Shinko Raven tires

Anyone ever heard or used a tire by the name Shinko? I went to the dealership today to price new tires (D208's, Pilot Roads etc) and the Parts manager was really pushing these Shinko Raven tires. Rear was $130 and the front was $80. He said if I bought the set he would take 25% off of that. Of course my inner suspicion kicked in...why would he push a less expensive tire?

Anyway he said he has several close friends that love these tires. In fact he mentioned that one of his friends rides an FJ 1300 and put nearly 7K miles on them with no issues.

What I know is they are a Korean manufactured tire but I am a little leery for 2 reasons. The price...you get what you pay for, and 2) I have never heard of this tire.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I have several months to decide on a tire choice but I thought maybe I get get the process rolling.

TIA

Tony

cozmanautAnyone ever heard or used a tire by the name Shinko? 

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Hey, Tony.

I dunno 'bout the Raven, but I had a set of Stinko Podiums on my '90 VFR750 when I bought it 6 years or so ago. They were 'OK', wore OK, went round, did all the normal tyre things, but I never really felt confident with them, so I never pushed them at all. I guess they didn't give very good feedback or something.

I got a year of commuting and occasional weekend riding out of them, which is all I get out of any other tyres.

So, in summary, they were OK, but not if you want to trust your tyres and have them behaving in a predictable and sensible way. I'd never buy them myself.

However, bear in mind that this was 6 years ago (they may have improved their tyres since then) and a different model of Stinkos.

I'm far from an expert on tires - other than those i wear around my gut - but I had Shinkos on my 02' when I bought it two years ago and I'll kick in my $.02.

I learned that they were manufactured by Yokahama (i think) and marketed as an economy tire.

Like most everything else we purchase - we are mostly paying for a Brand name it seems. THis is likely a method for Yokahama to get their volume up - thus they have lower operating costs, and they then do not detract from premium brands and premium brands margins.

THe tires I had were good for about another 9000 kms after I got the bike - and the problem i had was that the front cupped.

THey probably gave my bike 12000 kms of service.

I didn't have them as new - so i can't compare them to the BTO20's I replaced them with.

THey weren't BAD - just no-one knew about them.. I think i posted here asking the same question back then. Can't promote or demote them..... :huh:

Kanadian KenI learned that they were manufactured by Yokahama (i think) and marketed as an economy tire.

Yup. Yokohama = Shinko. The only difficulty I see with them is that most places I have seen them for sale they are fairly close in price to the usual 'name-brand' tires. Probably fine unless you are an aggressive rider.

SAFE-TYup. Yokohama = Shinko. The only difficulty I see with them is that most places I have seen them for sale they are fairly close in price to the usual 'name-brand' tires. Probably fine unless you are an aggressive rider.

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That was what raised my suspicion about these tires. The rear is $130 and the front is $80. I am not an aggressive rider but I don't want a tire to be a liability either.

My gut is telling me to stay with proven technology....

Thanks

Honestly, I've ridden with guys on cruisers who can keep up with sportbikes no problem. I figure if they can do it on the type of tires you can get for cruisers, a Shinkohama tire will work just fine thank you.

But when you can get a 'name-brand' tire for the same price, why bother ?

Best street tires I've had to date are the metzeler sportecs, and I've never had them cup like a dunlop! A couple of friends have the newer dunlops and they still cup like all their others. I haven't had to buy tires for a couple of years, so I'm kinda in the dark about all the newer ones now. The last set I ran were pirelli supercorsas, soft rear and supersoft front, and I put about 2500 miles on them with very little wear! Not bad considering the M1s I ran prior to that I only got about 2200 miles out of the front before it was nearly bald on the side. My friend has had similar results with the same tires on his rc51 too. Food for thought anyway.

One word...AVON. :thumbsup:

I have Avons on two bikes and love them...except when it rains...

i have also looked into these tires, and i found that are a known name in drag racing, they have been a good tire for dragging but i never found anything about their street tires , you can find them real cheap online, u can get a set front and rear for like 180 or less, yokohama make some really good street sport tires for aftermarket cars, that just what i found and what i know from cars

I run Shinkos and I ride fairly hard. They hold up well and perform well for th price. I think you can do alot better online than 130 for a rear. The 180.00 for a set is a close guess. Check it out. :goofy:

http://www.ridenowonline.com/product_detai...c3-6b30c93178fb

enzed_vifferthis was 6 years ago and a different model of Stinkos.

:lol: Stinko's :P

SAFE-T:lol: Stinko's  :P

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well funny enough that's the exact name we call them :D

yes they are really yokohama's as stated because stinko bought all there molds. they more or less give them away here because no one really wants to use them & the people I know who have used them said "they grip great for about 1/2 life of tyre then they stink & even worse in wet".

i only have two little rubber things betwwen me & road, so for extra insurance I like to stick to race proven products myself.

That makes sense. I had a set of Conti Blitz tires years ago that were fine in the dry but felt kinda 'squirrely' in the wet, although it may have had more to do with the tread pattern than anything. I'd feel fine putting a set of Stinkos on Murphy - it's not like I ride around like I'm trying to set lap records on the street anyway.

