Need a rear tire

Greg goes wild

Active member
Hello all
I noticed about 2 wks ago that my rear tire has a air leak. I checked the valve stem with water n soap mix. That is all good i called
my local Honda dealer w3ho sells n works on beemers. The rear tire is feelfree brand and they said it would cost $189.00 for the
tire OUCH that is steep. i aske about other brands for my C650GT and the parts guy said they are more $$$. I lose about 3 lbs a day
luckily i have been putting more then the 42 psi. So do you all know IF their are some other brands that are cheaper then that? IF so
can you post a link?
Ghost rider Greg
 

Delray

Well-known member
I am installing this Shinko SR568 this week. It cost a whopping $73. I will take the rear tire off myself and carry it to a dealer in my car to have it mounted on the rim and balanced. That will be another $40, so around $125 with tax.

Michelins can cost $189 and more (much more). You don't say which brand they quoted, so I don't know if they're giving you a great deal or if you should count your fingers after you shake their hands.

Most dealers I've seen don't charge a lot for putting the tire on the bike. I like doing it myself for the TLC -- I'm not a mass assembly line. I torque the bolts precisely and tighten them diagonally like you're supposed to. Plus the rear tire on the GT is ridiculously easy. A couple muffler bolts, five T-50 torx bolts for the rim and it's off. Not even sure you need to move the muffler out of the way to get the tire off. I can't remember.

UPDATE, later that dark and stormy night: Just pulled the rear tire off and you definitely need to loosen, not remove, the muffler. Remove four torx bolts and the muffler is loose enough to push toward the ground ... angle it out a bit to create sufficient clearance to remove the tire. There are two bolts for the cover, one for the connection to the exhaust manifold and one for the bracket the muffler hangs from. I took the tire to a cycle shop and the guy charged me $10 to put the new Shinko on the rim -- I insisted on paying him $20; this was the second time I visited there and both times he did my tire immediately, no waiting.

IMG_6091.jpg
 
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Greg goes wild

Active member
Delray They did not mention the brand name but from what it says on the tire is feelfree. Where did you get that
Shinko tire online? That Shinko brand is a whole lot cheaper then that feelfree rear tire. I can take things apart
but i have problems putting things back together. My brother has a tire machine and he can change the tire
n balance it.
 

Delray

Well-known member
Here's the Shinko (160/60-15) ....


Here's a Metzeler Feel Free ....


Nice to have a brother with a tire machine.
 
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Greg goes wild

Active member
Here's the Shinko (160/60-15) ....


Here's a Metzler Feel Free ....


Nice to have a brother with a tire machine.
Delray thank you for the link for the Shrinko tire i would rather pay $64 n change for the rear tire. My brother
has had that tire machine for yrs cuz he builds bikes and trucks from start to end. He has changed my tires
on the Silver Wing many times. . I am going to save this link in my email.
 

Delray

Well-known member
"I am going to save this link in my email."

Sounds good. I had Shinkos on my Silver Wings and Burgmans. For me, they seem glued to the road, a solid combination of performance + price.

On the link, it appears to be set up to buy a 160/60-14 tire while our GT size is 160/60-15. Too easy with online shopping to make quick clicks and buy the wrong thing.
 

SJMike

Member
I would highly recommend the Pirelli Diablo Rosso tires they're MUCH better than the cheap Shinkos. I've had friends who bought the Shinko for cost savings and regretted it. The Pirelli isn't much more $ then the Shinkos & less than the Metzler Feel Free tire. It's worth looking for the Diablo Rosso tires. They have excellent grip . I'm used them them & can confirm they are great .
 

Greg goes wild

Active member
Delray
I was going to ask you how reliable the Shrinko tires are. But you beat me to it. I never heard of the Shrinko brand
tire til now. I was on the Silverwing600 dot come group for many yrs. They did not mention the Shrink tires at all..
I did a search on this forum last night and found out a lot of POSITIVE results on the Shrinko tires. How many
miles did you get out of them? That RS568 what does the rs stand for? IF the rs is something like 100 is that a
bad sign? Sorry for the dumb questions. What is the OEM tire for the rear?
 

Delray

Well-known member
Greg, there are several favorable reviews of Shinko tires on the Burgnan 650 website, www. burgmanusa.com. Not sure what the GT’s OEM tire is, might be the Metzeler FeelFree, which would make sense as I believe that’s a German tire.
 
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LongRanger

New member
The Shinkos are not radials. You should expect to get about 4000 miles of wear from them, which for me is unacceptable.
 

