Member Contributer rbertalotto Posted July 1, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 1, 2009 I bought a 2004 BMW R1150RSL last week for a VERY good price. It needed a bit of love and the top of the list was tires. The rear Metzler Z6 was severely cupped and the front tire was on its last legs. This bike exhibited extremely poor handling. It simply would not stay down in a left hand turn. And following a line around a corner was nearly impossible. I was convinced it has major suspension or frame issues. But before I could deal with that, I needed new tires. Not wanting to spend a fortune on tires, I did some research and found a company called "Shinko". A bit more research found that this is the former Yokohama motorcycle tire company. I've used Yokahama tires on my Porsche and my pick-up trucks for years. The Price of the Shinko tires was almost unbelievable. A search led me to the new Raven F009 Sport Radial tires. Bike Bandit is my "go to" for tires and I was pleased to see they carried this brand. I ordered two tires on Sunday and they were at my door Tuesday AM! Both tires, including shipping (and using my AMA 10% discount available at Bike Bandit) came to $157.33!!!!!! (120/70ZR17=$58.49, 170/60ZR17= $80.99, Shipping = $17.85) Now, for that price they must be Stinko tires...after all, we all know you get what you pay for. When the tires arrived I had a couple of motorcycle buddies over my house. We opened the box (yes, Bike Bandit ships tires in a box..nice!), and inspected the tires. They looked great. I quickly mounted them up and balanced. The rear tire needed no weights. It was perfect. The front tire needed 1/2 oz to make it perfect. Once mounted up it was off to the local empty parkinglot to scrub them in. A bunch of figure 8s and I was ready to go. I went to my local highway cloverleaf (a great place to test tires...:whistle, and started a series of loops, getting lower and lower as I went. The results were great handling and not a bit of slip or wiggle. I can tell no difference from these tires and Avon Storms (my current favorite tire) that are on my VFR or the Metzler Z6 that are on my Moto Guzzi V11 sport. After about 20 minutes of this it started to rain. Just a light drizzle. This was a perfect opportunity to test wet adhesion. Although it wasn't a downpour and I couldn't test hydroplaning (not that I'd want to!) I can tell you that the grip was excellent. No issues. All the strange handling that this motorcycle was exhibiting completely disappeared. It was like it was on rails in the twisties and held a line perfectly. I've never experienced tires having so much effect on a motorcycle. Or maybe it was because I wasn't riding the bike as the tires changed over a period of time. I bought the bike with bad tires and experienced the results immediately. Time will tell how this very inexpensive tires will perform in the long run. I'll keep this thread updated with wear and anything else that might help others with a buying decision. Later! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDO-VFR Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Very interesting. I must say though, that I cannot say that I have ever put on a new set of tires and 'not liked' them. For sure it's because my riding habits (and probably abilities) do not exceed the capabilities of a VFR with fresh tires. My preference in tires has been guided more by how they performed from their half life on. I hope your Shinkos do well in this regard. BI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer rbertalotto Posted July 1, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted July 1, 2009 Good observation, and you are correct about the value of a tire at it's half life......... But I own a bunch of motorcycles and have been riding for quite a while. I have a pretty good idea of how a tire performs right from the get-go. I've had a few tires in the past that were so poor or just the wrong choice for that particular bike that they were removed almost immediately. Not often, but it has happened. These tires were a pleasant surprise! I really expected to have them sliding all over the place, or exhibiting terrible vibration etc. But like lots of things we can buy now, I believe tires and their composition is a "known science". Not too many secrets left. Maybe the price is so low because Shinko is trying to wedge into an extremely competitive market, just like Hyundai and KIA did. The tires are so inexpensive it almost scared me away! A friend of mine made a comment yesterday. He said, if those tires are half as good as what we used to ride on ten years ago, they will be fantastic! We'll see! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 I threw some Ravens on my Z750 right before I traded it in on the VFR(I wish I had known I was going to trade it, I would not have installed the tires)...I rode them for about 600 miles and I must say, I was impressed. I'm not sure I will put them on the VFR when I need tires but for they money I had no complaints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 I put the 009 Ravens on front and rear of my 4th gen about 4000 miles ago and love them. They barley show any signs of wear. I ride daily to and from work so about 250 miles of normal highway riding a week and on the weekends I go riding with my buddies in the few twisties we can find around here and do another 200 to 300 miles on the weekends. It does show a little bit of flattening out due to the amount of highway riding and lack of good corners around here (Chas SC). I got the bike with a metzer on the front and a dunlop on the rear both were wore but I got another 2000 miles from them before changing to the ravens. I ride with the wife on the back once in a while and they handle great even with the extra weight. Even did some good leans with a girl on the back and they stuck like glue which was a little shocking since they seem to be more of a high mileage tire then a sticky tire. The shinko 005 on other bikes I have seen cup bad and the 003's do not last long at all. I have ridden in several complete downpours and they seem to handle fine it was just on the highway and a few side roads so I was not wanting to push them and test my luck but I did not have any worries or doubts while riding in the rain. My next set if I have some extra $$ would probably be a different brand just to see how some others tires feel, but if I need cheap good tires I will not hesitate in buying another set of ravens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samaki Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 Shinko 009s are great tires! I commute year round and go through a lot of tires and have tried all the major brands at one time or another. My last set were Continental Road Attacks; a high mileage tire with a wierd profile that I just never felt comfortable with. I finally wore them out and mounted some 009 Ravens on my 97 VFR and find them to be a great tire at an incredible price. I have used them before on my Duke II and was pleased with their performance there too. The 009s have a flatter curve to the profile so lean in is consistant with great feedback, good traction and good wear life. I would highly recommend these tires to anyone with a 1000 cc or less sportbike. Now at Chaparral a set can be had for $151 delivered. (120/70 and 170/60) I just got my next set in yesterday for that price. It won't be long before these tires are priced comparably with the other major brands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samaki Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 I ran through my last set of 009s and removed them at 12,413 miles when the rear was well into the wear markers. The front had quite a ways to go but was beginning to feel heavy. They performed very well for me for all of those miles (mostly commute miles). I then mounted a set of 006s which I just removed at 7,599 miles when the rear was well into the wear markers and into the inner lighter colored rubber. The front was near worn, but had a thousand or so left in it I would guess. These tires also performed well but I was not as comfortable with them as the 009s for some reason. I have now mounted a new pair of Shinkos; 009 in the rear and an 005 on the front, just to make a wear comparison. I will try the 010 or 011 next time around. These are great tires for the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btl68 Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 15,000 miles in the last 14 months on 009's. :cheerleader: My signature line says it all... :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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