I have been riding my Lagenda 115ZR for about a month with Shinko Evo SR877 and the results is great.
In one sentence I can say; Shinko SR877 makes me drive faster because it grips and make stopping better.
This tyre has made me ride better since the tyre is grippy and this helps greatly in accelerating and stopping. There is one situation that I have encounter while I was riding my bike near the traffic light road that proven the grip of this tyre. A bus have stopped abruptly in front of me while I was following it closely to overtake it, at that time the space on the right can’t be used since there is a car there so, what I can do is to brake as hard as I can and hope the bike will stop. And yes, the bike stops well without any skidding and the danger is aborted. I think this is due to the medium-soft compound used for this Shinko Evo SR877. With that in mind, I don’t mean for you to do this while using Shinko tyre or any tyre that matter since that is the situation is not planned. Drive safely and always wear the helmet!
Before installing this tyre, I have sent my bike to get the tyre changed to Shinko SR877, but the mechanic there inflate the tyre way above the recommended pressure that is 330kPa for the front tyre and 360kPa for the rear. What really dangerous by having to much tyre pressure is that you will lose grip from the tyre especially on the wet road condition since overinflated tyre have very little tyre contact to the road. I have checked the manual instruction from the manual book that comes with the bike to check the proper pressure and found that it only need 200kPa for the front and 225kPa for the rear.
Anyway, after further riding with this tyre, I found out the best tyre pressure for the front is 220kPa and 230kPa for the rear. What I can feel with this tyre pressure is that it give a good balance for straight line acceleration and great cornering confidence. The feedback for the tyre are great and very controllable, added with superb handling of Yamaha Lagenda 115ZR, I personally this is the most balanced combination. Great for grip and great for durability. This is based on my preference of riding so, you can have difference opinion about this tyre pressure.
Braking
Since the tyre is using medium soft compound, the braking is great. I can stop faster and can apply harder brakes without skidding. Anyway, every tyre has it limit, so, don’t try to brake very hard on this tyre over its limit.
Speed and stability
I have been riding with this tyre for medium distance riding (110km) and the tyre really works well. The top speed of my bike is only at 105km/h and on that speed, the stability of the tyre are great. It maintains the straight line perfectly with minimal vibration (this can also be contributed from the correct tyre pressure as overinflated tyre will feel very bumpy). If motorcycle wheel are like car wheel, that can be balanced using a machine (balancing), I think it would be a much smoother ride on high speed. Cub prix bikes like the one by SCK Motor uses balancing to get better rolling balance of the wheels.
Handling and cornering
Yamaha Lagenda 115ZR in my opinion is already a superb handling bike. So, by using this Shinko Evo SR877 tyre, the difference is minimal. The cornering are still great and the handling are still confidence as ever. The problem is I’m afraid I just might got to be overconfident.
I’m not a professional rider that have the authority to tell whether this tyre is recommended for you or not. I’m just a biker that I think like most of MM readers. A biker that uses bike everyday to go to work or class, not a racer, but care for their ride. So, in my humble opinion this tyre by Shinko with the model name of Evo SR877 are as good as what I required.
This review are made based on my knowledge about tyres and bikes, so, if my opinion differs that you all, I hope that can be taken as a compromise. If you have anything to add or ask, just comment it on the comment from below.
Happy riding!
To buy this tyre online, you can contact Yoshi Marketing here: sales@yoshimarketing.com
UPDATE (16/05/2011): Yoshi Marketing is giving away a set of tyre in the size of 70/90-17 and 80/90-17 in our MotoMalaya FB Fan Page. Check it out!
For more information, read my previous post about Shinko Evo SR877 here:
1. Preview: Shinko EVO SR877 70/90-17 and 80/90-17 Motorcycle Tyre
2. Shinko Evo SR877 Tyre on Yamaha Lagenda 115ZR Random Pictures
