Shinko tires or Golden Boy?

[ScottRNelson]

Worse tire ever...

Even if they're bad, I'll hardly consider them a waste of money, since they were so cheap - under a hundred bucks for the pair shipped to my door.

I'll have to wait a few months to find out how they work on the street, since that's what I bought them for. But they'll also see dirt road duty. They're replacing Shinko 705 tires which work well on the street, but not good enough off road. I have other wheels with D606 tires for more serious dirt riding.

 

[SFSV650]

I would prefer to have Golden Boy than Shinkos.

 

[OaklandF4i]

Even if they're bad, I'll hardly consider them a waste of money, since they were so cheap - under a hundred bucks for the pair shipped to my door.

I'll have to wait a few months to find out how they work on the street, since that's what I bought them for. But they'll also see dirt road duty. They're replacing Shinko 705 tires which work well on the street, but good enough off road. I have other wheels with D606 tires for more serious dirt riding.

At that price point I'd run them on the street too. I assume this is for the XR650L. I ran through two sets of a very similar tire on the XR, the Kenda K270. They seem to look just like the Shinnko 244 Golden Boy tire.

Like you, I didnt choose them for their expected offroad performance. Bought because they were cheap, round, and expected they would last longer than any real knobby tire on the pavement.

Folks like to split hairs and argue about the finer performance characteristics of these kind of tires, which I think is pretty silly in this tire category honestly. Like always, offroad its about the rider not the gear (in this narrow tire category.) If you want knobby performance, you buy a real knobby like you already know with your 606's.

I dont know if the Shinko will be as sensitive to pressure on road as the similar Kenda was, but on the pavement it really preferred to be set closer to 30lbs or the rear knobs would chunk in short order and overall feel was rather spongy like the tires were rolling over on the rim when pushed. 30lbs front and rear on the pavement firmed it all up and I got excellent mileage out of the second set of them.

I credit SFMCJohn with that bit of knowledge.

 

[HadesOmega]

They're ok on the road I guess. I had a low side in the rain on asphalt with the rear Kenda 270 which is pretty much the Kenda equivalent of the Golden Boys. I have NEVER liked the front Kenda 270 and the Golden Boy front is just as bad. Also like I mentioned I ran the Kenda 270 on the dragon and it was losing traction and you can feel the knobs flex.

If your looking for a cheap do it all adventure bike tire my tire of choice is Shinko 804/805 there's no tire I trust more than those for adventure riding, except in maybe lots of mud... It's like a cheaper longer lasting TKC80. They wear better compared to a more knobby tire also.

 

[ScottRNelson]

I dont know if the Shinko will be as sensitive to pressure on road as the similar Kenda was, but on the pavement it really preferred to be set closer to 30lbs or the rear knobs would chunk in short order and overall feel was rather spongy like the tires were rolling over on the rim when pushed. 30lbs front and rear on the pavement firmed it all up and I got excellent mileage out of the second set of them.

I've always run about 33/36 front/rear on the XR for street riding. I'll drop the pressure to about 15 off road, then air them back up when I get back to pavement. Honda recommends 22 psi front and rear in the owner's manual for all riding, but I would only use that if there is a lot of mixed dirt/pavement.

And after I wear through this set of 244's, I'll have one more data point on tires that I've actually experienced. If I like them, I'll get some more, if I don't I'll try something else.

 

[m0t0_ryder]

If your looking for a cheap do it all adventure bike tire my tire of choice is Shinko 804/805 there's no tire I trust more than those for adventure riding, except in maybe lots of mud... It's like a cheaper longer lasting TKC80. They wear better compared to a more knobby tire also.

Hmmmm…
Interesting that you would mention the 805's.
In seeking a set of knob's for the 950 most of what I read (ADVrider) is the 805 rear and the 606 up front, specifically for DV area riding.
I'll find out as I have a set of these sitting at the shop to be mounted.
They'll be exercised in Death Valley in March.
I'm sure they'll feel much better off road than the Pirelli MT90AT's, which have surprised me in dirt (both good & bad) with lowered pressure. That's really the only tire I've run on the 950, until now.

 

[ScottRNelson]

Hmmmm…
Interesting that you would mention the 805's.
In seeking a set of knob's for the 950 most of what I read (ADVrider) is the 805 rear and the 606 up front, specifically for DV area riding.

I've ridden with a guy on a 990 Adv that had 804/805 tires. One of those guys who rides like it's just a big dirt bike (I'm not that good). They're supposed to behave pretty much the same as the TKC-80's that I currently have on my 1090R. I'll be replacing the rear with an 805 as soon as I wear it down a couple of more millimeters.

