[Thumpin]

Time will tell what kind of mileage these are capable of. Continental claims the RA3 are supposed to provide more mileage than the Road Attack 2 or 2 Evo.

 

[Thumpin]

I got the front Road Attack 3 mounted on Friday and was able to get a couple hundred miles in over the weekend. Riding on brand new tires is always a joy....the bike feels brand new!

 

[Thumpin]

We are just about to begin riding season again in Kentucky, and I was hopeful to get another 1,000 miles out of the Road Attack 3 - but I just replaced it with a new one I purchased a few months ago. I may have been able to get another 1,000 - 1,500 gentle miles on the tire - but it is hard to tell for sure as there is no wear indicator or tread groove in the center of the tire. My wife and I are going to Texas to ride in the Hill Country in a couple weeks, and the tire "may" have been able to survive the trip - we will trailer the bike down and then ride for 5 days around the local roads......but riding double on a tire at the end of it's useful life when you are 1,300 miles from home just didn't seem like a good gamble.

The rear tire only had 6,700 miles of riding and I was hoping to get far more mileage from it. Initially the tire appeared to wear slowly - but 2 trips to ride double in Ozark Mountains in Arkansas proved to be very hard on the rear tire. The local roads are tar and chip and the aggregate they use is about the size of a pea and very sharp and jagged. Riding double on that pavement really made noticeable changes to the tread - the surface of the rubber became angular and scuffy from all the sharp edges of the stones picking away at the rubber.

It appears that the number of miles I ride double is likely to prevent me from ever getting high mileage out of a rear tire. We will not be going to Arkansas this year - so maybe that will help extend the life of this new tire! The front tire has about 5,500 miles on it and is still looking good.

The photo shows the flat center of the tire. It is a bit hard to tell - but when the tire was dismounted and I pushed on the center of the tire....I estimate there is maybe 1/8" of tread rubber left on the tire. I will cut the tire across the tread to see - I will post a photo of what I find.

 

[Thumpin]

If you ride 2 up so often it might be worth getting the GT version of the rear tire. That should keep the heat down when it's under load and slow the wear.

I did buy the GT version....for both the old one and the new tire that I just installed.

 

[Thumpin]

I just turned 66 and I hope to have another 15-20 years of riding left - and with my retirement beginning in 3 months I plan on wearing out a lot of tires in the coming years. I believe I will need to mount/balance 2-3 sets of tires a year.

I mount my tires by hand using plastic rim protectors and tire levers - tires with stiff casings are always a challenge to mount and I always worry about scratching my pretty rims.

Buying a second set of wheels does make sense........however I chose a different route and just ordered a Cycle Hill by No-Mar tire changer. It was about $550 with shipping.......at $40 each to mount/balance at the local dealer I will have it paid for after mounting 14 tires! I can charge my friends/neighbors to mount their tires and help pay for this thing a bit quicker.

 

[Thumpin]

I cut a cross section out of the tire that had 6,700 miles on it, and had a flat spot down the center. I would have ridden on this tire a little bit longer on the local roads - as it appeared to have some life left. I was too nervous to take the bike down to Texas next week and ride it double for 5 days.

The results are what I sort of expected - there was very little rubber in the center. The flat spot doesn't look too severe from the outside - but the casing underneath is arched and the result is very little rubber down the center even though the grooves on both sides still show some rubber left. There is only about 3/32" of rubber over the steel cord in the center of the tire tread......it was definitely time to take this tire out of service.

Be careful when you are riding on tire with no tread depth indicator in the center - it is very easy to ride too long on these tires!

 

[Thumpin]

We aren't riding the F800GT the 1,300 miles to Texas and back to KY.....we are towing the bike in a trailer. We will be riding for Mon-Fri everyday around the Texas Hill Country. I anticipate we will ride 1,000 - 1,200 miles over the week.

I feel good that I have replaced the tire - I would have worried the entire week about the condition of the tire......now I won't have to worry and I can spend more time enjoying the scenery.

 

[Thumpin]

Ironically.....it is a year after I replaced the rear tire before a trip to Texas - and now the front tire needs replaced before our this years trip to Texas! The front tire has some tread left - but it is worn in a way that makes the bike steer poorly. You need to apply a lot of pressure on the bars to keep it in a turn....it steers very stiffly.

The rear tire lasted 6,773 miles - while this front lasted 9,120. The rear tire I installed a year ago has 3,676 and likely has another 3,000 miles left (there is a new set of Dunlop Roadsmart 4 tires sitting on the shelf to be installed as a pair as soon as the rear Continental wears out).

So I wanted a front tire to last me for the next 3,000 miles and figured I would buy a Shinko but when I looked for a tire I found Chapmoto has a Dunlop RoadSport 2 on sale for $79.67 and I bought that tire. It has a lot less grooves than I am used to seeing in a Sport Touring tire - but I avoid riding in the rain when possible and it will be fine for the remaining life of the rear Continental. (It could be that spending twice as much money for tires really isn't necessary and the Dunlop tires might work fine for me). A new set of Dunlop Roadsmart 4 tires lists for $449......a new set of Dunlop Roadsport 2 tires lists for $192. I also just saw that I can buy a new set of Roadsmart 3 tires for $250! Maybe paying a premium price for the latest version of a tire isn't necessary.....especially now that I own a the NoMar tire mounting machine!