Another year of riding and time again to put on some new tires. Earlier this year I replaced my Pirelli  Angel ST tires even though they still had maybe 1000-1500 miles left that on them to go. Truth is though is that while the Angels never did anything "wrong", they also didn't inspire either. I was recently trying to decide what exactly it was that made me feel so apathetic towards these tires. I don't think I ever broke them loose so grip wasn't the issue. I installed them myself (though I'm not doing that again!) and was pleased they required very little weight to achieve a good balance and they rode just fine on the highway so nothing there to note either.

Wear was about as expected with about 7000 miles on them with the rear showing a pretty "squared" center. This seems to be typical for the SV (or my SV anyway) as V-Twins have a lot more engine braking and I tend to use my share of said braking. That combined with more commuting than back-road antics and the wear seemed reasonable. On the whole they were entirely adequate but I'm not really one to champion mediocrity when presented with it so what was the issue? They seemed perfectly OK, nothing more, nothing less.

Well as it was getting to be time to replace them and I wanted to have the new set of tires on before our recent Total Control clinics back in April, I ordered a set of Continental Road Attack 2's from our friends over at Cycle Gear in Madison at the end of February. They came in quickly and I had them installed with just over 3 weeks until the aforementioned riding clinic so I had time left to put some miles on them and proceeded to do so. Actually I've put nearly 3000 miles on them over the last three months and now seems like a good time to express my opinions, but first, a little history.

I should start out by stating that I have run Continental's previous generation of Road Attack as well as a set of Sport Attack radials in the past and I was never disappointed with them. My reasoning at  the time to try the Pirelli's was that they were a new tire offering and I wanted to try something different. The previous generation Road Attacks had an interesting profile which made them initially tip in quickly but as you leaned over more they would slow in their "tipping" progressively. That profile also made them easy to work with once leaned over and would accept line changes when leaned over mid-corner in a stable, if a bit sedate, fashion.

With those characteristics in the mix, it did take a little getting used to the way they reacted to input, but eventually I came to appreciate them. Following them with a set of Sport Attacks, the stickier brother to the Road Attacks, was an easy transition. In fact I don't recall them being that different in profile if at all but they added a bit of additional grip. Not being a very aggressive rider I don't feel I made use of that extra grip but I did of course find that the stickier tires wore out a bit sooner (as they should).

The new Road Attack 2's are a completely new take on the Contiental's sport touring tires. They employ several new technologies such as "Traction Skin" and "Continuous Compound-Technology" the latter of which improves mileage without the use of two separate compounds. There are other techno-lingo terms used such as "Dynamic-Ride-Technology" and "Black Chili Compound" but all the cool terminology doesn't really mean anything if it doesn't actually do well on the street. So how do they do?

The new Road Attack 2's are very good.

Oh, you wanted more? Ok, but the above statement is completely accurate and to the point. As far as details, let's look at factors that we care about most.

Grip

The Road Attack 2's offer very good grip as far as I can tell. I mentioned before that I am not the most agressive rider around but I do enjoy a curvy bit of pavement when I get to it. The grip feels as good as the Sport Attacks and I'd say even a little better than the Angels. I can't say the angels ever slipped but the contact with the road just seemed more "sure". I can't quantify by how much better I think they were, but the Angels were good and the Road Attack 2's seem very good.

Handling

The profile of the second generation Road Attack seems a bit more aggressive than the first ones in that they do seem very light in turn in. The RA 2's (tired of typing our Road Attack) also feel physically like a lighter tire compared to the Angels although I have no hard data to back this assertion, they just felt heavier picking them up. The Angels weight seemed to make them slow to turn in and change direction to the point I raised my fork tubes a little in the triple clamps. The RA 2's suffer none of this and steering is now noticeably lighter. Riding on grooved pavement (think I440) typically presents to the motorcycle rider with the feeling of less stability.

The Angels were good at fighting this and although you could tell something was going on under them, they didn't tend to squirm or wander. The RA 2's take this one step further by all but ignoring grooves and carrying on as if nothing has changed. If I wasn't looking at the pavement I would hardly notice it had changed. They feel firm and planted every time I ride on 440 and overall they are simply very good. See a trend forming yet?

Tread Life

Tread life seems OK. Could I be more vague? Yes, probably, but it has been less than 3000 miles and I don't think I can judge yet. There is still plenty of tread left and this seems to fall in line with the previous generation RA's and the Angels as far as wear so far. If I get 7000+ miles out of a tire that has good grip I'm pleased.

Summary

The Road Attack 2's are very good (there's that phrase again) at what they do. In fact they do their job so well that I don't even think about them. While I have been riding with them over the past months I've tried to remember to make mental notes about the characteristics of these tires.

It has been very easy to forget to do this though as they just don't make you notice them, in a good way. They grip when needed and deliver it with a fast warm up. The next step now is to see how far they go before needing replacement so I guess I better get away from the keyboard and start pouring on some miles.