2019 Yet another set of Shinko 705s for the Versys

My maintenance records say that the last set of Shinko 705s I mounted was last fall after coming back from Quebec with some bubbling on the 170 rear. After our last jaunt to Saint Martin's New Brunswick, the bike was telling me it was due for replacement as the rear tire no longer was tracking perfectly with the front, probably because I'd worn a nice flat spot down the center, and the tread on the shoulders was not perfectly flat, but bulged here and there, so it made fast cornering rather more interesting than I care for, a bit greasy in fact, and when I laid her over a bit, it slipped out in some gravel and I thought I was going to have to change both the rear tire and my shorts, not necessarily in that order.

10,000 km on the Shinko 705 tire

My colleague Daine with my order from FortNine.ca

I've been having some second thoughts about riding on the 705 series, as my girlfriend rides a Honda Shadow cruiser, and does quite well following me down the dirt and clay roads, so in theory if I were to adopt a more road oriented tire, I'd get less vibration and a larger contact patch for cornering, but if you recall when I picked up that nail about 6,000 kilometres ago in my rear tire, I bought a new 170 Shinko 705 just in case, so it only made sense to match it with a 120 front to end out the season with our two week 5,000 kilometer ride to Ontario and back.

Rock Straps are a win to get this tire home. 

This shot clearly shows some of the uneven wear that is happening, and I think the tire could have lost it's balance as it was wearing unevenly around it's circumference. 

 Now that the rims had to come off at last, it was time to catch up on a bit more maintenance:

• Oil & Filter change
• New EBC brake pads all around
• Cable and lock lubrication

Pitbull stands make this job a whole lot easier!

Now that the new rubber has been mounted, it was time to hit the road and head to Montague for the Red Isle Riders bike night! 

2016 Time for a new rear tyre

The Michelin Pilot Road 4s didn't last as long as I had hoped, and this spring I was on the wear bars, so I went with a Continental Trail Attack2 rear, and later on will swap out the front.

I think I got approximately 12000 km off the rear, and hope to get 16000 off the new rear tire.

I also took the opportunity to perform an oil and filter change, Rotella T6 Synthetic and Fram oil filter, both from Wally Mart. 

If the weather is conducive tomorrow, I'll be able to head out and burn off that mold release agent on the tire. 

Have a good one! 

Continental Trail Attack2

Why the rag? A young racer taught me this trick when putting your rear wheel back on. Once the axle shaft is in and the chain slipped back on, run a rag over the chain and into the sprocket to pull the axle tight up against the stops on both sides before tightening the axle. It works great which means I spend less time with wrenches in my hands and more time in the saddle.

I like to record the mileage when I install tires

I hope to have a review on how long this rear lasts me, so check back for that.

Available at Wally Mart

Both the oil and filter I use with my Versys are available at Wally Mart, which makes for convenient one stop shopping. I'm currently running Rotella T6 15w40 Synthetic in the Versys, after I fell in love with using the Rotella 15w40 in my old KLR 650 and DR650E.

Later that weekend I work on my chicken strips...

Chicken Strips, Prince Edward Island Style