The Continental RoadAttack 3 - Sport-Touring Tire

Continental’s new RoadAttack 3 is the latest addition to the hugely important sports-touring tire segment, a development of the popular and capable RoadAttack 2 Evo, Continental claim the new RoadAttack 3 gives improved wet grip, which was the RoadAttack 2 Evo’s only real stumbling block, as well as increased feel and increased durability.

Continental say they’ve achieved this by developing a new tread pattern, which now features a Drainage Groove design that uses lateral channels to help shed water away from the surface for increased wet grip. A wider slick center section helps with acceleration and durability, while a chunkier side-block design improves side-grip capabilities in the dry.

Continental say warm-up time has been improved, thanks to added silica in the tread compound. All these new features are key to what Continental calls Grip Limit Feedback, which is designed to give the rider a better feel of what the tires are doing in all situations, especially at the limits of grip.

Although we arrived at the tail destined to test the wet weather prowess of the new Continental RoadAttack 3. We had a wide selection of motorcycles to ride and at every stop we swapped over. My first stint was on the latest BMW R1200RT, well chosen for its ability to keep the rider dry and I ended my trip on an Yamaha MT-07 which was my favorite for the tight bends. If I must be honest, tire launches like this are difficult to report on accurately. For starters I’m not going to try and push the limits of adhesion on the side of a foreign country’s hillside in changing conditions. But in truth, on acceleration I tried to get the traction control light to light up, and only in the wet on the BMW S1000R in second did I get it right.

Forgive me for not trying out the cornering ABS. Also, for sections of the road it was dry and we all got a move on. It is during one of these faster rides that, whilst following other riders and seeing their lean angles, one becomes acutely aware of how far tire technology has come. I mean there we were on a touring tire with foot pegs scraping and that’s normal? And I suppose you’d moan if you did not achieve over 10,000 kilometers on them. Not that I pushed that hard in the dry to feel the grip limit feeback but the tire on different motorcycles did give me the right feedback and confidence basically all I’d want from a tire.

The Continental RoadAttack 3 is a tire that is likely to be at least as good as other tires in this segment of the market of high end brands. The German company has progressively closed the gap on the other brands and with the launch of the RoadAttack 3, it is likely to have risen almost to the top. Meanwhile, the older RoadAttack 2 and RoadAttack 2 Evo remain in the German manufacturer’s range.