Conti Road-Attack Tires

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:
<<<SNIP>>>
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
<<<SNIP>>>

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

 

I put a pair of Conti Road Attack tires on my VFR 800 last fall October. I now have 8000 kms or 5000 miles on them, they still have more then 40% tire left.
The tires are excellent in the rain, and they do absorb bumps quite well. I live in the country where the pavement is less then ideal and these tires seem to help a bit. I ride agressive using up the complete tire. My friends I ride with can't believe how well the tire grips since I keep up to them in the twisties. They use Michelin pilot powers and the new Bridgestones BT 014. They don't get near the wear that I do and they are thinking of trying this tire on their GSXR 750 and Yamaha R1.
I would not hesitate at all to buy these tires again, I am scraping my front right hand side head pipes and the tires are not sliding or even squirming. I don't need anymore grip then that.

 

OK, Time for a followup.... after a whole season of riding on the Conti Road Attacks, I have to say I am still happy...

PRO's:
- great feedback
- linear response
- good enveloping power (absorbs bumps well)
- nice looking tire
- tire construction/profile seems to match the VFR geometry.. I use a lot more of the front tire than on the Pilot sports or D204K for that matter. The chicken strip on the rear is < 1/8" .

CON's
- developed a 40mph coast-down head shake (ONLY if your hands are off the bars) for the record, the D204K's did this too and that was the OEM tire !
- low temp grip (below 45 degrees F) is less than optimal, but then who needs to hustle when it's that cold out ?

 

Hey stephan, how many miles have you put on them?

 

Granted, I have only put 1000 miles on the conti road attacks... but the feedback is the same. I like them, they hold well in the north GA mountains, and they seem to be aging okay (again, I only have 1k miles on them)

 

I think I've got about 2500 miles on them so far... I can still read the "Conti Road-Attack" graphic on the front tire... The rear tire looks like it's about 1/4 worn.


-S

 

Where is the front Conti made? Production was first in Taiwan, but moved to Germany to get better quality and less vibration! SO see that you get a Germany made front!

 

How do you know this information ? Is this info on the sidewall ? As far as I knew, the Conti Road-Attacks were always built in Germany.

Anyway, I don't see how manufacturing location alone can effect a worn tire head shake. That usually has more to do with the tread design and construction - niether of which have changed as far as I know.

-Stephan

 

I have had a pair of contis on my 02vfr for about three thousand miles now. I like them fine, but do not think they stick as well as the Metzeler z6s I had on last. Maybe they will last longer though. I only got about 6K out of the Metzeler.

The contis suck in the snow... Don't ask how I know this.

 

You might try to put the studs in the tires for winter driving :caked:

 

I just bought my 95 VFR this past June from a buddy at work and it came with Metzler Mez4s on it. He said when I bought it that this was more of a touring tire and not a super sport tire so not to expect race like grip. I don't know how much grip a race tire has but these tires do everything that I want them to. I ride semi-aggressive. I like to see how fast I can get into and out of corners but have never taken the bike to a track. I was considering the contis after reading several reviews on them but I'll have to see when the time comes. Has anyone else run or do run MEZ4s? Input?

 

I now have 2,700 miles on my set of conti road attack and i have no problem with them .. by the way this set will be my 3rd set of contis ( actually 2 .5 sets) 2 fronts, 3 rear tires , stinking nail took out the 2nd rear tire and it only had 3,000 miles on it..

I usually get about 6-7,000 miles out of the rear tire and the front I changed out at 15,000 miles on it..

 

What PSI are you running in the Conti's?

 

Just what it calls for 40-42 psi.

 

I see this thread has been revived. I have the about the same # of miles on my Road Attacks now, and would describe the wear the same way. I like them a lot. Very confidence-inspiring feel in corners; straight-line stability is excellent. Priced very reasonably too.
I put them on to replace the OEM D204's that were on the bike when I bought it used. The rear was pretty much gone at 5500 miles (previous owner had done about 3500 miles of two-up with bags).

I'm really liking the bike - I was lucky to get 3500 miles out of a rear tire (ContiForce) on my SuperHawk. 10k from a rear would be great.

 

My initial review of Conti Road Attacks

I've only used the tires for about 300 miles so far and I am very surprised with the difference between Road Attacks and the Dunlop SportMax tires. :jaw: The Road Attacks make the VFR much more nimble and much quicker for turns plus there's something about the way the tires handle that inspires much more confidence than the SportMax tires. When I was on the SportMax there were some times I felt a little nervous about making a turn because it was sluggish but now with the Road Attacks the speed demon is starting to unleash within me!

I primarily wanted to try the Road Attacks because it's supposed to last longer than the SportMax. (I don't want be on a first name basis with the local bike tire place!) I will have to post a follow up review after a few thousand miles and see how it holds up. So far I am definitely impressed with how the Road Attacks make the VFR much more nimble and more fun for those twisty mountain roads!

 

JOEY's reply makes a very good point.

ANYONE who still has the OEM Dunlop's on their late model VFR needs to DUMP them ASAP. I am willing to make a hypothetical wager that every single person would prefer the Continental Road Attacks over the Dunlop's. I will again make the statement that Road Attacks should be the OEM tire, no contest.

I taught a ERC last week during a complete torrential downpour. This was the first period of extended riding in heavy rain I've done with these tires, 0900-1630 with 1 hour for lunch & a few 10 minute breaks. I was utterly amazed at the response & feedback these tires give in the cold & wet. I've Tail Of The Dragon tested & approved these tires but that day in the rain was the single best endorsement for these tires yet. I actually drug my footpegs during the ERC in the rain. The HD guys weren't impressed since their bikes drag hard bits frequently during these classes. On the other hand, the sport bike guys were thoroughly impressed.

If anyone is still on the fence about new tires & don't want full on race/sport tires, look no further than the Road Attacks.

KC-10 FE out...
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Question for K.C. & Nailer or any VFR owner, My bike does the coast-down head shake just like Stephon's, it also did it with the Dunlops it had when I bought it, I've done a lot of research on this and it seems to be a common problem on the 5G and more evident on certain tires, I'll be tearing down the VFR this winter and repacking or replacing with tapered bearings to take that scenario out, so my question is does your bikes do the coast-down head shake?

 

Yes, when slowing down at ~45mph with hands off the bars I got the shake with OEM tires and brand new Contis. I had read of this so I tested my "new to me" '98 right before I changed tires. I would say this is a normal behavior for the bike and as there is no reason to ride without your hand on the bar not a problem worth trying to fix. My ST1100 has a small shake if I recall when I tested it for comparison, maybe not at the exact same speed or as bad but it is there. I would think it has to do with the wheel diameter.

 

I do hands off coast downs all the time. I do them to the point that my wife says I'm freaking crazy. I coasted about 1/2 a mile up to a read light next to a guy on a enduro looking thing. He asked me how I do that & all I could say is the VFR is rock solid stable. I did this with both the extremely crappy D204K's & the RA's. No problems at all.

When I do the same thing on the Hawk, I get the slightest bit of head shake. It's running Metzeler Sportec M1's.

KC-10 FE out...
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