Disclaimer: This is not meant to be advice and I am not recommending you do this.
I'm a little short on cash and was in need of a new rear tire so early this week I cashed-in my Bing Rewards for Amazon.com gift cards and bought a new Shinko tire for Nothin' Special, my 1983 XS650 Heritage Special. Little did I realize until the new tire got here yesterday that the tire was a 10 SR 712R as in radial. I went back through my e-mails and shore 'nuff, I mistakenly bought a single radial tire for my XS.
I know mixing radials and bias ply tires on motorcycles is never recommended. What the hell, I thought, I'll give it a try. Worst case, I kill myself.
So yesterday I removed the worn Dayton D404 130/90-16, checked the rim for true, mounted the Shinko and balanced the whole assembly on my Harbor Freight static balancing stand.
The Dayton I pulled off has 11,000 miles on it and has been a good tire. It probably has another 1000 miles or more left in it-- I'll save it for someone else or for temporary use on a future build.
Today, I tried her out. I began with a 5 mile trip wearing a t-shirt and traveling no more than 45 miles per hour through lots of corners throughout the neighborhood. I came home, added some clothing and went riding on the country roads nearby.
The first thing I noticed about the Shinko is that the bike now requires more effort to make it stop. I attribute that to the lower rolling resistance of radials and remember the same thing happening when I switched from bias ply to radials on cars many years ago. Next week I'll install the dual disk front brake that has been in my shop for well over a year.
I'm not what most would call an aggressive rider but I did ride about 90 miles today breaking myself in to the different feel of the Shinko tire. It grabs the road better than I ever remember the Dayton grabbing the road and I get the feeling the front tire (also a Dayton) would slip before the rear. Previously my XS seemed about neutral in that regard. Overall I think the bike handles better but the feel is going to take some getting used to.
I guess I balanced it correctly 'cause I got her up to 95MPH on a couple of straights and felt no new vibrations. As a matter of fact it seemed to vibrate less.
The Shinko is louder than the Dayton. Those of you with louder pipes will never notice but my bike is pretty quiet so I notice things like that. Handling felt good but like I said, I don't do a lot of knee dragging and sliding through corners.
Of note: The Shinko 130/90-16 is wider than the Dayton 130/90-16. It barely fits and when I adjust my chain the next time I'll have to trim the stock chain guard to make clearance. If your wheel isn't dead on straight and your rim true then it ain't gonna fit.
The radial is a bear to mount using tire spoons. I really needed a helper but finally managed to get it pried on.
I got a possible job offer today running another junk yard so perhaps I'll soon have enough money to put a radial on the front.
Time will tell if the Shinko is a good tire but so far I'm liking it.
I'm a little short on cash and was in need of a new rear tire so early this week I cashed-in my Bing Rewards for Amazon.com gift cards and bought a new Shinko tire for Nothin' Special, my 1983 XS650 Heritage Special. Little did I realize until the new tire got here yesterday that the tire was a 10 SR 712R as in radial. I went back through my e-mails and shore 'nuff, I mistakenly bought a single radial tire for my XS.
I know mixing radials and bias ply tires on motorcycles is never recommended. What the hell, I thought, I'll give it a try. Worst case, I kill myself.
So yesterday I removed the worn Dayton D404 130/90-16, checked the rim for true, mounted the Shinko and balanced the whole assembly on my Harbor Freight static balancing stand.
The Dayton I pulled off has 11,000 miles on it and has been a good tire. It probably has another 1000 miles or more left in it-- I'll save it for someone else or for temporary use on a future build.
Today, I tried her out. I began with a 5 mile trip wearing a t-shirt and traveling no more than 45 miles per hour through lots of corners throughout the neighborhood. I came home, added some clothing and went riding on the country roads nearby.
The first thing I noticed about the Shinko is that the bike now requires more effort to make it stop. I attribute that to the lower rolling resistance of radials and remember the same thing happening when I switched from bias ply to radials on cars many years ago. Next week I'll install the dual disk front brake that has been in my shop for well over a year.
I'm not what most would call an aggressive rider but I did ride about 90 miles today breaking myself in to the different feel of the Shinko tire. It grabs the road better than I ever remember the Dayton grabbing the road and I get the feeling the front tire (also a Dayton) would slip before the rear. Previously my XS seemed about neutral in that regard. Overall I think the bike handles better but the feel is going to take some getting used to.
I guess I balanced it correctly 'cause I got her up to 95MPH on a couple of straights and felt no new vibrations. As a matter of fact it seemed to vibrate less.
The Shinko is louder than the Dayton. Those of you with louder pipes will never notice but my bike is pretty quiet so I notice things like that. Handling felt good but like I said, I don't do a lot of knee dragging and sliding through corners.
Of note: The Shinko 130/90-16 is wider than the Dayton 130/90-16. It barely fits and when I adjust my chain the next time I'll have to trim the stock chain guard to make clearance. If your wheel isn't dead on straight and your rim true then it ain't gonna fit.
The radial is a bear to mount using tire spoons. I really needed a helper but finally managed to get it pried on.
I got a possible job offer today running another junk yard so perhaps I'll soon have enough money to put a radial on the front.
Time will tell if the Shinko is a good tire but so far I'm liking it.
