Cycle News

Cycle News Issue 44 November 6

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1048469

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 115 of 131

VOL. 55 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 6, 2018 P115 S TANDOUT FEATURE Excellent road comfort RIDER AN ALYSIS I don't get to ride Continentals very often. Normally it's Conti- nental's main rival Dunlop that gets fitted to the few cruisers I get to swing a leg over so it's nice to get a feel for something dif ferent every now and then. We took the ContiTours and fitted them up to an Indian Scout for a bit of summer cruis- ing around SoCal. The bad part is summer in California saw not a single drop of rain, so as far as Conti's claims of good wet- weather per formance goes, I can't say. What I can judge was the ContiTour's stability and road comfort, which were the main factors that stood out in our months with the Indian Scout. Compared to some other cruiser tires I've tried, the ContiTour has a lovely soft feel at speed, with excellent steering properties. Considering the Indian Scout is one of the lighter cruisers on the market, this excellent steering fact alone was no great surprise, but the overall ride comfort certainly was. The ContiTour would track nicely over rough tarmac and wouldn't get nervous when crossing heavily painted lines on the freeway. Our testing was just over 1000 miles of highway, city and touring, so granted, it was only scratching the sur face of what the Conti's could do. At that point, they barely looked like they'd been worn in, which comes down to the backbone carcass design keeping wear to a minimum. In all, they per formed bril- liantly on our test with the In- dian, although I think a heavier machine would suit these tires even better. CN •Excellent comfort, great turning feel at high speed and stability when crossing cracked pavement. •Nothing! They performed brilliantly. LOWDOWN www.continental-tires.com when full loaded up with two riders and luggage, as is often the case with a large capacity V-twin cruiser. The MaxComfort carcass is cre- ated using two steel belts, three nylon plies and two nylon/aramid plies. This carcass design marries up with the revised WetTraction tread pattern for better wet handling and stability, with the center tread groove a backbone design, much like a dual compound tire you see in sportbikes for reduced wear in the middle of the tire. This center compound is devoid of grooves and gives an extra 10 percent mileage, according to Continental. To aid wet-weather performance, Continental increased the tread grooves to a chunky 6mm for the front tire and 8-9mm for the rear, depending on the tire size for your bike. Rennie Scaysbrook We were impressed by the overall comfort of the ContiTours.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Cycle News - Cycle News Issue 44 November 6