With a 3,500 mile trip to my son’s wedding in Corfu ahead of me, it was time to select the right tyres for the job, as the existing Conti/Michelin combo had been a compromise forced on me by a worn-to-the canvass rear while in Ireland last year.
I settled on a pair of Conti Trail Attack 2’s after a short selection process, tempted by the high mileage on offer as well as the ‘Black Chilli’ compound which promised rapid warm-up and the fact they use no release compound in manufacture, meaning they’d be good to go with no wear in period, straight from the box.
Fitted by a mate, I picked the bike up a few days before the off, and was instantly impressed by the amount and depth of tread on offer; a good 8mm at least! They looked better than the tractor tyres they replaced as well, in a 150/70/17 rear and 120/60/17 front, and although a bit of a compromise as it should’ve been matched profiles, I’d wear it for that much tread…
I set off to Calais on the first stretch of the marathon trip, and then the Black Forest, Alps, and Autoroute were all dispatched with utter indifference. The Trail Attacks really started to show their mettle in the Alpine sweepers, laying the bike right over with ease and confidence and not a twitch to be had.
After I’d seen off the wedding, I headed back for Ancona in Italy and another Autostrada marathon after a visit to Tavulia to worship at the Rossi HQ. Then it was the Gorges du Verdon on a luggage free day, side to side, left to right, fast or slow they refused to budge. Sticking doggedly to the line. Even a misjudged overtake while racing a Golf GTI (ahem), resulting in a last minute, past the apex, corner-taking episode, failed to faze them. A Thunderstorm later in the day proved they can more that handle the wet too.
Back north through France with N roads, twisties and Autoroute all mixed together, I never gave them a single thought, which must be a good thing. They just did the job perfectly.
Once on the Eurotunnel I actually looked at them for the first time in days, they still had at least 5mm left in the middle of the tyres and look good to go for at least another 3500 miles, if not a good deal more. The Tyres were fitted to my Husqvarna SM 630 Supermoto, not the heaviest bike by a VERY long way, so a more podgy adventure bike might put a bit more strain on them, but I highly recommend them. Image to the right is wear 
after a trans-Euro blast:
Pricing varies, so shop around
Craig Whitney