new tire that WIll work!

The coker is just soft the wear was even and square, no cupping just wore it down almost smooth!

Ran the formoza tire today for the first time, rained cats and dogs the tire had no problems. It is short but that lowers the gearing so it isn't bad for my sportster wich is pulling a sidecar. The biggest complaint is the loss of clearence. but I had already installed 16" rear shocks so it is still doable.

Try www.universaltire.com for a Austone Taxi 175r16 it is listed as 26.9" which is just a little tall found it on this site in another listing. Supposedly a very heavy duty tire. search this site for more info.

Also try www.tirerack.com for 175/60r16 bridgestone turanza EL-400-2

Both were listed as on hand last night!

That's the worst mileage I've seen for ANY CT and would be really sorry on a MT too! I gotta wonder; do you do
burnouts every time you leave the house? Or maybe it's this: the tire is just expected to be used on antique
show cars and not do any real travel...?
I would be ticked. This is horrible.

The info when I bought it was, it was a little soft but.... I do not do burn outs but I do ride hard, both me and my monkey(sdecar passenger/wife) leaning hard and using brakes to make turns so the tire has slide sideways many times. The riders living around here say the roads are rough and short tire life is not unusual!

It was a good experince/experiment, first time with a CT and found what will fit under a sportster.

I noticed today that the wheel is warm/hot to the touch, not as hot as the brake rotor but hot!

It was hot when I last drove it with the coker on it but I thought it might be the worn tire, now I'am not so sure!

The axel also had a brown coloring in the light grease coating, when I changed the tire, no burn smell just a brown coloring. The bearings seem to be ok, no latteral movement, they turn by hand and feel the same on each side!

But could I be loosing a wheel bearing??????

Better safe than sorry. Cheap to replace, as long as you do not get the Harley branded ones.

To ROBSATX: Hows that 550 Coker tire holding up on your Road King? With the report of the 500 Coker being bald at 4000 miles on the Sportster, I think several of us would like an update. Thanks.

I see from Coker's website that the 550 has a cross section width of 5.9" (=150mm) and a diameter of 26.5"

I'm looking to buy a bike but I know Harleys are so much money and I don't have a lot of cash. Don't want to finance for one so what would be my best bet. Any suggestions people?

Dan! The Austone is the ONLY one left over here in tha' YooEssUvAyyy. Universal tire 175/16, same as the Vredestein, but some of the guys figured it out to be even a bit taller, like about a 78 aspect instead of the 75 of the Comtrac. I'm totally ready for it - my buds report that somehow, magically, it's even BETTER than the Comtrac they wore out eventually.
I have 18k on my Comtrac with 3mm in the center to the wear bars and 5+ away from the center - 36 may have been a little too much pressure, although it WAS really sweet, 2up or solo, loaded with trailer and in the mountains hammering the boards into the pavement.
edit: oh, snap! Didn't notice a second page.

tenpoun1 wrote:I'm looking to buy a bike but I know Harleys are so much money and I don't have a lot of cash. Don't want to finance for one so what would be my best bet. Any suggestions people?

Right now Harleys are like houses - it's a buyer's market, so now is your chance. I saw a low mileage fatboy go for 8k with a ton of chrome on it. Do some hunting.

I had to deal with a friends mental illness problem the past several months which took me off this issue. It also mean't I didn't ride much and my OEM Dunlop still has a few thousands miles left on it. Even though it's still hunting season, I've got more time to get back on this issue. There's an independant tire dealer near where I live with a Road King for sale out in the parking lot. I'm going to stop in there and see if he'll import a tire from Europe. I'll take my list of about a dozen 175 x75 x16 tires that are only available in Europe and see if he'd be interested in being an importer. I've read one report that the Continental Vanco is very good on a cycle. Anybody got any other evidence that any other brand of tire (other than the Austone) in 175 is good on a cycle? What I guess I'm getting at is, if he is willing to import 1 brand, which one should I ask for? I'm thinking Continental Vanco2 or Toyo H08, Goodyear Cargo G26, Bridgestone R630, Avon AV9Van tire, or Pirelli Chrono, but Michelin, Firestone, Hankook, Kumho, and others all make tires in 175.

I'm waiting for a response to see how well a Coker 550 worked on on another cycle this summer. After hearing that the Coker 500 wore out on the Sportster at only 4000 miles, I'm leary of anything by Coker.

How do you calculate aspect ratio? I don't know what it is on the Coker/Universal Stahl Sport Radial 550 x 16.

Will the 175R/16 fit your bike?
If it will, no need to import the tire. You can get it right here, I've seen it cheaper so check around for a lower price.
http://onlyoldiesgarage.com/xcart/product.php?productid=17220

ROD

Well Rod, we're aware of the Austone; and it has some really good reports. I just want to find out if theres anything else that can be made available. I suspect that importing from Europe will increase the price per tire by quite a bit. But I'd like to see real numbers on costs before I quit searching.
The Austone has a speed rating of Q, which is 99mph. The salesman at Universal tire said that there is a manufacturers recommendation that it should only be taken up to 87mph. I don't get that fast very often and then only for a millisecond, but maybe a tire with a better rating, like the Continental Vanco 2, with a T rating, i.e. 118mph, (also an 8ply rating like the Austone) might be an option. The Toyo H08 has an S rating, i.e. 112 mph. Again highter, presumably better (I really don't know). I don't know what the costs would be. None of the European tire dealers that I tried to contact ever replied to me. So---the search goes on. I've got the time.

By now I thought everyone knew of the Austone at Universal tire. Good reports so far. Very good.

Read what Dan Koich wrote on Wed Nov. 30, 2011 10:24 pm. I don't know what the costs would be. None of the European tire dealers that I tried to contact ever replied to me. I ran across this on Ebay. 3 Federal 175/75 R16C 109R tyres - New -- Price: GBP 169.99 Approximately US $265.71 BUY IT NOW - So I contacted them about how much it would cost to ship to my zip code. Reply was -- Due to size and weight the Courier price via Fed Ex is GBP 322.(Which I calculated to be US $503.68 ) If I did that right , I goof up sometimes! Wrote back that was more than I could do. Dont know if anyone else saw this and posted it. If they did Sorry I didn't see it. Blue

Dan Koich wrote:
I'm waiting for a response to see how well a Coker 550 worked on on another cycle this summer. After hearing that the Coker 500 wore out on the Sportster at only 4000 miles, I'm leary of anything by Coker.

I couldn't imagine a car tire wearing out like that without some sort of influence. Makes me wonder if it was aligned correctly? Not saying that was it, but one bad report doesn't disqualify it in my mind.

Come to think of it, I don't recall any Sportsters in my searching that are darkies?

Tires wont fit.