Cheng Shin? Good Or Bad?

M

Motor Mouth

New member
I've got 6300 miles on the stock Bridgestone Exedra rear tire. I've heard many negative things about Bridgestone, but this is my first bike since high school, so I have nothing to compare the performance of Bridgestone tires to. I found the Cheng Shin price appealing, but I'm also a firm believer in " you get what you pay for". So how does Cheng Shin tires perform? Specifically the Barracuda Sport Touring tire.
 
I've had no problems with my Bridgestones. As a matter of fact that's what I've been running on my last 3 bikes. I'm not sure about cheng Shins. Back when I originally looked at them, they were pretty crappy. And you do get what you pay for. I'd say don't skimp when it comes to tires. I bought one once when I was broke and needed a tire. It didn't last too long, probably about half the lifetime of a Bridgestone.
 
You are right- you get what you pay for. Bargain-basement brands like Cheng Shin and Kenda wear out quickly.
The OEM Bridgestones are pretty crappy, being chosen for their price and availablilty, not their performance and longevity. Upgrading to better tires will greatly improve handling- you will be absolutely blown away by the difference. I rate the stock Bridgestones at 5 out of 10 for handling, 5 out of 10 for wet weather, and 5 out of 10 for tread life, so I never use them once the set that came on the bike wear out.
Metzeler ME880s are my personal choice, as I give them a 9 out of 10 for handling, 8 out of 10 for wet weather handling, and 10 out of 10 for tread live. But they are pricey. Dunlop 404s are my choice for a low-cost tire: I give them an 8 out of 10 for handling, 8 out of 10 for wet weather, and 6 out of 10 for tread life, and they cost a LOT less than Metzelers. I give Avon Venoms a 10 out of 10 for handling, 7 out of 10 wet weather, but only a 5 out 0f 10 for tread life, making then a great high-dollar choice for racing but a poor choice for a daily driver.
 
I've got about 10K on my Avons so far....I think the front has another 8K left....the rear, maybe another 6K if I keep an eye on the pressure. :)

So, my personal ratings, I'd give the Avons 10/10 handling, 8/10 wet, and 8/10 for tread life. :)
 
I got 15k out of my rear tire, around 21 on my front. Are the metzlers longer life? Mine seemed to handle pretty well. Handles a lot better with the progressive springs though.

I ride every day, rain or shine. 116 out yesterday. Do the metzlers or dunlops come in white walls?
 
Yes, both come in white walls in most sizes. I find the Metzelers last substantially longer than the Bridgestones, as long as 22,000-24,000 for a rear. The fronts always have plenty of life left, but I always change them as a set, so I have no idea how long a front would last. They just ride and handle SO much better than the Bridgestones, I'd buy them even if the mileage was the same.
 
I got 12k out of my factory IRC's. I'm picking the bike up today...just bought some $100 tires to see how long they last (some brand I never heard of). If they are really that bad I'll get a real set...Dunlaps or Bridgestone, but I wanted to see what I would get going cheap.
 
I don't have any experience with the Pirellis, but I recently bought a set of the 404's for my M50 and I'm real happy with them. They seem like a pretty good tire for the money. Great handling tires. They were a big improvement over the OEM IRC tires which they replaced. Just my $.02 worth.
 
I put on a set of the Cheng Shin tires. Two observations;

The tire material is so soft you can easily leave an impression with your fingernail.

The front tire had the rotation marked wrong! Had the tire been put on according to the rotation arrow, the tread design would have shoved water to the center of the tire rather than away from the center!

The tires ran smooth enough and cornering on twistys is a breeze, but I don't expect to get more than a few thousand miles on them.

Want a cheap set just to get you by? Or, do you want something that'll last? As the old Fram commercial said, "Pay me now or pay me later!". Buy 1 set of tires for 10 to 12 thousand miles or buy 3 to 4 sets of Cheng Shin tires and get around 3 K per set. Where is the savings??

CD
 
The Bridgestone stock tires seemed just fine on my S83 until they put rain groves on the hi-way I travel on. The stock tires would follow the groves really bad (traintracking). I replaced them at about 6500 miles with Dunlop 404s and it was a tremendous improvement. Made a huge difference.
 
Research the 880's before you purchase. There have been many that had problems with the Brazalian Mfg. tires, including ones that I had that were replaced with Dunlops 404's at only 600 miles. See my other post for pictures, info. Yes, they handle and do everthing others have said better than Dunlops or the oem's. But they have problems to deal with before I will ever buy another set, and Metzeler admits to nothing, and blames everyone else for
their problems.
 
The $100 tires I got, is the Bridgestone Exedra.

So far they seem fine, but I'm still scrubbing them. Already went through a good rain with them...traction could have been better.

But paying $300 bucks for new tires, including the mounting & balancing...isn't so bad either.
 
In the thread that discussed the cracking, everyone who experienced it had white wall tires, correct? If no one has reported cracking on black walled tires, I would have no problem getting a set of black Metzelers. Unless of course you are boycotting Metzeler, which is perfectly understandable, but I think you should mention as many facts as you know.
 
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