Author Topic: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire  (Read 6706 times)

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Offline Kev Nemo

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looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« on: August 25, 2008, 08:04:56 pm »
I have a CS Hi max that I'm trying to determine the age on. There's several #'s on the right hand side of tire including "075" and "C-906-2".

Any ideas?
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Offline MCRider

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2008, 08:12:05 pm »
I have a CS Hi max that I'm trying to determine the age on. There's several #'s on the right hand side of tire including "075" and "C-906-2".

Any ideas?
The make date should be in an oval following the letters "DOT". If its 4 digits in the oval, the first 2 are the week its made, the second two are the year. For example DOT (5004) would be the 50th week of 2004.
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Offline oldbiker

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2008, 12:19:33 am »
Right next to the little picture of the dinosaur.

Offline wildcatmahone

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2008, 03:30:48 pm »
You really should be lookin at the date when you tear those cheng shins off your bike.....go with some bridgestones avons or metzlers.... ;)

Offline mattcb350f

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2008, 03:43:18 pm »
You really should be lookin at the date when you tear those cheng shins off your bike.....go with some bridgestones avons or metzlers.... ;)

No way! you ride much slower with Cheng's under you which saves $ in fuel  :D

FWIW the HI-MAX is the higher end cheng shin tyre.

 Matt.
1974 CB350F,  1980 CB125S,  1981 XL80S
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Offline Kev Nemo

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2008, 06:05:16 pm »
Yeah-I have a Battleax on the rear so I'm looking to match the front as well. Just wanted to see what I was running on 'til my next check!

I've got DOT UYES 075 . Does that mean the damned thing is from 1975?!?
« Last Edit: August 26, 2008, 06:08:11 pm by Kev Nemo »
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Offline MCRider

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2008, 11:30:58 pm »
Yeah-I have a Battleax on the rear so I'm looking to match the front as well. Just wanted to see what I was running on 'til my next check!

I've got DOT UYES 075 . Does that mean the damned thing is from 1975?!?


Go here and scroll down to the dating protocol: http://www.aa1car.com/library/tire_expire.htm
Prior to 2000 it WAS 3 digits. 4 digits didn't start till after 2000. The UYES is a shift code (the working shift time when the tire was made.)
Looks like yours is the 7th week of 1995. Too old to be safe IMO. 5 to 6 years is the accepted max. 7 or 8 maybe, but chancey as rubber hardens and loses traction with age.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2008, 11:39:21 pm by MCRider1 »
Ride Safe:
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1988 NT650 HawkGT;  1978 CB400 Hawk;  1975 CB750F -Free Bird; 1968 CB77 Super Hawk -Ticker;  Phaedrus 1972 CB750K2- Build Thread
"Sometimes the light's all shining on me, other times I can barely see, lately it appears to me, what a long, strange trip its been."

Offline Kev Nemo

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2008, 09:59:15 am »
Yeah-I have a Battleax on the rear so I'm looking to match the front as well. Just wanted to see what I was running on 'til my next check!

I've got DOT UYES 075 . Does that mean the damned thing is from 1975?!?


Go here and scroll down to the dating protocol: http://www.aa1car.com/library/tire_expire.htm
Prior to 2000 it WAS 3 digits. 4 digits didn't start till after 2000. The UYES is a shift code (the working shift time when the tire was made.)
Looks like yours is the 7th week of 1995. Too old to be safe IMO. 5 to 6 years is the accepted max. 7 or 8 maybe, but chancey as rubber hardens and loses traction with age.

Thanks-all I needed to know :-\
Destroyed by Design since 2009 http://fallingapartart.com/

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Offline andy750

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2008, 01:28:40 pm »

FWIW the HI-MAX is the higher end cheng shin tyre.

 Matt.

So what does that mean? It cost $10 instead of $5?  ;)


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3. Yamaha Tenere T700 2022

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Offline jbailey

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2008, 05:06:16 pm »
I've had four cheng shins and can tell you that on a 30 year old bike they will outperform the antique suspension system.  Any tire made today will be better than what the state of the art was in 1975.  If you want Metzlers or Avons, you are only wasting your money.  On a new sport bike I would be on the other side of this discussion.

