What’s the most important piece of equipment you can purchase for your motorcycle? For me, it’s tires. New bikes come fitted with a variety of brands of tires, and a growing number of them are specifically built for a particular model of motorcycle. Eventually though, you’ll need new tires and the choices are many. With so many options available, you have to ask yourself what you are looking for in a tire. For tire companies, the challenge is to produce a tire that works great on a wide array of bikes in a given genre, while not compromising the handling or feel of said bikes. We headed to Austria to sample Continental Tire’s new-for-2016 Sport Attack 3. The German company has an established presence in the Adventure-Touring market here in the US, but not so much in the sportbike market. So what does it take to earn that same credibility with the canyon burners and trackday enthusiasts? Continental hopes the new Sport Attack III will do just that. 
Continental, if you didn’t know, is a big company that has been around since 1871. It’s the third largest tire manufacturer in the world, and the second largest automotive technology company in the world. That’s a lot of resources and knowhow, so it would seem that producing a top-level sportbike tire shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. Customers want it all. They want a tire that will last forever, work well on the street, and even better on the track, while having excellent wet-weather performance. The main focus for the Sport Attack III is better wet-weather grip, along with improved dry traction. A new tread pattern has several improvements, one of which is a new “Drainage Groove” design. Big lateral grooves with variable pitching are designed to help the tire shed water away, which translates to increased wet grip. A wider slick center section helps with acceleration and mileage, while a chunkier side-block design improves side-grip capabilities in the dry. Conti also says warm-up time has been improved, thanks to added silica n the tread compound. The fresh tread pattern, along with new construction features, are key to what Continental calls “Grip Limit Feedback,” which is designed to provide the rider with a better feel of what the tires are doing and when it is about to let go. 
ON THE ROAD Our first morning in Austria, we had a fabulous ride through the mountains. There were quite a few sportbikes shod with Sport Attack IIIs available to ride, and I started off on the familiar Aprilia RSV4. The route started on everyday secondary roads with a few stints of highway. The Sport Attack 3 felt good in both environments. The tires’ profiles suited the RSV4 well. As we headed up into the mountains, I appreciated the good braking control and maneuverability on the unfamiliar roads. During quick actions to avoid various obstacles, the new Sport Attack III reacted predictably. The tire is forgiving, offering stable steering and grip. The carcass is stiff enough to stay composed when you need it, yet not too stiff to make the ride unruly. Halfway through our road ride, I hopped on a 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 to experience a totally different bike. The fact of the matter is that the new Continentals felt and performed identically on both bikes. This trend continued, as the Sport Attack 3 felt the same on every bike I rode that day. Grip all day was excellent, and when the tire does lose adhesion it transmits the info right back to the rider allowing you to make the necessary adjustments. Never was there any disconnect between the road, the tire, and the rider. 
ON THE TRACK While great on the street, would these new Continentals work well on the track, where a more aggressive riding style is needed? We found out that afternoon on the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. I chose a Kawasaki ZX-10R for my first outing, which was devoted to learning the track. The Red Bull Ring is fast with plenty of elevation change and a few hard braking sections for first- or second-gear corners. The Kawasaki felt right at home with the new Sport Attack 3s. It took a few laps to come to grips with the layout, and I got into a few corners going too fast. I just road the front brake a little longer, just enough to slow a bit more, then threw the bike in. Feel and feedback from the front Sport Attack III was excellent; there was no folding under or vagueness, just a solid connection between the front tire and your right hand. Once I figured out where I was going, I began to hammer. Rear grip was predictable, and the further I leaned the bike over, the more I felt the side grip and what the bike was doing. When it does let go, you get plenty of warning, which allows you time to correct. When I would come out of slower corners and accelerate hard, the Sport Attack III kept its shape while fighting for traction. There was some wheel spin, but not that much considering it’s a street-based tire taking a lot of abuse. 
Next, I rode a BMW S1000RR and a Suzuki GSX-R1000. Again, the bikes felt great, with the same neutral feel as the other machines I rode. In the morning, all pressures were set to the owner’s manual recommendations (39 to 42 psi). But for the track, we lowered the rear to 29 psi. Continental engineers explained that after a good heat cycle (our morning’s ride), the tires work best. At one point, I took out a Triumph 1050 Speed Triple to see how the Sport Attack 3 felt on a less sporty (but still lots of fun) motorcycle. Once again, the tires were spot on. Once I finally figured out the subtleties of the Red Bull Ring, I had to burn a few fast laps. I was really hammering it on the BMW S1000RR, with traction control kicking in a bit more but the bike still moving forward hard out of the corners. The BMW held its composure while on the throttle, even on tires that had been ridden hard all day. I kept going deeper into corners on the brakes, and even got the front out of shape a few times. The Continental Sport Attack 3 front felt like a proper race tire as it deformed under hard braking at speed. Sure, the BMW moved around a bit more as the tires took the abuse, but in a predictable and controlled way. And at the end of the day, when every rider was pretty well spent, the Sport Attack IIIs still had plenty of life left in them. The fact that the new Sport Attack 3 worked great on every bike I rode that day is impressive. Look for the new Continental Sport Attack 3, in most common sizes, from 2016 onward. 
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