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Midwest Traction tire order

ancientdad

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While I realize that tires are apparently hard to come by as of late, this experience sucked from the standpoint of an internal company failure and a lack of seller information in the face of less than adequate availability.

I placed an order for tires for my 450, and unfortunately because of the front tire size it's challenging to get both tires in the same brand. I wanted a 90/90-19 for the front and a 100/90-18 for the rear. I like Shinko but they don't offer a 90/90-19, and not wanting to spend roughly $200 or more plus shipping (if it applies) for 2 Heidenaus I decided to get a Shinko 712 for the rear and the Heidenau K65 for the front. Midwest Traction in Iowa and Accessories International in Miami had the best prices on them and Midwest Traction offered free shipping on any order over $100. Accessories International was actually a little cheaper for the tires but no free shipping threshold, so the order would have been almost $40 more through them. So I placed the order with Midwest Traction, paid with PayPal and got the confirmation. Great... or so I thought.

A week goes by with no other email related to the purchase. Curious, so this morning I emailed the address shown in the PayPal purchase confirmation and it bounced back undeliverable. Now I'm starting to get aggravated. I went to their website and used their contact us to send them an internal email and included the invoice ID number. No reply for hours. My wife and I go out to run some errands and the usual litany of robocalls come in, but one of them leaves me a voicemail. Turns out the voicemail wasn't from a robocall, it was from Midwest Traction. The message said their online sales system wasn't properly communicating with their order system and he needed my information. No problem, I called them once we got home. (side note, when you're already aggravated at something, having to listen to someone's fairly lengthy voicemail 3 times just to get the full phone number someone rattles off at the very end and too fast to write down only adds to the aggravation, and he heard about that from me as well) So I get him on the phone and find out they don't have anything about my order except my name and how much of my money they got. Invoice ID be damned, apparently it gave them nothing about my order. So not only do they not have my address, they don't even know what I bought... but wait, there's more - when I told him what I'd ordered, he told me they don't have the Heidenau tire and have no idea when they will. So, they offer tires for sale that they know they don't have and can't get and they let you put them in the cart and actually pay for them before letting you know LATER, even when the system IS working properly. So if they actually had all my info, how would that have worked? Free shipping for orders over $100, yet the order would only have been about $60 for the Shinko rear and I gave them $164 for both... so they'd send me 1 tire and apologies (which, by the way, they weren't very forthcoming with any despite the whole fiasco being their system's fault) while charging me shipping for the one tire and then what, refunding me the rest? And as it turns out, the email address that bounced back was for an individual ([email protected]) and the guy I spoke to said that email address was tied to the lack of communication between halves of their online sales process. So apparently Joe is no longer with them (or other explanation the customer shouldn't have to be concerned with) and they didn't bother to tie up the loose ends while still taking orders that would sit there until the purchaser decided to find out what was going on.

Not the way to do business IMO.
 
I almost purchased my new Shinko tires, from them, Monday. I ended up going with Rocky Mountain ATV instead. You story makes me very glad I did, as my tires, tubes, and rim strips are already en-route!

Ancientdad - thanks for the post, I think info like this is very useful.

I have had great service from Rocky Mtn - lots of parts orders for the Z50 I am restoring, they have quick shipping and a web site that is pretty easy to negotiate for older bike parts.
 
Nope, it sure isn’t. Sorry you had to deal with it, but thanks for the heads up.


Tom - 1982 CM450E
(“Noob”, but learning fast!)

Tom, I looked at Chaparral Motorsports and though they didn't carry the 90/90-19 front tire in the Shinko 712 version, they did have it in the Shinko 250 which has a very similar tread pattern so I bought the pair from them, and free shipping. Hopefully the front tire's tread pattern and compound will be similar enough that it will feel about the same as the Shinko 712 rear tire which I've owned before and liked. Thanks for the tip. (y)

Oh, and hopefully their system will work properly too... :rolleyes:
 
^^^
Great to hear, Tom! I’m glad it worked for you, and I hope the tires live up to your expectations. I’m curious to hear how the shipping goes; there’s that extra 900 miles you know. As far as their computer system goes, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Tom - 1982 CM450E
(“Noob”, but learning fast!)
 
Well, the order was placed at 10 AM on Friday and I got a shipping notice at 7 PM Friday, hard to get any better than that. My biggest concern is the 250 tire vs the known-to-me 712 tire. While the tread patterns look similar, there's no way to know how it will feel on the front compared to the 712 rear tire but hopefully they'll be similar enough that it won't matter.
 
^^^
Yeah, same day shipping is always nice, especially since you ordered early in the day, even earlier on the west coast.

I had to look:

https://shinkotireusa.com/product/712/211902

https://shinkotireusa.com/product/250-tire/211904

As best I can tell the 712 and 250 look almost identical, with more sipes on the 250, which to me translates to better wet handling. Hopefully not at the expense of dry handling, since I’d imagine (like me) your bike stays dry and parked when it’s raining. Shinko’s description, however, notes the 712 has excellent wet handling.
For whatever it’s worth, I think you did okay; there isn’t anything that stands out to me , and at first glance I thought they were the same tire.
On a final note, this review is pretty funny if you haven’t read it:

https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/shinko-712-tire-review


Tom - 1982 CM450E
(“Noob”, but learning fast!)
 