If any of you get Motorcycle Classics magazine, look closely and you will see quite a few CS tires.
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2005 Kawasaki ZG1000 Concours

Offline Kev Nemo

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #10 on: August 27, 2008, 07:07:15 pm »
I ended up ordering a Bridgestone Battleax to match the back-I like the tread-sorta semi-vintage/sport bikey.

Hopefully the new tire will sort out the weird hopping/bouncing on the front when I take a sharper turn ??? If nothing else, I feel better riding 60 miles at 70-80mph on a tire that I know is new.
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Offline dboblet

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2008, 08:44:08 pm »
I'm no tire expert but I love my Cheng Shins.  Then again, I'm not racing on them and I have totally stock suspension as well.  If I start stripping off weight and and converting it to a road race machine I'll reconsider my choice.  In the meantime, I'm pleased with thier performance and the hi-max's stick quite well and dependably in tight downhill curves at 70mph on the mountian roads up here. 
No matter where you go, there you are.

Offline low-side

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2008, 09:57:59 pm »
Not to hijack this thread and turn it into a discussion on tire preferences, but what the hell!  JBailey is right that almost any tire mad today is better than the tires these things had 30+ years ago.  I disagree that better tires are a waste of money.  The higher end tires mount up much easier, grip better, usually runout better, and generally last longer.  The only tire I would not reccomend to anybody are the vintage series through Duro.  They are scary!  You almost don't need tools to install the front, the rear is almost as flimsy, and they have absolutely no grip. 
     My personal tire preference is Kenda Challengers.  They are pretty cheap, but are heavy duty on the load side and grip very well and mount up easily.  My dad runs Avons.  They are pretty close on the grip side, but he gets much better life out of the rear than I do (riding style may factor into that though).

Offline andy750

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #13 on: August 28, 2008, 07:33:56 am »
Everyone has their tire preference and if you want to believe cheap made Chines tires are better than say Bridgestone or Avons then thats your opinion. Personally I take comfort in knowing that when Im leaning into that curve at speed my tires are going to stick and stick well as the pegs scrape the corner... and when it rains, I know they wont be slipping all over the place.... and I can ride on the highway at 85mph for 9hrs straight (as I did recently for Boston to Mid-Ohio) trip and know my tires wont complain. Spending $90 for a Bridgestone BT-45 is so worth the money to me. I got 16,000 miles on my last set of Dunlops and they were subjected to everything from desert riding, high speed canyon runs, mountain riding, autobahn riding at +100 mph, torrential downpours etc etc...I wouldnt (even if you said you could) do that on cheap chinese made tires. But good luck to you......for me this is my real world road-tested experience!  ;)

Odd that you dont see vintage racers using CS tires but instead they use modern sticky tires  ::)

For great real-world tire review go here:

http://users.metro2000.net/~cdc/magna/tech%20section%20and%20issues/the%20tire%20page/the%20tire%20page.htm


Have a good ride,

cheers
Andy

 
« Last Edit: August 28, 2008, 07:39:02 am by andy750 »
Current bikes
1. CB750K4: Long distance bike, 17 countries and counting...2001 - Trans-USA-Mexico, 2003 - European Tour, 2004 - SOHC Easy Rider Trip , 2008 - Adirondack Tour 2-up , 2013 - Tail of the Dragon Tour , 2017: 836 kit install and bottom end rebuild. And rebirth: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,173213.msg2029836.html#msg2029836
2. CB750/810cc K2  - road racer with JMR worked head 71 hp
3. Yamaha Tenere T700 2022

Where did you go on your bike today? - http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=45183.2350

Offline mattcb350f

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #14 on: August 28, 2008, 12:01:55 pm »

FWIW the HI-MAX is the higher end cheng shin tyre.

 Matt.

So what does that mean? It cost $10 instead of $5?  ;)


 :D .....actually a little more. $12  ;D

 Matt.
1974 CB350F,  1980 CB125S,  1981 XL80S
Non Honda's: 86 & 87 Husqvarna 400wr's

My CB350F resto: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=30467.0
Gallery at:
http://gallery.sohc4.net/main.php?g2_itemId=298318

Offline wildcatmahone

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Re: looking for make date on a Cheng Shin tire
« Reply #15 on: August 29, 2008, 11:17:56 am »
HAHA Nice one... :D