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/126819
Continental TKV12 (left. above). TKV11 front (right. above). TKC80 front (left. below) and TKC80 rear (right. below). Co ntinental's new TKV11 and TKV12 high-performance tires offer significantly better traction than anything the company's sold before. "z {H } Freque ncy (Hz) " " " " " n " Maximum -50 MUlmum- 24 '. a1---"";-----" " " " " " " " "r a " " " D eo ~~~--::--:::--:::---=--::--:::""""="'-= Relative ampUtude (Sound enerv;l , c ~ ~ Relative amplitude (Sound energy) n ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A conventional knobby on pavement makes noise concentrated at one f requency (left chart). The new DOT-approved TKC80 knobby spreads noise over different frequencies. reducing amplitude. COntinental goes for high performance By John Ulrich After years of building and selling m o to rcycle tire s designed to reach a co m p romise between traction a nd long tre ad li fe, Continental Rubber Company has introduced a n ew line of h igh-performance DOT -a p p ro ved street tires for use on sport ing motorcycles, The n ew tires, designated 22 TK VII a nd T KVI2 , will be ava ila ble in th ree co mpo un ds to sui t ra ce track co nditions, incl udin g sta nda rd. co ldwea th er a nd extremely -hot weather usc. To back u p th e introd uction o f the new performa nce tir es, Con tinen tal is esta blishi ng a production road racin g program , incl ude co nti ngency awards a nd sponsorships for selected riders across th e co u n try. The compan y h as also introduced a new DO T-ap p ro ved (tha t mea ns street-legal) kn ob by tire for d ual purpose usc, desi gnat ed the TKC80.. T he new tires are th e first to result . fro m a reorga n ization of Continental ; tha t reo rganization pl aced motorcycle tire design. p roduction a nd sa les into one. new division o f th e West German co mpa ny. T he new division. h ea ded by H or st Vogt , has expa nded research a nd de velo p ment by 25% and has h ired five new . you ng en gin eers, a ll five bei ng motorcycle ent h usias ts. severa l with racing ex pe rience . Alo ng w it h the reorga n izatio n , Co nti nenta l ha s recogn ized th e specialization of th e motorcycle marke t a nd has a ba ndo ned the " o ne tire for many uses" p hil osoph y it previous ly adhered to. T he first market segment to d raw _. . . t h ~ attention, of q>nt inental'.s en g i, • neers wa s the sportin g market . where th e company 's p roducts have in recent years been co m p letely ecl ipse d by tires from o the r manufacturers , notably West G erman y's Metzeler a nd multi-nat iona l Dun lop, with factori es in th e U.S.A., U ni ted Kin gd om (Bri ta in ) a nd J ap an . . T he T KVII is desi gn ed for use as a front ti re under a ll condi tio ns a nd as a rea r ti re under wet co nd itions. T he T KVI2 is designed for use as a rear tire under dry co nd itio ns. Both th e T KVI I a nd TKVI2 are designed witho u t sipes for a minim u m a mou nt of tread and a maximum of uncut, so lid rubber - which Co nt inen ta I descri bes as ..positi ve eleme nts." T he idea beh ind th at a p proach is th e sa me as th a t behind racing slicks - it 's rubber th at p roduces traction . not space betw een blocks o f ru bber. a n d sol id rubber sq uirms less under high-performa nce co nditio ns. p roducing a m or e secure feel a nd increased sta bili ty. The o n ly purpose of tread grooves is to move wa ter. a nd th a t' s whv th e T KVI I has more grooving th a I; th e T KV I2. . Bo th ti res are designed for max imum co n tact with the pavem ent a t extreme lean a ng les, with ext ended sho u lde rs to p roduce a relatively-flat co ntact a rea despite rounded ca rcass . Wh en th e mo tor cycl e is upri ght, th e T KVl l'scontact pa tch is 70% posi tive eleme nts, 30% trea d grooves. At max imu m lean . th e T KVI I's co nta ct pa tch is 83% posi tive elem ents, 17% tread grooves. T he T KVI2'scontact pa tch a t max,i~l! m .' ~~~ is, ~~~ P?~ i_ttv~ _eJ t;ments . with 88% p osit ive eleme nts wh en uprigh t. . The ca rcass itself - in both the T KV I I a n d T KVl2 - is bui lt up of • fou r rubberized ra yon pl ies. Acco rdin g to Co nti ne nta l enginee rs. rayon is m ore tem perature sta ble th an th e m ore-commonl y-used ny lon and more resistant to develop in g flat spots. Specia l a tte ntio n was de voted to reducin g ro ll ing resistance - Continenta l engi nee rs claim ro ll ing resis ta nce is 10% less th an co mpeting tires a t 124 mph - for both tires, wh ich are ra ted for speeds exceedi ng 150 mph. During testin g a t Continental' s banked-ova l Contidrom test track , th e tires were ru n at spee ds u p to 171 mph without problem . During testing a t the Au tod ro mo do Estoril trac k in Po rt uga l, the co m binat ion o f the T KVII a nd T KVI2 tires o n a stock 1984 Ninj a GPz900R Kaw asaki del ivered much more tractio n tha n previo us Co nt ine nt a l tires. No co m p etitive brands were availa ble fo r side-by-side testing a t the Co nti nenta l p ress introduction of the T KV I I a n d T KV I2 , a nd it wi ll tak e a ra ce track shooto u t to trul y determ ine h ow th e n ew Co nti ne nta ls ultimat el y rat e aga in st co m pe ting ti res fro m Metzeler , Dunlop a nd Michelin, But rid es o n the track a t Estori l demo nstra ted that Co n ti ne nta l has succeede d in develo ping a h igh-perfo rma nce street tire well -sui ted for use at speed o n m od ern spo rt bikes. The Conti ne n ta ls are in th e hu n t as h ighperformance tires a nd rep resent a giga nt ic im provem en t over a ny thi ng the co mpa ny has ever offered. Tractio n under brakin g, durin g co rne ri ng.