Darkside: No Taxi Tire...now what?

[blupupher]

Perhaps we can organize a group buy. How many is the minimum ship quantity? Pallet, container, etc.?

Last (late?) summer I suggested that and got ZERO responses.
I had an outlet, of course china, but like you're saying it has to be a 20 ft container...filled with their minimum BEAUCOUP BUCKS order.

Vitour (V) tire I posted, which I now have in my stock & waiting, looks to be a fine replacement for the Austone (A).
While the 'A' is a taxi tire, V is not. The V tire's sidewalls are a little stiffer but putting my foot & weight on the unmounted bead it collapses maybe 1/4 less than the A tire. That should translate to needing less air pressure in the V tire than the A tire to hold up our Wings.

Vitour tire I got from Calif., $101.44 with tax & free shipping (Feb-2022). Austone from Universal Tire was DOUBLE!

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Yeah, bulk they would probably want a 500 tire order, just not worth it since the Maxxis is basically the same tire.

That Vitour looks promising, waiting to see how it mounts up for you, I have 2-3 years till I will be needing a replacement for my Maxxis

[Ravyn]

Hey FM... I just ordered a vitour grand tire for my 1500. I sure hope it works. Was the same price as you coated. No shipping cost sure beats the hell out of 52 bucks for shipping from Universal....geeez !
The tire I have on the wing right now and is bald is a Federal LVR 175x75xR16. It fit perfectly. It seems no one is stocking them any more just like the Austone.
Do you have the Vitour mounted yet ?

[FM-USA]

Not mounted yet. Garage is co-o-o-o-ld & no efficient heater... or space.

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[WingAdmin]

Perhaps we can organize a group buy. How many is the minimum ship quantity? Pallet, container, etc.?

Last (late?) summer I suggested that and got ZERO responses.
I had an outlet, of course china, but like you're saying it has to be a 20 ft container...filled with their minimum BEAUCOUP BUCKS order.

Vitour (V) tire I posted, which I now have in my stock & waiting, looks to be a fine replacement for the Austone (A).
While the 'A' is a taxi tire, V is not. The V tire's sidewalls are a little stiffer but putting my foot & weight on the unmounted bead it collapses maybe 1/4 less than the A tire. That should translate to needing less air pressure in the V tire than the A tire to hold up our Wings.

Vitour tire I got from Calif., $101.44 with tax & free shipping (Feb-2022). Austone from Universal Tire was DOUBLE!

.

.

Yeah, bulk they would probably want a 500 tire order, just not worth it since the Maxxis is basically the same tire.

That Vitour looks promising, waiting to see how it mounts up for you, I have 2-3 years till I will be needing a replacement for my Maxxis

I looked into this back then, it would require a $50,000 order to get a shipment of the Austone tires here. You'd need somewhere to put them, and then a distributor willing to help sell and ship them...and hope that the market was there.

[blupupher]

Hey FM... I just ordered a vitour grand tire for my 1500. I sure hope it works. Was the same price as you coated. No shipping cost sure beats the hell out of 52 bucks for shipping from Universal....geeez !
The tire I have on the wing right now and is bald is a Federal LVR 175x75xR16. It fit perfectly. It seems no one is stocking them any more just like the Austone.
Do you have the Vitour mounted yet ?

Keep us updated once you get it mounted.
The Vitour is 1/2 the price of the Maxxis, and if fitment is similar, could be a good option from here on out.

[FM-USA]

I looked into this back then, it would require a $50,000 order to get a shipment of the Austone tires here. You'd need somewhere to put them, and then a distributor willing to help sell and ship them...and hope that the market was there.

OOOhhhh that's right, in order to get that shipment one needs
a USA BROKER that's BONA-FIDE.

[Jetfighter3]

I about to purchase the vitour tire ( 175R26c) and give it a try. Can you measure the height of the tire. I was under the impression that the Austin taxi tire was a bit taller than the stock m/t. Which I like to bring down the rpm's. When I called the company about the height of the Vitour tire he quoted it was shorter- 24.3 inches to 25 inches which would increas the rpms at the same speed ( more gas $) could you verify the actual height and width ? Thank you...

[FM-USA]

PM sent for tire size.
Something I noticed in tire specs. Tire MFG's aren't exact in relation to actual tire measurements.
As per online calculator...
160/80-16 diam. . 26.08 in.
175/75-16 diam. . 26.33 in.
But the Austone is 26.90 in., it's sidewall states 175R16 (175/75-16)
That's a rather large difference when wheel well space is tight.

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40 39

[Jetfighter3]

PM sent for tire size.
Something I noticed in tire specs. Tire MFG's aren't exact in relation to actual tire measurements.
As per online calculator...
160/80-16 diam. . 26.08 in.
175/75-16 diam. . 26.33 in.
But the Austone is 26.90 in., it's sidewall states 175R16 (175/75-16)
That's a rather large difference when wheel well space is tight.

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40 39

I still would like to know from some one who purchased the Vitour 175R16 tire what the true dimensions are for all of us interested.

[FM-USA]

I still would like to know from some one who purchased the Vitour 175R16 tire what the true dimensions are for all of us interested.

You asked, I measured. Sent you a return PM. You don't believe?

You need to see the tire's sticker also?

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[Jetfighter3]

Sorry, didn't mean to offend you. I miss read your post. I and many others have ask the question, what brand, size and how well it worked out and it's difficult to get some people to give you a direct answer. It's like they don't want to give out a well guarded secret.? With that being said, Thank you, and again I apologize.

[FM-USA]

No worries jf3, I may have misunderstood also.