The 009 Ravens and 005 Advance look good. Somehow the Podiums look like a distant cousin of the old Cyrox (sp?) radials the '90 VFR came with, and the Stealth remind me of the Blitz's I didn't like.

Sounds like your dealer is trying to get rid of some stock he's got collecting dust. You can get most proven, name brand tires for about the same price (Pilot Powers ~$225/set for example). Now if it was more like $120 for the set of Shinkos, then maybe consider it more and take it easy on them.

I sell truck loads of the Shinkos to the slamed and Stretched dragrace crowd. These guys swear by the tire. With that said I would have a hard time selling the Shinko to someone who favors the twisties. The little savings is not worth my piece of mind.

SAFE-TI'd feel fine putting a set of Stinkos on Murphy - it's not like I ride around like I'm trying to set lap records on the street anyway.

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That doesn't make sense. You spent tons of time and money putting on high performance suspension parts but you wouldn't mind using inferior tires because you don't push the bike? [image: wtf.png] border='0' alt='user posted image' />

garysol1I sell truck loads of the Shinkos to the slamed and Stretched dragrace crowd. These guys swear by the tire. With that said I would have a hard time selling the Shinko to someone who favors the twisties. The little savings is not worth my piece of mind.

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Lets see, 10-12,000 miles a year, tours along most of the east coast,2 iron butt saddle sores, and a runner up in the Mason Dixon 20/20 24 hr rally. Does this make me part of the slammed stretched drag race crowd? Seriously I see where you guys are coming from with the safety concerns but maybe, just maybe you are buying into the marketing hype of the bigger tire manufactureres. Im not saying that "Stinkos" are as good as say Dunlops or some of the other big names but they do a good job for a less money. When you are forced to do biking on a shoe string budget they work very well. If money were no issue and I was racing I would run the best tire available. But Im just out having fun and even though my first name is Matt my last name is not Mladin. JMHO. Matt not Mladin

tbzepThat doesn't make sense.  You spent tons of time and money putting on high performance suspension parts but you wouldn't mind using inferior tires because you don't push the bike?

I don't think they're all that inferior, actually. And certainly not inferior at any pace I would care to ride my little 'wasn't that interesting - let's not do that again' project.

garysol1I sell truck loads of Shinkos to the dragrace crowd.

Makes you wonder what a dragracer wants in a tire...donut wink.gif

SAFE-TI don't think they're all that inferior, actually. And certainly not inferior at any pace I would care to ride my little 'wasn't that interesting - let's not do that again' project.

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If the roads in your area are as straight as the roads where Kanadian Ken lives, I can see why you would think the Shinkos aren't inferior. He didn't think they were inferior either until he visited TN and got on some of our roads. He changed his mind real fast. wink.gif

tbzepIf the roads in your area are as straight as the roads where Kanadian Ken lives, I can see why you would think the Shinkos aren't inferior.? He didn't think they were inferior either until he visited TN and got on some of our roads.? He changed his mind real fast.?  wink.gif

Yep - I had Shinkos on my bike when i got it. THey were fine for here, and then i took the bike to Tennesee last August for a two day riding festival in the back roads where Bailey and Hurricane play.

Needless to say, the tires were toast by the last day. I'm no MOto GP expert - far from it - but the twisties ate up the tires in a hurry. I had to replace them when I got back.

Once i put the BTO20's on - i could not believe the difference i felt. unreal!!

THe SHinkos (for me) were decent slab and mostly straight road tires. I'd never even consider them for twisties of any sort.

I would only consider them if i needed to put new tires on to sell the bike though.

just my opinion. smile.gif

Yes I do think we all get caught up with all the hype about most things, but bottom line for me is this. A brand name like Dunlop etc put allot of money into racing & research for there race teams. What they learn is also used to improve road tyres & who can say motorbike tyre grip levels havent improved over the years, no one really unless you live in a box.

Stinko's do nothing compaired to these brands so there tech is years old & even with research they would always be playing catch up, reason they bought yok's molds in first place for motorbike tyres.

Bottom line you can put really any tyre on the market on your bike & they'll work or they wouldn't be allowed to sell them (can I hear law suit) it's like anything choice.

Kanadian KenI had Shinkos on my bike when i got it.? THey were fine for here...but the twisties ate up the tires in a hurry.? I had to replace them when I got back.

You said they had 12,000+ km (more than 7,456 miles) on them. That's pretty reasonable for a sport-touring tire.

What was your impression of the Raven's - you noted the Bridgestones felt better but only that the NEW tires felt better than the OLD tires. All new tires feel better than old tires - are you able to provide any input regarding the two sets of tires when they were new ?

Thanks.

Tires and more Tires,Its all a personal perfrence and in the riders ability.

Tripper had it right"MEATBALLS"

And even if we win, if we win, HAH! Even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days; even if God in Heaven above points his hand at our side of the field; even if every man woman and child joined hands together and prayed for us to win, it just wouldn't matter because all the really good looking girls would still go out with the guys from VFRB because they've got all the money! It just doesn't matter if we win or if we lose. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!

Rest of group: IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER...

SAFE-T, on Feb 22 2006, 03:20 AM, said:

cb400, on Apr 21 2006, 08:11 PM, said:

[image: View Post]cozmanaut, on Jan 31 2006, 07:42 PM, said: