New tires! shinko ravens

[sky1865]

So I found a slow leak in my rear tire this weekend.. from what I can tell they are starting to crack from age. I've settled on a set of Shinko Ravens for about $165 installed. My riding is mostly commuting with some weekend twisty riding and I think they were the best choice for my price range. Anyone agree or thibk I'm just too cheap?

[steves]

Spend the few extra dollars for decent tires. No one is really a fan of the stinkos.

[jettajake00]

Spend the few extra dollars for decent tires. No one is really a fan of the stinkos.

Truth.

Only if you commute like mad and go thru tires real quickly racking up mainly highway miles, and not in the rain, then the Shinkos are okay...but definitely not the best idea...cheap-yes, good tire-no...

oh well run these out and change next time!

[Scout]

I agree with Steve. Shinkos are shyte. And when spending on your bike, remember...you get what you pay for.

[Daniel DeTinne]

Glad I saw this. I was thinking about Shinko's too

[hardlydangerous]

I know guys that track bikes and super moto with Shinko tires. Just like any MFG Some designs and models are better then others. if you buy the cheapest thats what you get. The higher quality shinko tires are great.
I agree the Ravens are not that great but will be fine for comuting... I actually just changed a Shinko raven front yesterday on the Pre im working on. It had about 50% life left but swapped it with a dunlop Sportmax I had hanging around.

I like the SR741 rear... great tire lots of grip, not real long lasting but thats what you get with a soft compound tire

[phil823]

shinko=cheap burnout tyres...get some michelin pilot powers, pilot road, metzeler's, avons...

[doblerj14]

i have shinko ravens on my 05 kat and have never had them slip at all on me. I do mostly commuting on them and i have about 9000 miles on them and there is still about 40% of the tread left.

There are tires out there that are more sticky but at the same time they are not going to last near as long. Everyone has there own opinion on what they think is the best tire but i all come down to how you are going to ride that tire and how you feel it makes the bike handle.

My personal opinion i am going to replace these with another set of raves when these are gone

[LAsunbird86]

Michelin pilot roads(1,2 or 3's) will last FOREVER if you just commute, with a bit of twisties. Worth the price.

[tdrcomm]

You're going to get a 70/30 vote on Shinkos around here.
I think I'm one of the few in the 30 percentile.

I've run the Advance and the Raven. Had to try them 'cause I eat tires for breakfast.
Not the sharpest tools in the shed but for everyday highway commuting, not too shabby for the price. The Ravens seem to shed water better than the Advance but the don't heat up as fast. I would have no problem for casual riding in the canyons but definitely not the tire to have to aggressively hit the twists. I grab a set when I'm desperate and there are no good sales to be had on Bridgestones. (Although these new Conti Motions feel pretty sweet).

What I've done in the past is just buy a set on the cheap and stash them in the garage. If I get a nail and short of cash, I break out the Shinkos and ride them until I can do better, then they go back in the garage.

Now, on the ¼ mile track… the Stealth and Hook Up are freaking' worshiped.

[teddy]

You're going to get a 70/30 vote on Shinkos around here.
I think I'm one of the few in the 30 percentile.

I'm with Tom...I've also run the Advance, and I have no qualms with them. Even ran them at a trackday and down at Deals Gap, I got a pretty good snapshot from one of the Gap photogs dragging knee while my kat had the advance's on it. (not the one in my sig) There are so many other things that make a difference on a bike aside from tires I don't have the time or patience to type it all out. Simple fact is, there are a select few riders here that can outride the potential of a tire on the street....which if you are riding that hard on the street, you're doing it illegaly and we don't need to go down that road anyway...

Every tire manufacturer makes a cheap p.o.s. tire, look at the tires that our bikes came with...both Dunlop and Michelin made cheap hard tires for Suzuki to put on these things cheap...BUT, the Shinko(Advance, at least) is a better tire than either one of them, IMHO.

[mega_man_01103]

I got a quesiton. Im actually looking at the ravens off of ronayers website. my question is what size rear will fit my 05? the kat right now has 150/70 and thats what i was going to get but they dont have that in the raven. they have 160/60 and 170/60. I know going higher than that is just a waste. They have a 120/70 front which is what I have on there now so I was going to buy that size again. Im a newby still so any help is appreciated.

[teddy]

160-60

[GregS]

The 160/60 is much "shorter" than the 150/70, the 170/60 is closer to the same circumference although still a little "shorter".
I put the 170/60 on mine. According to the Shinko website it is "designed" for the 4.5 inch rim which is what we have on our newer Kats.
Oh, and I am reasonably happy with my Raven's. I did notice that a cautious, easy break in was needed. The feel changed dramatically over the first couple hundred miles. Waiting till I get a couple thousand before I'll have a final opinion.

[mega_man_01103]

Thanks guys for the responses. My Kat is my daily and I very rarely open up on twisties, not many places here in central FL .

Im going with 120/70 up front and 170/60 on rear Shinko Ravens. I think for what I need, they will work plenty well.