Recommended front tire for a KPX 250
 

Does anyone have a recommendation for a front tire replacement for a KPX 250? Tire size is 90/90x21 and a 80/20 (Road/Offroad) tire is what I would prefer. Thanks.

Shinkos 705.

Thanks for the recommendation. I guess while I'm at it, what's a rear tire recommendation? It doesn't look like you can get a Shinko 705 in a 120/90-18.

The Skinko 700, which is what I have on my Hawk, is a great tire. Same compound and carcass as the 705, but ever so slightly more off road oriented. (70/30 tire). 3.0x21 front and 4.6x18 rear

I installed a Shinko 705 front tire. Taking off and installing the new front tire was much easier than I expected. I went ahead and replaced the tube with a 3 mm heavy weight tube just because. The shinko and stock tire tread patterns are very similar but are installed in opposite directions (The stock tire just shows installing in one direction and the Shinko is installed depending on whether its going on the front or rear wheel). The stock rim strip is pretty minimal and was starting to wear through in a couple of places so I installed a narrow strip of gorilla tape over the existing strip. Because of the abnormal wear pattern of the stock tire having run it for a few hundred miles at a lower pressure you can see that the leading edge of the tire pattern is the only contact surface and trailing edge is at the replacement point. Going forward I'll be sure to check tire pressures more often.

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I put the Gorilla Tape under the rim strip, directly on the spoke bases. Probably the Chinese rim strips are not top quality either.

I don't think the original rim strip would have survived being removed and re used and gorilla tape seems more durable so I left well enough alone.

My speedometer has always indicated my speed as being 3 mph faster than GPS but with the Shinko there's now only a 2 mph difference. Hoping with the additional tire tread thickness and maintaining proper pressure, I can get over 10k miles out it.

I have been running a Shinko 705 on the front of my Hawk for the last 8,000 miles and it's been a beast. It's nowhere near in need of replacement, so 705s for the win!

I just put on shinko 700's on my TT. The rounded edges vs the stock tires was such a huge difference it almost felt off balance until I got used to it. Then the figure 8's in 2 parking spaces were suddenly easy as pie. Multiple ARC moto courses also lended a hand in that :)

Besides the new tire and the bike itself, I like getting my annual insurance bill.

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I installed a heavy duty (3mm) tube when I installed the new tire, not a good idea. The front end starts to shimmy over 45 mph and its like riding with a solid front tire. Put in a regular weight tube and the front end feels much better now.