Initial thoughts on Conti Road-Attack Tires - long but a good readfor tire shoppers

The Setup:
It was finally time for a third set of replacement tires on my 2000 VFR800
last month. I've worn out two pairs of Michelin Pilot Sport tires after the
original Dunlop D204K tires. Each rear tire has lasted about 6000 to 6250
miles and I always change the front at the same time to avoid excessive
cupping even though there is still plenty of tread left on them usually. I
guess I'd say I am a mildly aggressive rider - the kind that likes full
throttle corner exit and wearing the edges of the tire when the road allows.
I'm not a smoky-burnout-hole-shot-from-every-light kind of hooligan rider.
I like to connect complex curves in roads with rhythm and speed. I ride
two-up about 1/8th of the time.

Switching up:
I was hoping to continue riding on the Pilot Sport since I had really good
luck with that tire, but Michelin discontinued that tire and now produces
the Pilot Power instead. I didn't feel I needed super sport tire at this
point - I don't track the VFR and I really can't/don't take advantage of all
the performance of a super-sport tire - even on spirited rides thru the S.E.
PA. On the other hand, I didn't feel like the Pilot Road was a sporty
enough tire for me.

So, I was in tire shopping mode again.... I looked at all the sport touring
tires out there including the popular Bridgestone combo VFR-listers rave
about. I ran across the Conti's and read their PR babble and figured I'd
give their Road-Attack tire a look-see. They have a Sport-Attack tire which
is more sticky, but I want to get some more mileage out of this set of
tires. I contacted a Conti PR/sales guy in the US and asked him to describe
how he sees the Road-Attack and Sport-Attack tires comparing to the Michelin
line-up.

Conti guy reply:
<<>>
Stephan,
I have attached detailed information on our Road Attack for your review.
Our new Sport Attack is comparable to Michelin's Pilot Power and if your not
going to take your bike to track day sessions I would seriously consider our
Road Attack which will sacrifice some grip in exchange for longevity.
Compared to Michelin's offerings the Road Attack falls in between the Pilot
Sport and Pilot Road in terms of performance, but leans more toward the
Pilot Sport.

Long story short Suzuki tested and approved via German homologation our Road
Attack for use on the GSX-R1000, thus it has very high levels of grip
however will also offer longevity. For a good tire review that gives a
comparison of the Road Attack to our competitors please check out
www.canyonchasers.net where you can read their latest test review.

I hope this information helps.

Safe Riding & Best Regards,
Greg Reich

Continental Tire North America, Inc.
Two Wheel Tires
Sales Manager/Motorcycle Tires
<<>>

If your interested in the detailed PR info for the tires (MSWord format),
contact me and I can email them to you. BTW, BMW has selected this tire for
the R1200RT as well.

Lacing up the new shoes:
Compared with the Pilot sport, the Conti's had stiffer sidewalls and the
rear tire was a good bit heavier - more than the difference in weight of a
worn tire vs. a new tire - the carcass of the Conti Road-Attack rear tire is
heavier. This concerned me a little as did the 1 1/4 oz of weight we had to
use to balance it - we double and triple checked the balance. If it matters
to you, the Conti's have a cool checkered flag sidewall decoration and a
neat looking tread pattern. Anyway, when I got the tires back on the bike,
it just so happened to be a near 60 degree day here in Northern Delaware in
January (go figure)... So off I went for a shake-down ride to scuff the
tires up a bit...

Miles of Smiles:
I now have over 200 miles on these tires (in January no less !) and I must
say I am impressed. The heavier carcass of the rear tire probably slows
down my 1/4 mile time (which isn't really important for me), but it helps
dampen road inputs better than the Pilot Sports. Intuitively, I would think
that the increased unsprung tire weight would make the rear tire skip a
little more over bumps, but the reality is both the front and rear Conti's
have a lot of enveloping power (ability to soak up sharp impacts) and are in
general more communicative than the Pilots were for street riding. The
increased enveloping power means that the tire can absorb more of the sharp
impacts than the suspension which means the tire spends more time hooked up
than skipping over little bumps/seams. The Conti's also have a much more
neutral feeling in that they require less handle bar pressure to initiate
and maintain lean angle through turns. I had to re-calibrate my
press-and-roll coordination because the VFR turns in more easily now... The
Pilot Sports would sort of 'stand up' the bike so-to-speak while the Conti's
allow you to transition from turn to turn quickly with less effort. The
perception I get is that it takes less lean angle and effort to corner with
the Conti's than it did with the Pilot Sports. Don't get me wrong here...
The Pilot Sport is an awesome tire and if they were still in production, I
probably would have bought another set just because I liked them so much,
but in a way I am glad that I had to try something different. The Conti
Road-Attack is a newer tire design with (IMHO) a better feel on the VFR. It
might not be a supersport semi-race tire, but that's not what I need. If
that's your bag, you might try the Sport-Attack which has a stickier
compound.

Only the miles will tell how the tires perform throughout the seasons...

LINKS:

Fugi's Factory. Small shop with personal service in northern Delaware. He
has a great tire mount/balance setup. Coats no-mar mounter and a snap-on
digital balancer. $20 per loose wheel or $35 per wheel if you drop the bike
off.
http://www.fugisfactory.com/

Conti Motorcycle Tires.
http://www.conti-online.com/generato.../index_en.html


Have a nice snowy day in the northeast !

-Stephan, 2000 VFR800



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On 2/11/06, stephanon2whls wrote:
>
>
> Fugi's Factory. Small shop with personal service in northern
> Delaware. He
> has a great tire mount/balance setup. Coats no-mar mounter and a snap-on
> digital balancer. $20 per loose wheel or $35 per wheel if you drop the
> bike
> off.
> http://www.fugisfactory.com/
>
> Conti Motorcycle Tires.
>
> http://www.conti-online.com/generato.../index_en.html


Nice and very complete writei-up Sephon. Thanks for taking the time. Just
put a Dunlop 218 on the front of the VFR today. D220 is on the rear. Will
take it for a 300 mile ride tomorrow to Solvang for lunch to see how I like
it.

John in Calif

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