[Ravyn]

Sorry, didn't mean to offend you. I miss read your post. I and many others have ask the question, what brand, size and how well it worked out and it's difficult to get some people to give you a direct answer. It's like they don't want to give out a well guarded secret.? With that being said, Thank you, and again I apologize.

I have the vitour tire sitting in the garage right now. I will not be home until Friday evening. I will try to start installing it over the weekend however if the weather is really nice I may go for a ride instead. Lol...... But I will report back here as soon as I have it installed and let you know how it fits. Right now there is a federal lvr 175x75x16 installed on it. And that one fit perfectly, but they are not available anymore or at least I couldn't find one.

[Jetfighter3]

Got my tire, waiting on my new brake pads. I'm going to do everything all at once to include carbs, rotors , the works! Just get it all done in one shot! I did something to make it easy to get to the pilot air jets. I will post an article with pic's if you are interested.

[blupupher]

Got my tire, waiting on my new brake pads. I'm going to do everything all at once to include carbs, rotors , the works! Just get it all done in one shot! I did something to make it easy to get to the pilot air jets. I will post an article with pic's if you are interested.

Did you end up getting the Vitor or go with the Maxxis?

[Jetfighter3]

Vitour. I live in So Cal. So I got it pretty quick, and ya, if you order on line don't mention your putting on a motorcycle. They disconnected as soon as I mentioned it! LOL...

[blupupher]

Vitour. I live in So Cal. So I got it pretty quick, and ya, if you order on line don't mention your putting on a motorcycle. They disconnected as soon as I mentioned it! LOL...

Why should they care what you are putting it on?
You have a product, I want the product, I give you the money, you give me the product.
Does not matter what I am putting it on, they are not liable once I buy it.
Does not sound like a company I would want to deal with.


On a side note, I am at just over 3,000 miles on my Maxxis and it is still looking great, but why wouldn't it be, still have a lot of miles left on it.
Will be leaving on a 2,500 mile trip Monday, so will remove a bit more of that tread.

Funny thing the other day, I was riding and came across 2 bikers on the side of the highway, so turned around to see if they needed help.
One of the guys has a rather large hole in his tire (no idea what brand, but was a nice Harley, so probably an expensive one) and they guy's air pump had blown the fuse on both his and his buddies bike, so I offered my inflator and bike to power it.
While we were waiting to see if the tire plugs (yes, they had 4 plugs in the tire, they were just trying to get it to town about 10 miles away) were holding, one of the guys is looking at my bike, and mentions that my tire is awfully square looking, and with a smile and a wink, I said "yeah, almost like it's a car tire".
We chatted about it for a few minutes while waiting (he was not against it, was just wondered what I thought of it). I did mention I did have a motorcycle rear tire on the bike, just on the front, and he just laughed and said "you Goldwing guys...".
Unfortunately, the hole was just too large and the tire would not air up past about 10 psi before it started leaking again. They thanked me and were setting up a pickup from the closest Harley dealer.

[FM-USA]

''You Goldwing guys.'' LOL!
Ya, we're usually not the type to order ONLY what is accepted from our peers (fellow HD riders).
We have individual wants, needs and druthers & can care less what others think. We suit ourselves.

After all, are we (non-HD'rs) the ones broadening the motorcycle market by NOT being stuck in a cubby-hole? Granted our models run 4 to 13 year spans, not like the current 118 year run for them... and they STILL have major issues.

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[trailrated13]

Hello fellow Wingers,
Well the wife and I had an accidental testing of the "run flat" aspect of the Achilles multivan tire. Works very well I might add. We took off from the house headed to dinner up highway 7 out of morton washington. Taking the twistys at speed, cornering felt a bit weird but not un-nerving. Got to the bar checked the tire it had about 10psi in it. Inflated tire and observed a crack in the valve stem. Topped off tire secured valve stem best I could and headed for home. We made it safely. When we got home I checked the psi again, down to 15 psi but the sidewalls are so stiff that it doesn't really look "flat". Great tire, I'm definitely going to order this tire again. Hope this helps those who are torn between tire brands.

Ride safe and be well everyone.

[Ravyn]

What size is that tire and what do you have it mounted on?

[trailrated13]

This tire found on ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/263835509921

and it is mounted on the stock 89 wing rear wheel.

[ncdave]

additional info for consideration. About 3 months ago I mounted a Maxxis 175r16 to my 99 1500. Picture below is of the height difference with a worn stock tire as well as what it looked like mounted on the bike.

I found handling to be much better than I expected. I've experienced CTs on 2 other bikes and handling has always felt "different". On this one, I could not tell the difference.

I did end up having a major failure with the tire, which I've posted about on the FB Darksiders page. The failure was not the cause or result of running a CT, but my failure to properly mount the brake caliper. The caliper ended up losing the rearward bolt, which allowed it to rotate up, coming into contact with the tire sidewall. it rubbed there enough to cause sidewall failure.

As the 99 was totaled, I've purchased a 2000 model. I do plan to install the 175r16 again once the rear tire which is on the bike now is used up.

[Sassy]

Has anyone mounted a 195-55 run flat on a 1500?
I have a 195-60 on it now with just|clearance.
My concern is the different sidewall construction and possible contact.

[Goodfriendii]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/General-Tire ... e/42955381

[LaclaMoe]

Anyone have a website or address i can order the vitour? Not having any luck online, every site says not available. Can’t get in Canada so I’ll try going thru a cross border shipper. We can’t even get a 195/65 if we want to try to squeeze it in. So I’m leaning(intended) to the 175 which should fit easy.