Got new tires...

When I got the bike it had Dunlop Qualifiers that I thought would last at least this season, but it wasn't to be. Not planning on buying tires so soon I got a set of the shinko 009's for $156 delivered. I read tons of stuff on the shinkos before I bought them and found that the majority of the people that said they'd never use them were ones that had never ridden on them. Everyone that had actually bought them and rode them all had good things to say. With that being said I don't hammer the twisties much being that central Iowa has very few to ride.

I had the back replaced first due to a 500 mile road trip I was taking that weekend. The rear was pretty well flat in the center and I was starting to wear through the driving rubber. I rode with the mix match set for the trip and all was well. Even in Wisconsin on some of the back roads near the Mississippi river it performed well with the old front tire.

A week later I had the front put on and woah, this feels like a different bike and so far not in a good way. Admittedly this is a different style of tire and this first ride on a brand new, non scrubbed in tire on wet pavement, but I can still feel it. I felt it to the point that I pulled over to verify all my wheel mounting hardware was not loose even though I know for a fact it's all there and torqued correctly.

Even on the minor amounts of lean you have to do to turn at all it was a measurable difference in feel. I leaned to turn and it felt like it was fighting the lean. The old tire even on the wet pavement just went with no fuss. This tire is pushing back.

I can't wait for it to dry up some here so I can get the thing scrubbed in some and get more used to this new profile.

Anyway, no real reason for this post other than to share my experience this morning on my first new set of tires in a loooooong time.

 

Wow. I sure hope that you are able to correct this. I mean brand new tire and you are this unhappy. Could there possibly be some sort of flaw? Stupid question, is it mounted the right directional rotation? It would appear that the issue is only with the front tire. I am on my second set of Michelines and all things being equal, will probably put my third set on next year.

 

I don't think it's a bad tire, or anything like that. The pressure is good, it's mounted diretionally correct (both tire and rim) and all the hardware is tight. I think the issue more of me being used to more of a worn performance tire with a more round profile and this new tire is listed as a 'performance touring tire' which looks to have less of an agressive profile. That added to the fact it's NOT scrubbed in at all and the pavement is damp/wet due to the previous nights rain.

I'll give it a solid chance before I make a permanant decision. I'm sure I just need to get used to the new profile/compound.

 

Some more qualified than myself tell me all you need to do to "scrub" a tire is to heat it up well with a long ride, not actually scrub the tire on pavement. The heating of the tire will loosen the release gunk and it will fly off. If you are riding it in the rain, you may have a point that it runs cooler and may not scrub, but I would have thought that an un scrubbed tire would react more like it was slipping a bit as opposed to fight you for control. But like I said, I certainly am not an expert on this. Someone else may chime in with some worth while advise.

Cheers

 

Good post 10/10

Plasma .