10,000Kms have passed in 4 weeks since spooning on my first set of street tires in five years. I knew this trip would have it’s own set of challenges and keeping a set of knobbies alive and performing well through it all was the biggest one. Our last trip to Moab toasted the last of my E-10 front and the Shinko E-805 that was half worn threw in the towel after multiple 80MPH interstate days. This lead me to a decision I’ve been dreading for years.. Running 90/10 tires.
It was one of the hottest days of the year installing these. The 37 degree heat made the beads easily pliable and seated first try with liberal use of soap and water. Balancing went just as smoothly taking a normal amount of weight. The front is a 90/90-21 and the rear a 150/70R18 installed with HD tubes on the Tenere 700.
So Continental says these are cast pre-scrubbed. If you look closely the tread isn’t smooth and oily like other tires. I was skeptical, really. Putting trust into a set of fresh tires right away is asking to find out if gravity still works. I had to hold my breath to see if it held true. First corner and no drama, again and again they’re sure-footed. I think they nailed it. I will admit, I didn’t really push them as hard as you could while they were fresh. I had a lot of re-learning to do now that I could actually feel the road and the Tenere tries to pretend it’s an MT-07. We were hitting the road to Sturgis South Dakota from Chilliwack BC in a matter of days. That should be a good test thrash.
Dan is an abosolute road-master when it comes to planning trips. He sent me a 52 page itinerary at 11pm this spring of where he wanted to go on this trip. Complete with photos, fuel stops and screen shots of the roads on the way. Ever heard of Beartooth pass? Dan dreams of things like Beartooth pass. So we may as well ride it, fully loaded, at full speed. Did you buy travel insurance yet, Dan?
Immediately following a break at top of the world store we went off the deep end. A storm was rolling in and temperatures dipped to 9 degrees, sleet was falling, the road was cold and wet. It really didn’t matter, they never skipped a beat. Surefooted to the summit through it all we powered to a viewpoint after a quick stop to help a Harley rider who dumped his 900lb road sled on it’s side.
The summit of Beartooth sliced the atmosphere like a dull knife. The weather was behind us, ahead was perfect pavement, 15 degrees and a summer breeze. We’re back at speed and I was driven to find the limit. Every twist, turn and hairpin has ridden with grip and confidence. Settling into the road the Conti’s just kept giving more and more. These tires are ridiculously sure footed. Even on patches of rough and broken pavement they’re soaking it all up and not once have they ever pulled confidence of them away. If you haven’t ridden Beartooth before you’re going to find the thin air, lack of traffic and perfect roads intoxicating. You’ll be lost in it all. We sure were. But we came here with one thing in mind, the perfect shot.
This took a few tries, never finding the upper limit. Sticky to the outer kno…uh…Not knobbies. So how did they hold up to another 8000km of pure abuse? a 14,000 ft summit of Mt Evans, a second trip to Moab, Zion National park, a few lightning storms, flash floods and the Oregon coast? These tires absolutely rock. I’ve never been so impressed with a road-going tire before. I’d gladly buy another set and run them for another cross-country road trip if I had to. Catch that? If I had to. I’ve been home a few days, shredded some dirt roads and given them a forest service road beat down and they’re half worn. I’d trust these to do it all over again since I can see 18,000km+ out of these tires without an issue. Did I mention I took these to the drag strip? Burnouts included, ran a 12.94 @ 99MPH, which was enough to clean house at Dual-sport night against an Africa Twin and F800GS.
Here’s the 10 of that 90/10 from earlier. These tires are made for a purpose. Stepping outside of that purpose will show you what you should already know, these aren’t off road tires. Forest service road, fire road, side road, back road. See a pattern? after a full day thrash down some FSR’s, a 3 hour nap in a hammock next to a creek and a dusted out return as the mountains emptied from the weekends visitors I had a pretty good idea of what I already knew. Mud, sand, shale, deep gravel=bad. Hard pack, gravel, dry dirt roads=good. At that, these are still great. I did drop 20-30Kmh off my travel speeds compared to a 50/50 tire (Shinko 804/5, looking at you!) and avoided any sharp embedded rocks. The casing on these aren’t near tough enough to take a hard hit from many of those before a pinch flat is immanent. Though at that, I hit a few and they held. They’ll wiggle and squirm around under you just as you expect though they never fully let loose or became dangerously squirrely. When the road is a light dusting of gravel and hard underneath they do shine. Easy to slide out of corners, decent braking up front and enough traction on clean dirt to lift the front end. Still though, I wouldn’t be taking these on a dirt trip. That’s just poor forethought and you’re stacking up to get stranded at your first sandy section or rainy night. Being realistic about your expectations and uses is critical when it comes to tire selection. Can’t blame a tire for picking you.
Okay, how many words can someone say about some things that are round and go in circles? I’ll wrap it up. If you’re planning a road trip and humming over your few options of 90/10’s in ADV bike sizing you can’t go wrong here. In their corner of the ring I can’t see any flaws. They’re dead stable at speeds illegal in North America, stick like glue, wear like iron, eat the cold and channel away water with ease. Just be realistic in your expectations, you’re not winning any enduro events but you’ll surely make it to the KOA every night.
For you Nerds out there, The T7 fully loaded with me on it is 670Lbs. I ran 33/36PSI, I don’t have a weight bias number for you, it’s definitely rear heavy, crucify me if you will.
Front tire is a 90/90-21 54S TT #02001320000
Rear tire is a 150/70R18 70V TL #0244663