Yes, the treads look very similar. Hopefully the feel will be the same too, and at least the proper width for the front - which was the biggest concern - will keep the handling the same as it has been with a bit higher confidence level in grip over the more ribbed tread on the existing Dunlop. Interesting review and I agree on the bike application. I did put a Shinko 712 on the rear of my V65, which basically equates to a V-Max, and it did just fine but I never went over 100 on the bike due to the lack of long straightaways without law enforcement around here and the ever-possible forest animal presence. My 450 will never push these tires to their limit so it was a solid choice for the bike, and I bought a pair of 712s for the 900F as well for the same reason as in stock form it doesn't come close to the horsepower the V65 had.
 
Patiently awaiting a review. [emoji846]


Tom - 1982 CM450E
(“Noob”, but learning fast!)
 
It'll be a while, I have too many things going on at the moment and only 1 lift. The red bike will get its tires first though as I'm planning (hoping) to go back to the mountains this fall with the 450 to do more riding with Chris. BTW, as for traction in the rain... I'll only find out if it ever accidentally happens to me, as I do not ever plan to ride the red bike in the rain. Ever. :)
 
Did you get the tires?

I did, and should have followed up saying so. They arrived about 3 days ago. There's a bit more difference between the tread patterns of the 712 and the 250, but they're both similar enough and are of a modern design that I think they'll be good together. And another learning experience was the validation of the 100/90-19 sizing vs the 90/90-19. I could have gotten both in the 712 tread pattern but the 100/90 would have certainly been too large for the front of the 450 as it's the stock size for the front of the 900F, and I was able to get both of those in the 712 pattern.
 
^^^
Good to hear on all counts, and fingers crossed the 250’s ride well.


Tom - 1982 CM450E
“Noob”, but learning fast.
 
I'll find out later this year after many other things get addressed beforehand. I plan to change both tires prior to our trip to the mountains in late October so they'll be ready to make the next ride in the twisties feel more comfortable, and honestly I'm quite sure these will definitely feel better than the K70 on the rear and the really-too-old stock replacement front tire still on the bike (I couldn't bring myself to put the other K70 I bought on the front after realizing the rear was a poor choice on my part). Really looking forward to riding more roads in upstate SC and southern NC again. And this year will be a departure compared to how we did both trips in 2019 when we rented the tall Transit van. I now have a carrier (which the late Don the vendor used to carry his Big Ruckus 250 which weighs 362 lbs by all accounts) so it will be on the back of my truck. I bought some auxiliary tail/stop lights to mount on the carrier and I'll be relocating my tag to it as well to avoid pissing off any out of state cops. It makes me a bit apprehensive having it hanging off the back of the truck right now, but people do this kind of thing all the time and the 450 weighs 346 so things should go as planned. I intend to devise a safety strap to slip in between the tailgate and the body in the event that one of the tie down straps comes loose, and of course I'll be strapping both wheels to the rail as well.

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Thanks, I'm just hoping I can get it to the mountains and back uneventfully. The smallish size of that square tube just makes me a little nervous.
 
Hauling the bike sideways down the road is what makes me nervous. Any reason for not hauling it in the truck box?
 
For 2 reasons really, but the primary reason is the low ride height of the bike and the high ride height of the truck bed. Only a ramp that is about double the regular length will allow me to get it up there without dragging bottom and I'd have to make one like that as I've never seen one sold that is any longer than about 3 feet more than a standard ramp. The other reason is the truck is a standard cab so all of our gear and luggage will be in the back under the pricey tonneau cover I bought for it.
 
I initially thought maybe another strap(s) from the carrier to rings mounted in the stake holes, but then you mentioned a bed cover. It looks nerve racking considering what you have in that motorcycle, but knowing Don used it without incident is a big help. No jumping R/R crossings! Sounds like you have a great trip planned; be safe & enjoy! We’ll watch for the report.


Tom - 1982 CM450E
“Noob”, but learning fast.
 
Yeah, Don used it on the back of his mini-motorhome for the Big Ruckus, so the main difference will be the amount of bouncing the rear end of the truck will do compared to the much heavier motorhome. The trip won't be until late October if all goes as planned, and I'll be posting from the cabin as there is supposed to be good internet there. I posted daily from Barber in 2018 using my phone as a hot spot for my laptop, so either way it will get done if at all possible. Now, as far as any video goes, that will depend on just how fast the speed is at the cabin but we'll be taking plenty of pictures.
 
What kind of hitch mount is that? Would you recommend it? It’s so difficult to get bikes in and out of the truck bed.
 
I really don't know much about it except that it has a Scooter Works sticker on it but there's nothing on that website about carriers. Not sure if Don bought it new, but I'd say it was unlikely as he was the swap/trade/buy-from-swap-meet kind of guy. I do know he hauled his Big Ruckus 250 on it and that puts the weight capacity in the middle 300 lb category. It also tilts to make loading onto it easier. The only thing I wish was different, though I don't think it would make any difference, is the distance away from the truck. The hitch section of the square tube is a little longer than I'd expect it to be, making it seem like all that weight is further behind the hitch receiver than it has to be but really, only about 6" to 8" since if it was any closer than that you'd have a hard time loading the bike without bumping the back of the vehicle (and there's a slight upward curve to the square tube right behind the receiver so you wouldn't be able to move it toward the truck much anyway even if you made a new hole for the hitch pin). To test it a bit, once I got the bike loaded I stood my 205 lbs on the square tube right next to the bike and jumped up and down a bit while in my driveway, couldn't feel any flex in it at all so I suppose it will be fine since that would have put the total weight at around 550 lbs.
 
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