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Message started by KWKaletta on 09/27/09 at 22:31:47

Title: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by KWKaletta on 09/27/09 at 22:31:47

No I did not wreck, Thank the big guy that it was the rear tire. All of a sudden the rear started to wobble bad. Got it stopped and checked the tire I acquired a triangular piece if tube about 1" wide by 1" tall.

I was going to replace the tire anyway. Any recommendations on where to get a good inexpensive tire and tube? :)

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Oldnewguy on 09/28/09 at 04:38:43

I just ordered a tire at $130.00. I think my body is worth spending $ to get the best. You were lucky this time! Don't skimp on tires, next time may have a different outcome.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by bill67 on 09/28/09 at 04:47:10

Pirelli Route 66 at Dennis Kirk

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Oldfeller on 09/28/09 at 06:50:46

Chung Fooie 5 year 20,000 mile special, $34.95 (new tube is extra)

(Folks who waste money and then brag about it to encourage other folks to do likewise are pushing the wrong end of the lever)

:-?

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/28/09 at 07:10:12

Talking to some guy about tires, his Rotch Crocket had a Cheng Shin(?) or some such on it, like $60.00 & sticky & all that, cheap & great traction, according to him. I got me one O them, soon as the stock tire died. It was just like he said, great traction, low price & it even lasted almost 6,000 miles, so, being satisfied, I got another one. Only thing is, this one didnt stick so good & it only lasted 3,000 miles, So, I put a Dunlop on & now its all tired & wore out.

Point is, those cheap tires may be great, OR may not be so great. Having a tire on that requires me to not cruise thru a long sweeping curve because its such a crappy tire isnt what I want to deal with when I ride. I suggest getting something you can slap on the bike & know you have a good tire back there.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by drharveys on 09/28/09 at 07:16:42

The immediate predecessor to the Savage was a Hyosung Comet 250. It came with these Korean Shinko (Thanks EJID) tires. People reported getting 20,000 miles to a set of 'em, but the rubber was really hard and they definitely lacked performance.

There's definitely a trade-off between motorcycle tire life and performance. If you need to save the bucks, getting a "commuter tire" from China or Korea will do that, but you won't have nearly as much confidence in the twisties.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e204/drharveys/DSC00753.jpg

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by bill67 on 09/28/09 at 07:51:44

50737B797A73737A6D1F0 wrote:

Chung Fooie 5 year 20,000 mile special, $34.95 (new tube is extra)

(Folks who waste money and then brag about it to encourage other folks to do likewise are pushing the wrong end of the lever)

:-?

99.9% of motorcycle riders get the good tires.99.9% can't be wrong. You must like McDoanlds hamburgers.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by EJID on 09/28/09 at 08:23:05

Replaced front (100/90-19) and rear (oversize-140/90-15) with Shinko Tires about a month ago, and I am very pleased with them over the stock IRCs. (Tires, Tubes, Rim Strips & Mounted/Balanced by a professional shop for $174.72 out the door - I removed/reinstalled the wheels from the bike itself)

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Phelonius on 09/28/09 at 10:12:02

My expirience has been that in a straight line, a flat on the rear is more likely to cause loss of control that a flat on the front.
I have never had it happen at 55, but I have had a flat on the rear at 45.
I have ridden 25 miles to town on a flat on the front tire at speeds up to 60mph with full control. Just don't use the front brake if you do this.
If the rear goes flat, do not use the rear brake. Do not try to ride to town on a flat rear tire.

