***Product Review*** Shinko Apex 010 Sport Radial Tires

[Rev. That Guy]

OK so this is the first in a series of product reviews that I am going to post up. I like to venture outside of the realm of the "Big" brand products from time to time in an effort to find good value in certain products. Being a budget oriented rider, sometimes (more often than not) I just can not afford to get the latest and greatest parts or products, as much as I would like to. That being said, hopefully this series of reviews can help new riders and those like me, on a budget, to make some decisions that can help them stay on the road. I will try and make these as objective as I can. I am very much not brand loyal and don't have any problems pointing out the flaws of a certain brand just as much as I do the good bits. So here goes.... (I will try and keep consistent format for each review that I do). I don't have any affiliation with any company or brand that I am reviewing.

My Background:
Im 30 years old and have been riding since about 14 years old on the dirt and in the yard, then once i turned 16, I would beg and plead to ride buddies bikes on the street. I purchased my first bike in 2001, a 95 CBR600F3 full track bike that I converted back to street and have been riding ever since. I have owned nearly any type of bike you can think of from the Various vintages of CBR 600s, to Ninja 250s to a BMW R1200GS and R1200RT, a Victory hammer S, Hondas, Yamahas, Suzukis, Kawis, and most recently my MV Agusta and RC51. Sport bikes, standards, cruisers, dirt bikes, dual sports and everything in between including ATVs. I consider myself a confident and proficient rider and those that know me know that while I am not the fastest rider out there, I am certainly no slouch either. I have done many track days in the past but nothing recently but the foundation is there. I know my way around a bike with a wrench and have done nearly everything from engine rebuilds to frame up restorations. Hopefully this speaks to my credentials and credibility here. That being said, all of the opinions expressed are simply that, MY opinion. Your mileage may vary and your riding style and preferences may be different from mine.



Shinko 010 Apex Sport Radial Tires


A little info about Shinko. Shinko is a Japanese tire company with manufacturing in South Korea and China that has been making tires since 1946 - mostly bicycle tires and tubes but recently motorcycle tires. When Yokohama shut down its MC tire manufacturing in 1998, Shinko purchased the molds, tooling and compound formulas from Yokohama to produce motorcycle tires, manufacturing exclusively in S. Korea with design and engineering in Japan.

My Bike: 2002 Honda RVT1000 RC51

Initial Impressions:
I paid $215 shipped to my door. It is a good looking tire! That combined with price is what initially drove me to the Shinko tires. I tried a set of Shinko bias ply tires on my cruiser and couldn't ever see myself going back, I love so much, so I figured lets give them a go on the sport bike. They are a nice aggressive tread pattern and seem to be well built. Two things I did notice right out of the gate was that they were heavy, about 20% heavier than the Michelin tires I took off. This might be a big deal to some, but for me and my riding (mostly commuting and around town) this was a non-issue. The second thing, and I was actually happy about this, was the nice stiff sidewall. The construction felt a lot like the older Dunlop Q2 tires in the stiff sidewall. Very touring tire like. The Michelins I took off had a very soft and flexible sidewall and while that has its advantages, it also can be troublesome in terms of road feedback, or lack there of. Either way, I had em and it was time to mount them. To my surprise, they mounted quite easily even with the stiff sidewalls. This might prove to be an issue on the dismount later but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. The rear took about 55 PSI to seat the bead while the front took about 45 PSI.

The tires mounted and full of air, I spun them to balance them. Also to my surprise, there was absolutely ZERO runout on the tires. Nearly perfectly round. Rarely have I seen that. perhaps I just got a fluke set that were good? Maybe not though. Anyway, spun some more and the rear took about 3/4 of an ounce to balance out. Front took just a hair over a half ounce. Not bad. Not great but not bad.

Slapped the wheels on the bike and went for a ride. Cautiously I rode around for about 2 or 3 miles to start wearing the slick off the tires. Honestly, they didn't feel slick at all. Also surprised there so I decided to take them through Red Rock to try them out. Pulled through the gate with 12 miles on the tires and proceeded through the loop, running maybe at 75% my normal pace, gradually increasing my pace as I went along. Everything felt really good. I could certainly tell they were new tires still and with any tire change, you have to spend some time to learn the tires a bit so I chalked the feeling up to that.

As I rode it, a few important things to note: I can definitely feel the extra weight of the tires. For me this was not a huge deal as my bike (2002 RC51) is slightly lethargic anyway in the corners. For street riding I see this as no consequence to anyone really. The bike still leaned just fine, and seemed to stick pretty good. No real signs of slippage once warmed up. To me, this is adequate for street riding. Another thing to note is that they tires did not track at all on the grooved pavement. This is something I have fought with since moving to Vegas with all my bikes but these tires seem to do really well.

