Austone Taxi Tire Review

[CajunRider]

500 miles in the making...

So the Austone tire has replaced a Yokohama Avis H4S (205 60 R16). 

Big difference # 1:

This thing is much taller than the H4S!  Whether this is a good thing or not, I'll let you decide.

There is a slight RPM drop at speed (somewhere between 200 and 300 RPM at 70 MPH).  This is only noticed in sound... The Valk has enough torque that acceleration and general ride-ability is not affected by this small drop in RPM.  (Gas mileage also remains the same.)  But, the engine does SOUND a little more relaxed at 70 indicated. 

The height also makes the bike turn in a little faster (it amazes me what a small geometry change can do to a bike).  The handlebars feel MUCH lighter, without changing straight line stability.  (I tend to like a heavy handlebar, so this will take some getting used to...)

The bike leans a little farther over while on the kick-stand.  Not an issue to me... but may be to others. 

Thus far, no rubbing.  However, I don't think I've fully compressed the rear shocks yet... so we'll see.  It is worth noting that I'm running stock rear suspension set on # 4, AND I have a belly tank for that extra 2.5 gallons of gas. 

Big difference # 2:

This thing is NARROW!!!!

Wow... going from a 205 to a 175... that is a BIG difference!

"Bump" steer is virtually gone!  This is the biggest difference I see between this tire and the Yokohama.  The slow speed and high speed bump is gone.  Even riding down gravel roads at 10 to 15 mph showed no evidence of the old "bump" steer issues.  This is a BIG plus. 

Vertical grip is good (better than a MC tire), but not as good as the Yokohama.  The taxi tire is more narrow and slightly rounded, so you do lose a little bit of contact patch while standing straight up.  However, when leaned over, the grip (and contact patch) appears to be about the same as the Yokohama.

There is much more room between the swing arm and fender walls... so definitely no rub on the sides of the tire. 

Current unknowns:

I haven't ridden in rain yet... so wet grip is still a question. 

Trailer hitch height may have to be adjusted for trailer sway... but I did have the trailer loaded incorrectly, so it may not be an issue.  Worthy of note: I run a Uni-Go trailer (single wheel). 

I'm currently running 38 psi air pressure (same as the Yokohama).  I'm going to adjust lower/higher to see how much of a difference it makes, but it seems pretty good at 38 so far. 

So... fire off any questions you may have.  I'll answer to the best of my ability... and will prolly have better answers after a few thousand more miles. 

[Grumpy]

I agree on most of what you said, I have 6,000 miles on my Austone. It handles  great in the rain. I dropped my shocks down to #2 setting, I also pull a single wheel trailer, no bad traits so far.

[RiderNJ]

I have @ 1500 miles on my Austone on my 99 I/S.  No complaints at all. 
I have the stock set-up with shocks on "3".  I started with @ 40lbs in the tire and have dropped to 38lbs.
I can't say I am the most aggressive rider,  but I enjoy getting after it from time to time... 
I like the feel and have confidence in this tire.

RiderNJ   

[BamaDrifter64]

I have a question - I love my C/T because I can't hardly lock it up in a panic stop.  It just stops me ona dime.  My previous motorcycle tires would lock up in a panic stop if I wasn't careful.  How does the Austone tire perform in a panic stop?

Dave

[CajunRider]

You have about 1 1/4 inch less tread on the road than your typical 205 CT... so theoretically it will have slightly less grip in a panic stop.  But, when compared to a MC tire, it has LOADS MORE grip. 

I was always able to lock up my Yokohama tire with relative ease, so this one seems to me to have about the same grip. 

Remember... even with a CT, 75% of your stopping power is still the front tire.

[Moonshot_1]

CT vs MT braking (opinion)   

When discussing going to the darkside one of the issues that comes up is braking.
The intuitive conclusion is that traction and therefore braking, must be better with a CT than a MT because of the larger contact patch.

My experience says that it is not necessarily so.

While a CT does have a larger contact patch, the lbs/sq inch on that contact patch is significantly less than the MT. I got a GY Triple Tred on the back and got no problems locking it up. Locks up just as easy as a MT ever did.

Many see a difference in the braking I believe because they just replaced an old worn out MT with a brand new CT. I’d bet they would notice a difference if they replaced the worn MT with a new MT too.

Now to truly compare the two, you must compare apples to apples, new CT to a new MT, or worn CT to worn MT.

Ultimately the CT does come out on top.
Initially it would seem that the braking performance of both tires (new) would be comparable. But as they wear, the CT is more durable and performs consistently whereas the MT wears much faster and performance becomes less and less consistent. For most, at 7k the rear MT is nearing the end of it's service life, for most CTs, that's just maybe 1/4th of it's service life. So when you get to 4k-5k on a MT the performance of the tire begins to diminish. No so with the CT.

From experience, one of the things I come to like about the CT as it relates to braking is that even if you lock the rear up, the bike wants to stay upright and thus giving me a lot more control in panic type stops.
With a MT, when you lock that up, the contact patch is so small it becomes omni-directional and will slide right out and over from under you.

With the CT there is more stability and control and when combined with use of the front brake, braking is much better. I do get some lateral movement but the bike stays fairly upright whereas with a MT the bike will want to slide and lay itself down.

So while I can’t agree that a CT is better than a MT at braking because of the increased traction (there isn’t) of larger contact patch, the stability and control you get with a CT in these types of braking situations makes the CT the tire of choice for me. On my second one.

[R J]

I agree with Mike's observation.    Never thought of it that way.

I've forgot how may CT's I've gone through, but trust me, it has been a bunch.   I've run nothing except CT's since 30K on the speedo, except, when on the road and have a rear tire failure, road debris, and they wouldn't mount a CT.    I have even offered to pull the wheel and carry it in.   Told 1 guy I could say it was off of something else, like maybe a Sidecar rig, or a Trike.   He wouldn't buy it.