Delray

Well-known member
"How many miles did you get out of them?"

I'm replacing my rear Shinko at 8,000 miles, which is normal for past Shinkos. The front is still going strong with the same miles.
 

Ceesie76

Active member
The Shinkos are not radials. You should expect to get about 4000 miles of wear from them, which for me is unacceptable.

Here a review from a verified buyer on Amazon who writes he got 12,000 miles from one:

"The brand name alternatives were selling at about $150 or 3x the price of the Shinkos. I 'figured that if these were not any good, then I didn't lose much. These don't have any bad habits. The only time they lose any traction is on a slick patch (oil or antifreeze) and accelerating quickly from a stop. I use this on a BMW C Evolution electric scooter that is 600 pounds and is quicker than most motorcycles off the line. It always hooks up. Now that I have 12k miles on it, it's near the end of its life. Why wait until it's bald. I'm getting another one. BTW, I also use this Shinko for my front tire. Recommended."
 

LongRanger

New member
This is helpful, but for me it’s all about a tire’s ability to maintain its profile as the miles accumulate, without getting squared off or cupped. Once a tire is squared off or cupped, I replace it regardless of the remaining tread depth. Certainly, a lot of folks ride until their tires are bald, but I enjoy riding on twisty roads and a squared off tire makes this unpleasant and a bit dangerous. They are a bit more expensive, but I’ve found Michelins to hold up very well.
 

Delray

Well-known member
"They are a bit more expensive, but I’ve found Michelins to hold up very well."

Google "160/60-15 Michelin" and you see motorcycle tires two or three times the cost of my Shinko SR568. With these tires lasting 8,000 to 10,000 miles, and me averaging about 1,000 miles a month, that's not a recurring expense I want, for my style of riding.

I've read reviews of Michelins and Pirelli Diablos and would LOVE to have them on my BMW. There was a GT for sale at a Kymco dealer near my house last week so I stopped to look. The bike had Michelin Pilot Road 4 tires that looked like they were hugging the showroom floor! They looked amazing.

Easy to imagine how they'd be excellent on twisty roads. Alas, no twisty roads in South Florida. Just lots of flat, straight ones; urban riding with daytime heat that wears out tires faster no matter what brand they are. Of course, much of the 55+ population is off the roads early, so there is little traffic late at night, and the stars are out and it's warm and breezy, and the ocean often has moonlight twinkling on the waves, so there is compensation for no twisty roads. Plus the riding season is 365 days long.

In terms of riding style, I'm a tortoise to the "hare"-brained sport riders who zoom up I-95 on Saturday nights out of Miami with speeds in the triple digits. The cops gave up chasing them long ago because it's too dangerous. In 42 years of riding, I've had 0 accidents on my 13 bikes and I've been down 0 times. There are plenty of roads here where I can wind my bike up to 50 to 70 mph real fast, and go like that for miles. I'm happy and don't need premium tires for this. Not kidding when I say my love of riding is still connected to a 10-year old boy zooming down a big hill on a bicycle, feeling like it's magic because he doesn't have to pedal. I think of that regularly when I ride.

Everybody's different, of course. That's just my story.
 
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LongRanger

New member
Ah, a bit of context is important. I live in the mountains west of Denver and avoid riding on freeways and in urban settings whenever possible. I have easy access to several days worth of wonderful curvy two-lane roads just out my back door. That’s probably why I’m picky about the profile and condition of my tires — it’s no fun leaning into a curve on squared-off tires, no matter how much tread is left. I’d probably be less concerned if I lived somewhere that only had straight roads. A tire that still has tread but loses its profile within 3000-4000 miles is not good economy for me.
 
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Greg goes wild

Active member
Very interesting to read the comments on here and some good advice as well. The only time i may twist the
throttle is on I 10 west bound out of Houston just to pass some BIG RIGS and IF i see a car swuring in it's lane
time to get away from them.. I may get it up to 80 and pass then slow down to 65. I noticed just yesterday that
my front tire is cupping . I only have about 4.900 miles on the Metzlers freefeel brand. The original owner said
he had to replace the rear tire cuz it had a screw in it. The Metzler tires are NOT holding up. The front tire has
enough life left on it but the cupping i am worried about. I DO NOT need a blow out on the highways that
would hurt badly.. I am assuming that the cupping may blow out am i right?
 

LongRanger

New member
The cupping (uneven, scalloped tread wear) won’t cause a blowout but it will create vibration and make the bike less enjoyable to ride, at least in my experience. It’s generally caused by under-inflated tires.
 
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