Conti Road-Attack Tires

Conti Road Attacks 4G

I have 4,000 miles on my Road Attacks on my 4G. Never had head shake on her-even on the stock Dunlops. These Conti's are the perfect match for the 4G. A match made in heaven. Long wearing, extra sticky, quick turn-in, perfectly balanced, great looks, confidence inspiring from edge to edge, great wet or dry, competitively priced. I typically ride only twisties here in the Appalachian mountain range-never on any four-lane or interstate. I have no squaring off or un-even areas. I will never let her wear anything else as long as she is mine.

 

As promised here is my follow-up review now that the rear tire needs replacing after nearly 7,000 miles. (Was easy on the throttle)

I have to say I'm really impressed with the Conti Road-Attacks. They grip really well on the corners even when it's raining or there's a little gravel on the road.

According to others in this forum it grips well enough to scrape the pegs. Since this is my first bike ever I don't quite have the experience yet to get that low. I did get down low enough that if I took my hand off the left bar and reached out I'd be touching the ground. Even then there was no slipping or any sign of sliding around.

I'm using those from now on forever. Down with the Dunlops!

 

R.W.

I had the same issue on the 97 and installed tapered bearings which greatly reduced the headshake. However, I still had a slight shake.

I recently had some suspention upgrades (new springs, heavier oil, etc.) done and there is ZERO shake now.

The tapered bearing will help, that's all I can say.

BZ

 

Eric:

I ran the z4's on the 93 I had and thought they were fine.

Although I am replacing my tires for something "stickier" this spring. I am currenlt using the Metzler Z6's. I used them for my first track day too...and I have to say they didn't do bad. They got a little cooked, but grip was fine for a meduim paced beginner with NESBA. The only slide I had was my fault.

My pace is starting to increase so a new tire is needed, but if you have proper cornering technique down a decent sport touring tire will let you get away with alot in the corners.

My only real complaint is they have crap for grip in cold weather.

BZ

 

My bike came with Pirelli Diablo Supersports on it which were decent for grip but with my 380 miles a week of commuting, a chicken stripe showed up real fast....until the rear took a screw at about 1/3 life left (don't worry i was in a parking lot and stalled out due to the low pressure and figured it out before i hit the road again). I switched over to Pirelli Diablo Stradas...and they are pretty decent. Good dry grip, not that great when there is debri on the road due to the harder compound...ok handling in the rain...but man...this winter taking sharp turns in the city over crosswalk paint....phew...had a few scares. Mind you it was 35-45 degrees out in Michigan(beside crosswalk paint) .

I'll definitely have to try the Conti Road Attacks out if I don't switch or stay with the stradas or switch to the new diablo rosso.

 

I have about 2500 miles on my Conti Road Attacks. I use my 2000 Viffer about 75% in town commuting and 25% on back roads in the TN mountains. I have nothing but praise so far. I have experienced two torrential downpours and they held up better than expected. I have complete confidence in them.
They have a much better turn-in than my stock dunlops. I run them about 2 psi lower than called for. It just feels better to me. I expect them to last about 8000-9000 miles.


After a 10 day business trip I returned home to find my rear tire slightly flat (15 psi). I checked for nails and cuts, but found only a small nick that was definetly not leaking air (I checked with glass cleaner that bubbles with the tiniest amount of leak). As I was checking around the rim, i found a tiny place that was leaking. I filled it up to 55 psi and checked back 3 days later to find it at 49 psi. The rim is not bent or even scratched. I have not been able to ride it due to my work schedule. I hate to sshell out another $130 for a new tire when this one has 75% of its life left. I will let everybode know what the problem is once I find out. .

 

I have a set of the road attacks on my 04 vfr. They had very few miles on them and came with the bike about 8 months ago. I've never ran these tires, but must say I'm quite impressed. I do about 85% freeway and 15% backroad fun. They seems to handle all around, good grip in leans to the tire edges, and very well in the rain. One night I rode 3 hours (230 miles) in non-stop down pour. Not one slip with them! I'm definately looking into another set here soon, since I have about 10% tread left and 6500 miles on them.

 

make sure you check for leaks around the valve stem area and also the schrader valve. 3 psi is a pretty small leak you might have to wait a few minutes to see it bubble if one of those are leaking.

 

I'm running the Conti's now. 500 miles and I have all but lost the lettering on the rear tire. I ride some ruff roads. Hope to get 5k from the rear. Much happier than I was with the Dunslops.

Mac

 

Great tires. I have a 1999 VFR with 38K miles. I am an aggressive twisty road rider (don’t ride on highways) who rarely gets more than 2,000 miles on the rear tire. I have tried every tire imaginable, and when I switched to the Conti Road Attacks last year preparing for a HSTA rally, I was really impressed by the handling and wonderful feed back from the Attacks. I more than doubled the unusual mileage with some decent tread left on the rear before changing both front and rear preparing for Deal’s Gap.

