaster.

Also, I noticed something scary when I took the Shinko front off...

Only on the left side, all the way around the tire. I have a feeling I was going to lose that part of the tire carcass soon. I figured the handling had gone a little wonky because of wear, turns out the tire was starting to chunk apart. M

i have a pair of shinko's waiting to go on the bike, now im a bit nervous .. i did notice the tires are heaps lighter than the 606's, and after seeing that picture, it seems much safer to stick with the 606's and keep looking for a different tire to try out. the shinko you have might be a one in a million, but i dont want to be the second in a million and find myself on the pavement testing out the armor