cheng shin tires

[the kid]

hi i have a lil suzuki 185 that i have been riding to work. it needs a new back tire and i have been looking a the cheng shin tires there what was on there but i have never uesed them before are they junk or ok. thanks for any help

[Have Blue]

I've used a few of the Cheng Shin Hi Max and they seem to be OK.  Not as much traction as Dunlop, Metzeler, etc, but certainly a decent tire that will give you good milage.  Fine for cruising or commuting but perhaps not a good choice for hotdogging.  (my opinion)

Blue

hi i have a lil suzuki 185 that i have been riding to work. it needs a new back tire and i have been looking a the cheng shin tires there what was on there but i have never uesed them before are they junk or ok. thanks for any help

[B6mick]

When we had 2X suzuki across 250's as courier bikes, we ended up using them, as we are unable to get anything from shinko to fit, we found them to be a pretty good allround tyre. And cheap too.

[tacoman]

I think for commuting work they're a good deal.  If you get into the performance extremes you get what you pay for.  I see a "King" brand of tire at a local discount bike shop for real low prices.  I don't know much about those though, probably the same deal as Cheng Shin.

[97RedBird]

I was able to get the average 8k miles out of the rear Cheng Shin tire on my B6.  Not the greatest tire for cornering traction, but I would purchase them again for commuting to work.

[jbrough7]

I bought one for the rear on my old cruiser and it was fine - maybe those cheapo tires with 20 year old technology are more suited to puttering around on a cruiser?

I got mine for $35  off ebay and the dealer wanted $75 up here in the frozen wastelands!

Jim

[IcyChaos]

i can't go for the cruising type of tire myself... I love the Pirelli diablo strada's. I can only get 4-5k out of the rear though. They stick way too well for me to want anything else.

[jbrough7]

Yeah - my 'new' Bandit has 3000 km. on it now and I'm hearing you can get maybe 8000 out of the tires...it'll be interesting to see what I go for cuz I always have been the type of guy to save bucks whenever I can...now with the Bandit, I am thinking I will try to upgrade a bit as things wear out - better tires and I wouldn't mind a louder exhaust to give her a bit more oomph...

Ebay has great deals on good tires here and there so I'm going to be checking there - I don't even know - are the Bandit's tires sizes common?  I guess I just assumed so...

Jim

[Red01]

are the Bandit's tires sizes common?  
I guess I just assumed so...

Pretty common. On the 650, the front is a 120/70-ZR-17 (same as a B12 and most sport bikes), rear is a 160/60-ZR-17 which is a common size for bikes in its class (the new Ninja 650 twin, 2G B6, older 600 class sportbikes).

[jbrough7]

Waddaya think of that new kawi 650 twin?

jim

[Red01]

I think it's a nice looking bike... saw one the other day when I stopped in the local shop. It's an improvement over the old Ninja 500 twin and it's Suzuki GS500 competitor, which is even longer in tooth than the Ninja5. I'd take a SV650 or a B6/650 over one though.

[jbrough7]

I don't think it goes up against the gs...from everything i've read they were trying to knock off the sv!  the new ninja is way more dough than the gs and priced just a tad under the sv.  Apparently the sv is quicker to 60 mph but then after that, the new kawi creeps up a bit faster. Anyway, they're pretty close.  I think the hp. is almost the same as well.... I'll try to find the comparison if you want...

btw, funny how kawasaki and suzuki are making the bikes that people want, eh?  what's happening with the others?

Jim

[Red01]

True, the new Ninja 6 1/2 isn't really meant to compete with the GS500 and the SV was the target, I only mentioned the GS5 because it was the main competitor to the Ninja 5, which the new bike replaces. The article I read that compared the SV650S to the new Ninja showed the SV to be the better handler and quicker/faster by a hair. So close in speed #'s the rider's skills and weight would be more important factors in determining a winner in real life situations. They liked the Kawi's ergos better for beginners and commuting, but mentioned the unfaired SV was similar in that regard - but they didn't actually compare an unfaired SV since they felt the S model was the new Ninja's target. They also thought the fit & finish on the Kawi was below that of the SV - and they don't rank the SV as being above average.