Phelonius

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by bill67 on 09/28/09 at 11:09:01

I had a flat on the rear years ago at 70 mph on my 1978 Suzuki GS1000.My wife was on behind me,the handle bars were wobbling pretty bad, I thought it was the front tire.I had picked up a nail. I made it off the freeway without anything happening. luckily was was only 10 miles from home.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by LostArtist on 09/28/09 at 11:31:19

I had a flat on the rear as well, just a month ago, just replaced the tube, tire still looks pretty good, now has 5500 miles on the stock tire, I don't have many twisties or anything fun to go through, straight to work and back, 26 miles each way, I don't ride everyday but 2-3 times a week to work and back, then on the weekend it's my main transport. just got back from visiting my brother in law 68 miles doing 60+mph, no problem

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Paladin. on 09/28/09 at 14:02:47

DennisKirk.com SAME DAY SHIPPING, don't forget a new rimstrip:

Metzeler ME880 140/80-15 part# 540233 $119.99
IRC Inner Tube for above, part# 535379 $10.99
Kenda Rim Strip for above, part # 535195 $1.50
$5.00 to ship. $137.48 to the door.

Substitutes:
Cheng Shin Rear C822 Marquis 140/90H-15 Blackwall Tire, closeout, only 2 left, $51.79 ($69.28 to the door)
Pirelli Rear MT66-Route 140/90H-15 Blackwall Tire $77.99
Dunlop Rear K555 140/80H-15 Blackwall Tire $79.99

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Gort on 09/28/09 at 15:06:17

There are endless articles advising people not to buy cheap Chinese tires because of safety concerns. Do an internet search and see for yourself. Remember, you only have 2 tires and if one blows out, you can die. Is your life worth saving $35.00? Just because someone hasn't had a problem with a cheap brand, means nothing. Chinese tires have a reputation for being unsafe:

The reason Chinese tires are unsafe is because they cut safety corners
to compete in the market:

http://econrevival.blogspot.com/2009/09/in-support-of-chinese-tires-tarrif.html

250,000 Chinese tires recalled because they are unsafe:

http://consumer-alerts-product-recalls.suite101.com/article.cfm/chinese_tires_recalled

China dumps millions of unsafe tires on the US:

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/01278/chinese-defective-tires.html

These are only a few links exposing this problem.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Oldfeller on 09/28/09 at 20:22:36

Yep, $34.95 Chung Fooie tires from China are poorly made. I agree with that point, they sure are rotten tires. Wear out way too slow. Won't get another Chung Fooie brand ever again, I promise.

More reasonable tire would maybe be a $66 Kumo from South Korea?

Or this one, a Radial TA like Justin just bought.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f192/Oldfeller/DSCF0030.jpg

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by danibugg on 09/28/09 at 20:57:31

I'm running Shinkos on mine, had them put on at the beginning of the summer. About 3000 on them so far, and they still have plenty of tread. I'd buy them again.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by savageken on 09/28/09 at 21:20:41

hyosung is not the predessor to the savage. Hyosung designed bikes for Suzuki for many years. The comet 250cc is and has always been a 2 cylinder bike not a single cylinder thumper

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Gort on 09/28/09 at 21:37:53

China tires are notorious for catastrophic failure, not poor tread life. The belts come apart and the tires blow out. The government is on their arse about this problem. Do the research, see for yourself. Just because someone's China tire didn't self destruct on him, doesn't mean yours won't. Listen to what the motorcycle tire tests say. Buy the best motorcycle tire you can afford. Your bike's handling, your safety and the safety of other motorists is more important than being cheap.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by BurnPgh on 09/28/09 at 22:29:59

All I can say is im mildly scared now (running cheng shin). Luckily I had already planned on my next set being Harley 401 dunlops. Here's hoping I dont kiss pavement before then, eh?