Overall, after about 50-60 miles, the tires felt fully broke in and fairly stable and solid. Feedback was really nice for the most part. Braking feedback left a little to be desired but cornering feedback was EXCELLENT. Even with the slick new tires, I could feel exactly what the tire was doing and what it wanted to do before it did it. This to me is a big deal and I am very happy about that. I think this is due to the stiffer sidewalls as mentioned earlier. The Michelins I took off had very soft sidewalls and, for me and my bike anyway, provided almost NO feedback at all in the corners. There was gobbs of grip with the Michelins - until there wasn't. The Shinkos let me know when I was beginning to do something they didn't want to do and I was able to make corrections.

UPDATE - 600 miles:
OK, so I know this is a little premature, but meh, sometimes I have the problem. LOL. Anyway, so far so good on the tires. I have gotten used to riding them now and how they feel and honestly, I cant imagine paying more for tires for the purposes that I use them for. The tires are fully broke in and feel pretty good. There is no notable wear to them at all and they still look like new, minus the "hairs." I have run them within about 2mm of the edge of the tire so far.

Some things to consider at this point. The tires do need to be warmed up before pushing them. Its not bad but it can catch you by surprise if your not ready for it. I noticed this was the case especially on decel downshifts. dropping hard into 2nd or 1st from about 40-50 and I would get a little squiggle out of the tail. Nothing significant but worth mentioning. They do heat up quite quickly though. Within about 3-5 minutes of riding they are good to go. I am comfortable pushing them through Red Rock or anywhere else just as hard as I did my Michelins. I have had one little let go on the rear but it was a hard accel downshift through a corner and the rear stepped out on me about 4 inches. This was more my riding than the tires as I have done that with all tires I have run. The tire recovered very smoothly and nicely and it was not an issue.

UPDATE - about 2500 miles:
So far, so good. I am very happy with these tires to date. The rear is starting to show a bit of wear but not a whole lot. The front still looks new. I suspect at this rate, with mixed highway and twisties, I will get about 5000-6000 miles out of the rear, maybe more. Not great, but for the money, not bad at all. I have killed much more expensive tires in less time.

For what it is worth, I am consciously avoiding as much highway as I can with them as to not flat-spot them - which is inevitable with any sport bike tire and highway riding, but I'm working to minimize it.

The lack of tread/rain grooves on the tire to begin with, I think, contributes to the more extended wear that I am seeing as it is just more surface area to have to wear down so that's a positive for me. Still no wet riding with them of any significance so I still can not speak to that. Traction is still great and the tires seems to be holding air fine for the most part. My front tire was 2lbs low but that is the first time I have had to put air in the tires since mounted so that's pretty good.

I still recommend these tires 100% for someone looking for a good, aggressive street tire.

Overall impressions:
If you are looking for new tires, definitely don't discount the Shinkos right away. I am very happy so far with my selection of tires and assuming mileage is decent (5k miles and I will be ecstatic). For the money, if you ask me, they cant be beat. Money aside, they are a very capable contender to the big brand tires. Are there better tires out there? Absolutely. Are there better tires out there for around $200 for a F/R set? Absolutely NOT - at least in terms of usability and traction. Again, Mileage will determine the real value here and I will update this post when I have more miles on the rubber.

For the average street rider that tools around town and has the occasional spirited ride through the twisty bits, these make a great, affordable alternative to the pricier tires. Again, they are not for everyone, but they are more than adequate for most.

Would I run these on a track? Im not sure just yet. There are definitely better track tires out there mainly due to the weight, but in all honesty, Yes, I think I would run these on the track. Im not sure I would push them as hard as say a Q3 or other high dollar track tire, but again, for the average rider and occasional track day guy, I would say these are a pretty good tire. Lastly, would I recommend these tires to other street riders? Absolutely.

The Breakdown (On a scale of 1-5):
Price: 5 (excellent price point)
Dry Traction: 4-4.5
Wet Traction: N/A (no wet weather riding yet)
Braking Feedback: 4 (front) / 3 (rear)
Cornering Feedback: 4.5 (very predictable)
Tread Wear: 4 (so far) / N/A (overall)
Overall Value: 4.5 (so far) / N/A (overall)

Hope some of you find this useful. I have a few more product reviews I am going to be posting in the next few days.

- Justin

[tomy]

That's a nice review justin.

[jZon]

tomy don't actlike you actually read that

[tomy]

Got nuthing else to do.

[Dougk35]

Yeah, nice review.

[kgav8r]

Escellent review, thanks for that and thanks for the update. Now that it has been a few months, I was wondering if you have a second update? I am Strongly condidering this tire and have found a few reviews out there, but not much info on mileage. I have seen anywhere from 2k to 9k. Are you still riding them and what kind of mileage have you gotten? Thanks!

[Rev. That Guy]

Updated!

- J

[the falcon]

I've been looking at the 005 Shinko for my next set on the Busa. 175. Shipped for both

[Obviouslykk]

Hmm I need to pick up some of these .

[ars0n]

Nice Review!