I just got back from Deal’s Gap where two of my riding buddies switched to Pilot Powers after the first day but I still went around them in the tight twisty bits. Great handling and double the mileage, unheard of! What a tire!

 

Well about to get some new tires. I have an 04 vfr, with 33,000 miles. This is my first set of Road Attacks, which I have just a hair under 9,000 miles on them. Will probably hit that 9K mark when I replace them. They have been a well rounded tire. Seem to handle well in all situations and weather. They do seem to slip a bit in hard cornering, but I'm not a very agressive rider. So just thought I'd throw that milage number out there for everyone.

 

I went through two sets of the Conti RA's and got about 16K miles out of 'em. I too had the decell headshake and could never really get them perfectly balanced. Great freaking tires and could get as low in the turns as wanted no problems - very confident.

I wanted to try the Pirelli Diablo Stradas too, so that's what I'm running now. Got about 300 miles on them, I guess, and love them. BTW, not one weight on them and they are as smooth as butter. Also have them filled with nitrogen. We'll see about the mileage though!

 

diablo stradas

I've got 3k on my Pirelli Diablo Stradas and they are still looking good. At least another 2k left.

 

So what you're telling us Zona is that your getting no decell headshake with the Strada's? As much as I love the Road Attacks because of the stickiness & mileage, I'll give them up to get rid of that headshake...

 

What's this headshake you guys are talking about? I used to have a wobble on the front when decelerating if I let go of the bars but I thought it was due to a worn out brake pad(completely). After new brakes and a new rear shock there is no head-shake what so ever anymore. I'm still using the stradas...and they seem fine. no balancing issues or anything. Dry traction is close to the diablo supersport just like they say. As far as wet and cold weather ...i don't have any aggressive riding experience for those tires in those conditions for the most part. I rode all winter down to 25 degrees Fahrenheit and they did fine for my commuting. The cornering grip did seem quite diminished though...not like they could ever get very warm though...and wet weather...they seem pretty slippery but higher mileage has it's price.

 

I'm in need of some new sneakers for my '99 shortly and I think I'm going to try the conti's. I'm interested in the head shake thing though. My VFR is rock solid. My buddies old Radian shook badly with a new tire. He replaced the tire and it went away. Now another friend has a '04 shadow and he can't ever take his hands off the bars. He has new rubber on it too. Strange. On dirt bikes I know if the rear sag isn't set right you can have some headshake, but on a cruiser?? Sorry to get off track.

 

Sorry R-Dub, didn't see this til today. I am getting no headshake on decell or accell for that matter. ALSO, they have never even been balanced and are as smooth as butter. I get a slight buzz at about 90, but its nothing abnormal.

So far, I have about 1000 miles on the stradas and they are wearing great. I have heard/read of people getting as much as 10K on the stradas too. I probably won't get that with the way I ride though.

Looks like the new tire to try is the Dunlop Roadsmart, especially if you ride in the rain much. I may do them next.

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/Article_Page.aspx?ArticleID=5934

 

Well, boys... the gig is up...

After nearly 6500 miles (not much more than I would get out of a set of the old Pilot Sports), the rear AND front tires are ready for R&R... This is no doubt as a result of two things:

1) Trip in july 2007 to New Hampshire where I made 6AM strafing runs through the notches around Bretton Woods and Lincoln. We're talking mid to high speed sweepers all around... The front tire took a beating on the SHOULDERS of the tread... The center is still good, but the relatively abrupt change in the tire's profile makes turn-in dicey and less than confidence inspiring. The tire profile is nearly trapazoidal - not cool. Maybe this contributed to my "VFR-down" incident after I returned from NH in August 2007... Who knows for sure, but these tires need to go.

2) In March 2008, my commute went from 3.5 miles to 35 miles with 20 of that on the highway. The rear tire now has the dreaded flat ribbon in the center... As much as I am conscious of rear tire wear and judiciously apply throttle rolling from stops, the rear tire is done - no more tread on the center... I would purposely accel hard on corner exit to wear the shoulders more on the rear - apparently to no avail...

SO, can you guess which tires this self admitted Michelin fan-boi is going to purchase ? Yep... A set of the Pilot Road 2CT's...

While the Conti's were a decent tire, I think the Michelin guys have engineered a superior tire in the PR 2CT.

I'll give you the story when I get them on in the next week or two...

Best regards,

-Stephan

 

Thanks for the feedback Stephan!


I always thought the Conti's were a good tire, but not great. I'm currently running the Pirelli Diablo Stradas. Next set once I wear my new front down will be the PR2's as well.

I'd probably rate in order from low to highest: Conti RA, Pirelli Diablo Strada, then PR2's. I still don't have any experience with the Dunlop Roadsmarts. They seem to be very intriguing as well. Also, Pirelli was suppose to release the Strada's replacement this spring call the Angel ST. All the great features of the Strada with more grip and a larger tread patch. No increase in wear life though...IIRC :-/ . Not sure if they were dual compound like the PR2's or the Roadsmarts either. Oh well. I've got a season left of Stradas before I switch over to new rubber anyhow.