No more Cheng Shin tubes for me

[Stan Walker]

My F650 had a flat rear tire. The Cheng Shin aftermarket innertube I bought a year or so ago had a defect that failed after a year and let all the air escape.

 

Apparently during the manufacturing of the rubber used in the tube a hole was repaired by patching in a another small piece of rubber, about 1/2 inch in diameter. Not an overlapping patch, a butt joint. This patch failed along one edge.

 

So much for cheap innertubes. I should have known better.

 

Stan

[FrankT]

Stan,

FWIW, I've only used Continental, Metzeler, or Michelin tubes and never had a problem with any of them. I understand the Continental and Metzeler tubes are made from natural rubber and as a result tend to leak air over time through the tube sorta like osmosis so you hafta check air pressure religiously. Not sure re Michelin but they don't leak as fast as the others.

[jrbldr]

Stan,

FWIW, I've only used Continental, Metzeler, or Michelin tubes and never had a problem with any of them. I understand the Continental and Metzeler tubes are made from natural rubber and as a result tend to leak air over time through the tube sorta like osmosis so you hafta check air pressure religiously. Not sure re Michelin but they don't leak as fast as the others.

 

Anyone tried nitrogen, to slow the loss of pressure?

[steveknapp]

So much for cheap innertubes. I should have known better.

 

Duh!

 

Safety tip for you, don't buy their tires either.

[Stan Walker]

Anyone tried nitrogen, to slow the loss of pressure?

 

I'm passing on this one..... someone else can let the air out of the above

 

 

 

Safety tip for you, don't buy their tires either.

 

Point taken. I'm hamering it home too!!

 

Stan

[AdventurePoser]

So much for cheap innertubes. I should have known better.

 

Duh!

 

Safety tip for you, don't buy their tires either.

 

Steve,

 

Do you have personal experience with this tire? I was more or less "forced" to buy a rear Cheng Shin for my VFR in Flagstaff last month...

 

So far it's wearing well, heats up quickly, and sticks like glue in the twisties!

 

Cheers,

Steve in So Cal

[Stan Walker]

I was more or less "forced" to buy a rear Cheng Shin

 

Let us hope they do a better glue job on a tire than they did on my tube. Tires are largly held together with glue. Their glue didn't hold on my tube but maybe they use better glue on the tires.... maybe.

 

Plus I'd like to know why they are shipping tubes with repairs already done at the factory. Do they do that with tires too? Do you already have several plugs inserted in your tire to fill leaks found in the factory?

 

Bad policy on their part. Luckily for me it went flat in my garage, not 50 miles down some dirt road.

 

Stan

[steveknapp]

Do you have personal experience with this tire?

 

I've never bought one, no. Many have cautioned me away. Then again maybe things have changed with em. Last I looked they made old-tech tires for older bikes. At least that's what I've seen stocked.

[Chrish1234]

I had some cheap, Chinese made tires on my 22' trailer. They came with it new, I'm not sure if it was Cheng Shin or some similar Asian name.

 

Anyway, the tires held for all of about 300 miles. The 4 tires were rated to hold a total of 14k lbs, they were never loaded beyond 8-9k. The sidewalls failed completely folding up both outboard tires in a turn.

 

No more cheap imports for me

 

I don't know if it's the same for MC's, but I think tires are one of those "you get what you pay for" kind of things.

 

Chris

[leikam]

Steve, I've run Cheng Shins in the past and they didn't age well at all. Perhaps their performance has improved, but I would only run them as a last resort. Hopefully you'll replace yours before they give you trouble.

[Global_Rider]

So much for cheap innertubes. I should have known better.

 

When you go to really remote places, you think about the quality of your tubes.

 

I use either the Michelin or Pirelli MX/Enduro tubes...much thicker rubber. When you put them next to regular tubes, the difference is apparent.

[AdventurePoser]

Exactly what I plan to do...being stuck in Flagstaff with a rear tire that was nearly new 1500 miles earlier and now was almost to the cord was not good!

 

The only tire the local sport bike shop had in stock that would fit my VFR was a Cheng Shin. While it seems to be performing well, when the front Michelin Pilot Sport goes, so goes the rear...

 

I'll probably put on a set of Pilot Roads or MEZ 4s!

 

Cheers,

Steve

[sgendler]

Anyone tried nitrogen, to slow the loss of pressure?

 

I'm passing on this one..... someone else can let the air out of the above

 

Nothing to let out. Nitrogen has larger molecules than some of the other gases contained in air, hence, it doesn't leak as much (at all, according to some). I believe costco and some other tire companies fill tires with nitrogen now, and they use special valve caps (green), so that folks at quick lube type places know not to check the pressure and/or refill with air. According to costco, there is no need to check tire pressure with a nitrogen filled tire. I haven't bought tires there, so I haven't tested the theory.

 

Additionally, if more pressure means greater leakage, then using a totally dry bottled gas such as nitrogen will be better than compressed air containng a quantity of water vapour, which will change volume (hence, pressure) with temperature.

 

--sam

[Gary S]

Until recently I worked for a major airline here in Minnesota and on aircraft only nitrogen is used. No matter what, nitrogen does leak, so not checking your tire pressure is running a risk you don't want to run.