Question on tire pressure, Shink 705s

I went to leave the other day and tire was pancake flat with a huge nail head visible. Rear was getting a little worn so not worth fixing, tread just about gone at close to 3k miles. Ordered a set of shinko 705s since the set costs less than just the rear replacement for stock and I hear they last a long longer (I do about 700-1k miles a month). Not to mention I do offroad a bit. Best friend lives down a gravel road that was terrifying with the stocks. Had to just hold the bars as tight as you can and crawl along in 1st. Dumped it once, almost dumped it several times and had to put my foot down to save due to the loose gravel and ruts from the gas pipeline trucks.
What I would like to know is what tire pressure should I run? I hear they have de-lamination problems if run at the wrong psi? Do I run them at their rated? the bikes rated? whatever handles best? I'm a lil new to street bikes, first time ive ever had to change tires on one. Dirt bikes I just run as low as I can go without risking a flat on whatever terrain I'm riding.

The definitive answer is: it depends. Carry a small bicycle tire pump you can air down for the dirt and then pump 'em back up for pavement. Just takes a few minutes. If you can't be bothered with that on every trip (I can't), you have to pick a compromise pressure that works for your situation. I'm running in the 16-20 PSI range. It's OK on dirt/gravel roads, and not too squirmy on the highway. If I'm riding more than 20 miles on the highway I'll air up. For playing in the dirt I'll air down.

i've found 24f/27r to handle best on the street. our trails are so sandy that no tire pressure has provided a noticeable difference for me offroad.

note i have ohlins guts up front and a re-valved rear.

grw800 wrote:

Carry a small bicycle tire pump you can air down for the dirt and then pump 'em back up for pavement. Just takes a few minutes. If you can't be bothered with that on every trip (I can't), you have to pick a compromise pressure that works for your situation. I'm running in the 16-20 PSI range. It's OK on dirt/gravel roads, and not too squirmy on the highway. If I'm riding more than 20 miles on the highway I'll air up. For playing in the dirt I'll air down.

Or do what I do and carry a Slime compressor that I attach to my Battery Tender lead and let it do the work.

-SM

I got em on there but I dont really care for the feel. At low speed you lean a little, nothing, lean a lil more suddenly goes far and feels like you are going to faceplant. Haven't tried them at speed yet.

oh lord I HATE them. Head shake over 60mph and I feel like I've lost half my power. When I had the stock sprocket I could get into 6th at 40mph, and accelerate. I went up to a 14 and that changed to about 43-45. Put on these tires and I just flat can't use 6th. no matted what speed I'm going ill start losing speed if I shift to 6th. Gas light just came on at 70 miles too!!! Did these tires gear it up a ton? is it their weight? balance? The bike isn't even fun now. Complety gutless

oic0 wrote:

oh lord I HATE them. Head shake over 60mph and I feel like I've lost half my power. When I had the stock sprocket I could get into 6th at 40mph, and accelerate. I went up to a 14 and that changed to about 43-45. Put on these tires and I just flat can't use 6th. no matted what speed I'm going ill start losing speed if I shift to 6th. Gas light just came on at 70 miles too!!! Did these tires gear it up a ton? is it their weight? balance? The bike isn't even fun now. Complety gutless

What psi are you running?


As I mentioned over at SMJ - a 14 tooth front with a stock rear is going to make your bike a complete dogshitter.
Hell - stock gearing sucks bad enough.

Using the search feature I found this thread: click me


One guy mentioned he was running 30psi front and rear.
Others have mentioned bad head-shakes.


There's probably a good reason why they are so "cheap" relative to some other brands. Sometimes you get what you pay for.


It's not quite fair to rate a purely street oriented tire like the stock Bridgestone's to a 75%/25% on/off road tire like the Shinko's - but there are others things at play here too.

One guy said he could scrape pegs on his X using the Shinko's.

>"Did these tires gear it up a ton?"

Yes, they are bigger diameter... almost like going up a size in wheels.

My Distanzias are bigger and heavier than the stock Bridgestones.

With 13/48 gearing I can pull hard to 80mph and then creep up on 85mph given enough road.

There's a little squirreliness in the front at 75mph but nothing that makes me back off the throttle.