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Gort on 09/28/09 at 22:59:22

The majority of China tires don't fail. Its their sloppy and corrupt manufacturing that causes some production runs to be defective. These usually show up quickly. Case in point, a friend bought 4 new tires made in China from Big-O-Tires, here in CA. After about 2 weeks, 2 of them showed sidewall bulges, and he took them back. Big O was honest with him and did right by him. They took the tires off the rims and showed him how the sidewall belts were separating, thus the bulges. Big O said that in their experience, defects in China tires show up right away. The problem is that the uninformed buyers who don't look things over every so often, don't see the defects when they appear and only find out once the tire comes apart. My friend bought China tires because it was the only thing he could find in the area to fit his old VW Beetle. I assume you've put plenty of miles on your tires, so in my amateur opinion, I would guess you aren't going to have a problem. But I'd still replace them.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Oldfeller on 09/29/09 at 05:12:42

I wouldn't worry about Chen Shin motorcycle tires, they have been around since I was in college (I unloaded them by the truck load when I worked for Honda of Raleigh as my college summer job and that was back in the 70s).

Chen Shin started out by religiously copying the best designs by Dunlop and Metzler and they did a fairly good job of it. With shipping from the orient the tires landed in the US at about 50% of what the big boys cost. You might not like handling and they didn't last as long but they never self-destructed.

If Chen Shin bike tires ever had a self destruct issue nobody has heard about it in 40 years of selling bike tires.

Gort is talking about small start up car tire makers in China that are "leaving out components" in cheap tires that do meet all the local requirements for safety, etc. for where they were made (not a lot of tire safety rules in China or Indo-China for that matter).

What has US tire makers, the United Steel Workers Union and various US politicians madder 'n hell is whole cargo carrier loads of these sub-standard construction tires are moving through low rent American importers into the very bottom end of US distribution chain WEARING FAKED DOT APPROVAL STAMPS at prices a US tire maker can't even buy the base crude rubber for. This constitutes dumping in US law.

Somebody is getting greased, somebody is subsidizing the mgfs and certainly several somebody's are breaking the law bringing in these tires with faked DOT clearances.

Just so you will know, DOT high speed high temp testing got more severe this past year (147 degrees ambient at 140 mph at full rated load). Tires that did test to old DOT standards won't pass these new tests. Japanese and Indo China standards are not nearly this severe, so there are lots of room for a start-up in China to "get all confused" about that new DOT rating.

Now, tires that were good enough 2 years ago not being good enough now -- does that make these tires unsafe?

Were they unsafe 2 years ago?

And let me tell you, there is one US mgf who shall remain nameless that had to upgrade 30% of all existing tire designs to get them to pass the new DOT high speed tests.

Does that mean that tires in inventory from 2 years ago are unsafe? I know that that mfg put in a system to purge all inventory within a 3 year period (they scrapped them) to make sure no old tires survived -- but do you think the Chinese did?

Hell no, they dumped them before any deadlines approached. They shipped them to some unscrupulous US importer's head buyer who wanted something to run in the paper on Thanksgiving weekend Black Friday sale.

Greed and money -- :o

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Gort on 09/29/09 at 09:29:30

The Big O Tire chain sells new stock China tires to this day, and some have had their belts separate. This is fresh stock, not something that was dumped before the Thanksgiving sales. I said it before and will say it again, being cheap is not always being smart. Follow the advice of the many pros in this field, and buy the best tire you can afford.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Duane on 09/29/09 at 13:13:29

I don't know if it is a big a problem with motorcycle tires but on cars you need to check the age of the tire. New in the store tires might be 5 years old or more. Tires do exspire from age as well as wear. Even if they have never been installed on a vehicle.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by Gort on 09/29/09 at 13:40:13

That applies to any motor vehicle tire.

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by KWKaletta on 10/02/09 at 07:44:19

Quote:

Thanks everybody,

I just ordered Dunlop Rear K555 140/80H-15 Blackwall Tire and the inner tube and rim strip from Dennis Kirk.

I already have a set of rear brakes don't know if I'll need them but I was thinking of changing them anyway!

I did start a conversation going with this one. :P

Title: Re: Flat at 55 Fun
Post by photojoe on 10/03/09 at 16:21:40

May as well do the rear brake shoes while you have the rear wheel off. Probably one of the most neglected parts, for the simple reason that you have to take the rear wheel off to get to them.