Shinko 009 Raven Radial Rear Motorcycle Tire 180/55-17 XF87-4047
EDIT TO ADD// I put 5231 miles on that Shinko tire before I mounted up another one. It’s THAT good. Now read on:
Ha! I bought this tire as an experiment…I’ve always ridden hypersport tires on the street and race tires on the track…and I’ve always steered WAAAY clear of Shinko… but I have an “old man bike” now (Yamaha FJ09/MT09/Tracer…whatever you call it in your country). The tire is good. In fact, it’s GREAT on my bike. I turn TC off every time I get on the bike (how the hell else am I supposed to do wheelies!?) and I run it in A mode (pure, un-ECU-flashed angry A-mode!).
I’m not slow. And this tire works.
Normally, I get around 1000 miles on a Pirelli Rosso 2 rear or about 1400 miles on a Dunlop Q3 rear… so far, I’ve put 600 twisty miles on this tire, and aside from striations and some minor tearing of the leading edge of the tread, it barely looks touched (the tearing is undoubtedly due to the stock shock being undersprung). I wanted to see if I could get a tire that would last me 3000 miles without being made of bowling ball material…this tire looks like it might be it!
I approached grip cautiously on this Shinko 009 Raven…I expected the worst. I imagined high-siding out of the local Starbucks parking lot the moment I turned the throttle even though my old man bike doesn’t really allow me to carry elbow dragging lean angles like I do on my spr0tbiles at the track…Alas no! Thus far, I’ve been pleased! I’ve even purposely spun it up just to see how it reacted and it’s smooth and predictable. It didn’t spin any sooner than a hypersport tire would.
Trust me, guys, I’m just as shocked to be writing this as you are to be reading it.
All that being said, I’ll be buying this rear tire for my FJ09 again (only $97 on Amazon) if it continues to perform as it has been. I will continue to run hypersport tires on the front of the FJ09, as fronts last me about 2500-3000 miles anyways and I won’t compromise front end grip, no matter the budget. I WILL NOT put these tires on my track bikes…and I’d be somewhat hesitant to put them on a street going hyperdupersupersport-leader-bike GSXR 600-750-1000 yut-ugh as well…mostly because of Shinko’s reputation, not because of real-world experience…
I’ll let you know if I end up upside down because of this tire later on. :D
Buy it here for cheap: Shinko 009 Raven Radial Rear Motorcycle Tire 180/55-17 XF87-4047
I got 800 miles from a rear Pilot 5 before a major slice ended it’s life. I went with Shinko Raven immediately afterwards, so I know the feel differential from one fresh tire to another. The Shinko felt a touch firmer carcass-wise. There seems to be no difference in grip. Once I get a new front on it, I will know more about the steering stability and groove tracking. I will go with the matching Shinko on the front too. I got tired (Bad pun) of the high prices!
Are you concerned at all about running completely different compounds front and back? Wouldn’t their relative traction change with changes in wet and or temp, resulting in shifting front-rear traction balance? I know this is a concern with cars…is it not with bikes?
Some may disagree, but I have zero concerns. I’ve been purposely running mismatched tires for hundreds of thousands of miles, mostly to get more even wear…
I always put sticky rubber up front, and harder rubber on the rear.