This must be the year of the tire. I have purchased more tires this year than in the previous 3 years. However, they were all purchased for good reason. The Avon Distanzia tires on the GS were well beyond their “use by” date, and since I was contemplating taking the bike to the national meet in Sedalia, I could not risk them at sustained highway speeds. I needed some dual sport tires that could travel 1000 miles, participate in offroad events, and then make it 1000 miles home. After looking around and reading a bunch of reviews, I settled on Shinko 705s. Many reviewers had changed to them after Distanzias and were reporting great wear, great traction, and great value.
They arrived a few days later and on they went. After taking it easy for about 20 miles, I began to lean a little further. They held their line quite well, and were a marked improvement over the Distanzias. More compliant and a little less noisy on pavement. I did a little bit of gravel just to get them scuffed up a bit. So far, so good.