 

[ScottRNelson]

As I'm about to install the front tire I look for the directional arrows to make sure I don't put it on backwards and there aren't any. This is the first bi-directional tire I've seen in a long, long time. Now to see if I can install both without pinching a tube.

 

[thedub]

They're ok on the road I guess. I had a low side in the rain on asphalt with the rear Kenda 270 which is pretty much the Kenda equivalent of the Golden Boys....

It was definitely the tire's fault.

 

[Eric B]

I used a 1/2 worn Kenda/Golden Boy 244 in Baja. Deep sand was a bit sluggish, but was fine otherwise. My bike is low powered, so YMMV

 

[HadesOmega]

Hmmmm…
Interesting that you would mention the 805's.
In seeking a set of knob's for the 950 most of what I read (ADVrider) is the 805 rear and the 606 up front, specifically for DV area riding.
I'll find out as I have a set of these sitting at the shop to be mounted.
They'll be exercised in Death Valley in March.
I'm sure they'll feel much better off road than the Pirelli MT90AT's, which have surprised me in dirt (both good & bad) with lowered pressure. That's really the only tire I've run on the 950, until now.

Look who just spooned on a set =P

I ran the D606 rear and TKC80 front in LAB2V 2018 and boy was I impressed with it in the desert. The TKC80 had seen battle with the Nevada BDR also and it saved my bacon a couple times in the deep sand. The D606 was great in the soft stuff also. If you are doing a lot of dirt that's a great combo. It's a weird combo a hard rear tire and soft front tire. The TKC80 is no one of my favorite front tires now because TKC80s wear fast if it's on the front it doesn't wear as fast =P

 

[ScottRNelson]

The TKC80 is now one of my favorite front tires now because TKC80s wear fast, if it's on the front it doesn't wear as fast =P

I still have a TKC-80 on the front of my XR650L, with the D606 on the rear. (Actually, that's what's on the front of my KTM too.) The front seems to last a long time even if the rear can't seem to go 3000 miles.

I wonder how a mix of Heidenau K60 Scout rear and TKC-80 front would work. The K60 front was worn out much quicker than the rear on my 990 Adv. I'm pretty sure I got about 8000 miles out of that rear even though it was majorly squared off by then. Still got good traction on the street. I've never gotten much more than 6000 miles on any tire before the K60.

 

[ScottRNelson]

As I'm about to install the front tire I look for the directional arrows to make sure I don't put it on backwards and there aren't any. This is the first bi-directional tire I've seen in a long, long time. Now to see if I can install both without pinching a tube.

Apparently I jinxed myself - I managed to pinch BOTH tubes.

So I patched the front and finished the job. I tried patching the rear as well - took three patches - but one of the patches had the edge too close to a puncture and didn't hold. Put a new tube in that one. At least I'm able to get the tire back on the rim the SECOND time without pinching a tube - okay, technically the third time on that rear tire.

Now I just need to put those wheels on my bike, shovel the snow off of my driveway, and I can see how they work on the street.

 

[RVFRick]

Apparently I jinxed myself - I managed to pinch BOTH tubes.

But of course! Similar thing happened to me before. First tire went on easy peasy. Got cocky and rear tire saw 3 pinches before success.

 

[HadesOmega]

Try putting a little bit of air in the tubes when you are installing the tires to prevent pinching.

 

[RVFRick]

Try putting a little bit of air in the tubes when you are installing the tires to prevent pinching.

I did but still failed

 

[ScottRNelson]

Try putting a little bit of air in the tubes when you are installing the tires to prevent pinching.

I already know that trick and there was air in the tubes. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but the second time on each tire I didn't pinch anything.

I know all of the theory for installing tires with tubes. I just manage to screw it up somehow when I'm actually doing it.

 

[HadesOmega]

It depends on the tire and wheel sometimes. I pinched the tubes on my supermoto wheel like 3 times. It could also be the condition of the tube also, I had this old crusty tube and it pinched super easy.

 

[ScottRNelson]

I don't believe the condition of the tube theory. You have to squeeze the tube between the tire iron and the rim to pinch the thing, and I'll blame that 100% on technique.

 

[RVFRick]

I agree, it's technique not condition of tube and here's why:

After pinching the new tube we were too lazy and impatient to patch it. We used up the two original tubes (one pinched and one installed) even though they were over 25 years old . Still holding air just fine.