GOOD NEWS!!!

So what is your next tire going to be? Austone? Not the 185 Vredestein?

No other choice, unless someone gets it together on a batch shipment. One guy on the other DS forum is talking about that,
but you know how talk is...
Good reports on the Austone so far, but no long miles yet. It's supposed to be a 100k tire? That may be a long lifer here too.
The Dunlop does look better, but you sure pay for it. I'd probably get the Coker for that price.

Last night I was reading an older antique car forum thread about the Coker's Excelsior Stahl Sport Radial and a man was describing his experience with Coker tires in general. He stated that the CESSR has a "squared shoulder". That means to me that it is not a round profile tire, and therefore not acceptable. I've looked at photos of the CESSR and had not been able to tell that.

The Dunlop Wintersport is a run-on-flat, which apparently is unacceptable to those of us without flat tire sensors. Looks like the Austone is the only choice for those of us needing a 175mm width--- until some importer recognizes the sales potential and brings any of several that are available in Europe.

I found some specifications on the Austone Taxi tires from a dealers website (from Latin America somewhere). If I got this right, the CSR71 is the Taxi tire and the CSR81 is a regular car tire. They are very similiar. The taxi tire seems to be the only one available here in the US. It's a tubeless 8ply. The tire has a 101/99Q rating =99mph, a single load rating of 825kg (=????lb), a dual load rating of 775kg (=???lb), a section width on a 5J rim, which I assume means a 5-inch rim , of 177 (presumably millimeters), and an OD (outside diameter?) of 668mm = 26.3". Universal Tires website shows the Taxi tire has a diameter of 26.9 inches, so there's different information out there, something else I don't understand. A guy from Universal tire told me that the speed rating is actually recommended to be only 87mph rather than the Q rating of 99mph.

Hmmm, nice to get more info...we still don't know what the section width will be on our rims or even on a 5" it's made for. The aspect ration could be figured by the diameter I guess.
I disagree somewhat on the idea of tires like the Coker being unsuitable.
Consider that we DO NOT ride onto the sides of the tire (mine even has all the mold nipples still on) even when dragging floorboards.
The tire flexes and keeps half or more of the tread on the deck...therefore...if you have a squared shoulder, you would have even MORE tread hitting the road, not less, unless you have too much air pressure.
Our front tires have a chicken strip, or at least a bit of one in my case, but you won't be able to say that with a CT, since the entire side is clean. That would make us SUPER chikkins?

Vredestein 185/75 16 ordered on 5/5/11 from Tires by Web. Salesman had said might be end of June before tire gets here. Called yesterday, he said couldn't give me any idea when tires might come. Cancelled order, after what Quad said on 5/20/11. Might be a blessing in disguise!

Thanks to a message Eidolon posted in another thread, I found that there's another 175-60R 16 tire available- at Tire Rack for $109. It's a Bridgestone Turanza EL-400-02, a Standard Touring All Season blackwall. It has a load/speed rating of 82h which is 1047 lb and 130 mph. It appears to me to have a rounded profile and good tread pattern. Reviews by car drivers are mixed; Some like it, some don't, and of all the 24 different tires reviewed in it's class, it came in last. But the poor rating appears to be because some people didn't like it on snow and ice. It's the OEM tire on some Hondas and others. I haven't found any dimensional specifications on theis tire (yet).

Also Federal Tire (of Taiwan) makes a 175-75R-16c black sidewall with an 8 ply rating. It's the ECOVAN ER01. I haven't located a retail outlet or price in the US however. It has a load rating of over 1800 lbs, a diameter of 26.3 (which is, I think, identical ot the stock Heritage tire) a section width on a 5" rim of 6.3" and a tread width of 4.9".

I looked and couldn't find a BS that small anywhere. You have a link?

Bridgestone Touranza EL 400-02 is available at : www.TireRack.com

Yep, it is there. all it gives in specs is 1047 weight range and 6.1 tread width. I have called tire rack before and had them get the specs for me .

Tried TireRack.com....no luck there either.

Tire Racks website shows that they have them. I just checked again. TireBuyer.com also sells them for $113, but they are out of stock. TireBuyer's website has a bit of info on the tire and it shows that the diameter is 24.3 inches.

Tire Rack will charge me $24.71 to ship from South Bend, Indiana to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. TireBuyer advertises free shipping and only $4 higher price for the tire. Tire rack has them in stock, Tire Buyer is "temporarily out of Stock". I'm in no hurry. I can wait for Lou to get back from his 14,000 mile trip on his Austone Taxi tire to see how well it performed.

What are the ramifications of this Turanza having a diameter of 24.3" compared to the stock tires diameter of 26.3"?

You will have a higher rpm to run highway speed and a loss of fuel mileage.Also a loss of ground clearence.

...and that means less cornering ability, a definite NO for me. I see an Austone in my future, since the Dunlop taxi tire looks just like it.
If anything, I'd like an even taller tire than the Comtrac. One of my contacts in Cally put 2" extended forks on his Fatboy - he hasn't hit the
floorboards since, and he says he rides like me. Wish I had the bucks for them...plus the longer brake line.