Again - if you're trying to compare the 100% street (almost sport-street) oriented Bridgestones to a 75/25 off/on hybrid tire, you're not comparing apples to apples.

I'm still very much interested in hearing what PSI the op is running in his tires.

motokid wrote:

Using the search feature I found this thread: click me

One guy said he could scrape pegs on his X using the Shinko's.

That was me and judging by the wear on my boots it's not the peg but my toe that's hitting the ground. These tires take some getting used to. The turn in is much slower and less precise than the stock tires. If you turn in faster than the tire wants to it will wash out on you which can be a little uncomfortable. The rear also tends to slide pretty easily if your weight is too far forward. I'll also say that they didn't corner nearly so good before FBI did my suspension. I don't intentionally ride them hard enough to drag pegs, I don't like pushing that hard on the street. Every once in a while I'll either mis-judge a corner, or my entry speed, or need to gas it to avoid someone that ran the light/stop sign once I was past the point where I could stop. In those cases I'll touch down when the suspension compresses.

Given the polarity of the reviews I think there is a huge variance in manufacturing and some of us just got the good end of tolerance. You have to expect that with cheap tires.

Ive got some more miles on em now. Arkmage's experience with the handling is spot on. They still grip pretty well, but they ruin the feel. With the stock tires the bike is a precision instrument. I feel my self compensating by just riding more conservatively. With the stockers I would whip around 90 degree turns like I was on a BMX bike. Now I take a wider angle and slower speed because their behavior just isn't as confidence inspiring.

Realistically though, I cant afford to keep $140 - $200 rubber on both ends that only lasts 3k miles so with every tire change I will be hunting for a new tire that wears like iron but still grips well and feels good.

oic0 wrote:

Ive got some more miles on em now. Arkmage's experience with the handling is spot on. They still grip pretty well, but they ruin the feel. With the stock tires the bike is a precision instrument. I feel my self compensating by just riding more conservatively. With the stockers I would whip around 90 degree turns like I was on a BMX bike. Now I take a wider angle and slower speed because their behavior just isn't as confidence inspiring.

Realistically though, I cant afford to keep $140 - $200 rubber on both ends that only lasts 3k miles so with every tire change I will be hunting for a new tire that wears like iron but still grips well and feels good.

Sounds like we're in the same boat. We should compare notes as we go forward and save us both 1/2 of the mistakes. I've got another month or two before these shinkos will be toast (have 7K miles on them now) and I think I'm going to try the pilot road 3s. The sport bike crowd seems to love them and claim over 10K miles of life.

oic0 wrote:

Ive got some more miles on em now. Arkmage's experience with the handling is spot on. They still grip pretty well, but they ruin the feel. With the stock tires the bike is a precision instrument. I feel my self compensating by just riding more conservatively. With the stockers I would whip around 90 degree turns like I was on a BMX bike. Now I take a wider angle and slower speed because their behavior just isn't as confidence inspiring.

Realistically though, I cant afford to keep $140 - $200 rubber on both ends that only lasts 3k miles so with every tire change I will be hunting for a new tire that wears like iron but still grips well and feels good.

Have you posted the psi you are running in the Shinko's?

motokid wrote:

Have you posted the psi you are running in the Shinko's?

I started at 30 and have been backing it down. I'm in the mid 20s now. Probably gaining grip, but they still feel like funky so I'm not exactly pushing them hard.

Arkmage wrote:

Sounds like we're in the same boat. We should compare notes as we go forward and save us both 1/2 of the mistakes. I've got another month or two before these shinkos will be toast (have 7K miles on them now) and I think I'm going to try the pilot road 3s. The sport bike crowd seems to love them and claim over 10K miles of life.

I average 600 - 800 miles per month, so will be a lil bit before I buy some more. Lemme know how you like the pilots though. If you like em I'll get them as my next set, if not ill see what else I can find to continue the experiment and share the info.

oic0 wrote:

I started at 30 and have been backing it down. I'm in the mid 20s now. Probably gaining grip, but they still feel like funky so I'm not exactly pushing them hard.

For street use, find the pressure that gives you a 10% pressure increase from cold to hot. (Ie., 20psi cold, measures at 22psi when the tire is good & warmed up.) Lower pressure (higher % increase) will wear the tire prematurely, as you're overheating it. Higher pressure will not give as good of grip & handling.