Shinko 230, anyone ever run them?

[barelycompetent]

Hey all, been awhile since I have been around, that happens when you sell your 750 and move on, but I have a question for you all.  I am currently running a set of Kenda 671's front and back on a cm400, and for the 50 or so miles I have on them I have no complaints.  I am looking at a set of shinko 230's front and back to run on a gasp yamaha xs650 that I have been cafe'ing over the winter and I was wondering if anyone has run these before?  If so what are the pro's and con's to them?  Any issues with cornering or traction in the rain?  Like I said I have a set of kendas that I like but wanted to give these a try.  Thanks for any advice or replies.

[shinyribs]

Those are the Tour Master tires. I've never had a set,but I love the look. When I put tires on my '80 I wanted to go with that tire,but it wasn't available in the my sizes. One guy I ride with had them on his BMW. He does not ride slow and has no problem hitting the corners. He claims they are awesome in the rain as well.

I don't have any personal experience, but I wish I did. I really love the look of that tire. My buddy who runs the local shop sells a lot of those tires to repeat buyers, so I'm guessing they were happy enough to keep with them.


It seems like Shinko is really putting out a good product. Not just one or two models of tire,but all of them. I hope their building reputation will help influence other tires manufacturers to reevaluate some of their prices.

[barelycompetent]

The price is definitely right at 120 shipped for a front and back.  So far I havent heard anything bad about them, and all of the reviews are pretty much inline with that you said shiny.  Im not sure I need touring tires on my cafe though so I may look at a different model shinko.

[Re-run]

I run the shinko 712s on my cb and the 230 on my magna. Both have worked very well for me.

[shinyribs]

barelycompetent wrote

  Im not sure I need touring tires on my cafe though so I may look at a different model shinko.

The 712's rerun mentioned are great tires,too. I always thought mine gripped great and they did perfectly fine in the rain. They will follow a tar snake some,but not too awfully bad. it's kind of a catch-22: the large center groove works great to shed water for wet riding,but allows the tire to groove-follow some.

The 230 tire is a harder compound compared to a 712 for mileage reasons. Personally, I was getting about 3500 miles out of a rear 712. My front had 10k miles on it and was on it's way out. 11-12k miles would have been the life of my front. Others have gotten far better mileage out of 712 rears than I did. It all depends on riding style and surface conditions of your area. A lot of my roads are rough around here and my riding buddies all tell me my back tire spun often,so...

BTW, you got a build thread going on anywhere? I'd love to take a look at what you're building nowadays.

[barelycompetent]

Thanks shiny, appreciate the info.  No build thread going on here but I will put up a couple pics of my finished xs650 lol.  I think she turned out pretty darn sweet, and for only being my second cafe build I was given the honor of having it photographed for a 2015 charity calendar, so I am pretty stoked about that!  Well here she is, and this is the bike the shinko's will be going on!