Friday, August 10, 2012

Shinks don't Stink

Just installed my 4th or 5th set of Shinko Raven 009 tires on the FJR. We are leaving this weekend for Madawaska Maine for the SCMA Monument for the Tour of Honor. I had 8900 on the set installed in May and figured they should be at their end of their travels. Looking at the tread you wouldn't think so.


We are only going about 2000 miles this trip, but I didn't want to chance it being on the suspected end life of the tire, so I changed them out to new Shinko Ravens. Looking at the tires, it would appear I had at least 2000 miles and maybe more. I compared the depth of the tread between these and the new ones. Based on this rough measurement I still had at least a third left or 13,350 miles of total tread life.  Previous experience says I will only get about 9K of life out of a set of tires on a sport tourer. I do not have experience running Shinko Raven's to the cores, so I don't really have a benchmark to go on.

Being caught between should I or shouldn't I, I used my accounting skills and did a cost versus benefit analysis. At 8900 miles and maybe a tread life of 10K, that leaves about 1,100 miles left or 11%. Add a +/- factor in of 100% we have somewhere around 11% to 20% of tread life. Take the 11% of the cost of 163.00 and that's $17.93, on the high end $32.60. Compare this to the risk factor, which I don't have any empirical data on, so I will simple ask this question. Is $18 to $32 worth the risk.The answer was NO, so I swapped them out.  I didn't throw in the cost of installation, since that might confuse the issue, at least confuse me.



Another thing I really like about Shinko's. Every set I have received has been manufactured within 3 months of the purchase date. This is based on the YYWW (Year Week) marking on the sidewall. That was not always true for the Michelins and Dunlops I have bought in the past. All of the Shinkos have been purchased thru Bike Bandit, who I think simply sends my order thru to the Distributor. Is it Shinkos selling fast enough that they don't age or is it BikeBandit and their distributor. Never the less the tires have all been recently made. My experience with BB has been ordering the tires on a Friday or Monday and they are at my door on Wednesday Thursday.



Since I have switched to vendors, if you live in Central Mass, looking for tire installation, you can't go wrong with this guy. Trinity in Whitinsville 508.234.6900 ask for Bill.




I would not consider myself an aggressive rider, but not a snail either. We have been in the pouring rain with the Ravens, the roads out west, the potholes of New England, the winding roads of WV, essentially all states but 6 on Ravens. They are planted in the rain and hold their line when they need to. Never have I felt I needed more grip out of them. Never have they slipped or jumped out of line. The miles have all been 2 up as well.

If you are looking for a long lasting touring cost effective tires, don't let Shinko Ravens roll on by you, give em a try. YMMV.

1 comment:

Brion Hase said...

Willie, Don't be posting stuff about Shinko Ravens! I have been running them for a while (3rd set) and I like them too, plus they just feel planted on my bike. Raven are my sport/touring tire of choice now for the reasons you stated. If you start telling everyone about them and the price is going to go up.

I'm getting about 7 to 8k on them, which is about the same what I have gotten from other dual compound sport/tour tires and a quite a bit better then some other brands (i.e. Met Z6 and Bridge BT-20/21/22). I have not tried Mich PR2/PR3s because I have stuck with the Ravens.

-- Frump