Conti Road Attack; which dircection do your treads go?

[Daryl_stamp]

I'm on my 2nd rear road attack on the rear and have just had a 2nd put on the front.
The first front and both rears were installed by the local BMW dealer (good guys, just a little far and a little $$$$)
This time I had the front installed by a new local independent shop.
When I picked up the tire I said "It's on backwards." because it looked the opposite of what I remembered.
The guy was adamant that he put it on the same way it came off and showed me the 'FRONT with the arrow' which was going in the correct direction with the tire installed on the bike. So I left it at that and new I could check the pictures I took of it when I took the wheel off the bike.

This is a shot of the original tire with the "FRONT with the arrow" pointing in the direction of (forward) rotation.
This is the throttle side.

The V or U pattern in the tread points in the direction of forward rotation as well as the 'FRONT with the arrow'.

The next is a picture of the newly installed tire; "FRONT with the arrow" points in the direction of forward rotation but the V in the tread pattern points in the opposite direction. This is the clutch lever side.


This image is of the rear tire, which has the arrows & the V's in the tread going in the same direction. Showing clutch lever side.


The Continental Technical Manual (from their website) says that tires equipped with arrows should point in the direction of forward rotation.
The image below is of two Conti Attack patterns; one pair has both tires with the V pattern pointing in the same direction; one has the V pattern pointing in the opposite directions.


What gives?
Is it too much of an assumption that the images from the Conti website indicate normal tread pattern relationship between front & rear?
Does the BMW specific fitment differ from others in terms of which way the tread pattern points?
Which direction do your front / rear Conti Road Attacks go in?
What risk is there in using it the way that it is?
I noticed that many tread patterns in magazine ads point toward each other instead of in the same direciton.
Is it common for other bikes / tires to have the tread pattern go in the opposite directions for the front & rear?
I need to resolve this a tomorrow so I'll have a little time for a shakedown ride prior to heading out for the Bash on Thursday.

Regards,

DLS

[dcameron]

put a pair of conti road attacks on my r last year - the tread is reversed on the front - there was a post about this - even conti said this was a better configuration and it works - word was that some of the front tires directional arrows were incorrect - best tires on my bike so far - just one warning, as usual - keep the rubber side down

[bluelight]

Hi Daryl:

Well first of all you have the wrong front tire fitment for the Conti's, as
I see a "C" on it. 'Z' is the correct tire, sorry. Florian Sollich at the factory states:

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]

Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:08:01
To:"Doc" <[email protected]>
Subject: Fw: Request Conti



Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]

Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:15:16
To:[email protected]
Subject: Request Conti


Dear Ray,
The different letters means different specification for different bikes,
where tests has shown us that the regular tyre will not work properly.
More or less is necessesary for the german market with his own homologation
due to the high speed on motorways.
There is no special recommendation that a "Z" specification will work on
all bikes properly.
Some for example need a special specification some not.

"B": Same construction as regular tyres
"C": Reinforced especially for BMW bikes
"Z": Different construction on the front wheel
"K": Different construction especially for high speed bikes like Hayabusa
or ZZR 1400.
"A": Special construction of the RaceAttack for a few different bikes.
"H": Special construction of the RaceAttack for a few different bikes.

I hope I could help you a little bit to understand the differences. If you
are not sure you could also always look into our technical factbook or on
http://www.conti-fitmentguide.com/


Mit den besten Gruessen/Best regards

Florian Sollich
Marketing and Sales
Business Unit Motorcycle Tyres

Continental AG
P.O. Box 169, 30001 Hannover, Germany

Phone: +49 511 235-5380
Fax: +49 511 235-5386
Mobile: +49 160 90407735
E-Mail: [email protected]
http://www.conti-moto.com
_____________________________________________________

Continental Aktiengesellschaft, Postfach/Postbox 1 69, D-30001 Hannover
Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats/Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Dr.
Hubertus von Grünberg
Vorstand/Executive Board: Manfred Wennemer (Vorsitzender/Chairman), Dr.
Alan Hippe, Gerhard Lerch, Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, Dr. Hans-Joachim
Nikolin, Heinz-Gerhard Wente, William L. Kozyra (stv./Deputy)
Sitz der Gesellschaft/Registered Office: Hannover,
Registergericht/Registered Court: Amtsgericht Hannover HRB 3527,
USt.-ID-Nr./VAT-ID-No. DE 115645799
_____________________________________________________



An
Andre Voigt/ti4/ti/cag@CONTI04
Kopie

Thema
WG: Road Attack









----- Weitergeleitet von Florian Sollich/ti4/ti/cag am 08.04.2008 12:45
-----

"Ray Webster"
<bluelight5@veriz
on.net> An
<[email protected]>
07.04.2008 23:32 Kopie

Thema
Road Attack










Dear Florian;

I appreciate your technical advice regarding the Road Attack on a BMW
R1150R. I now need to exchange the 'C' front for the 'Z' front. The Z is available
in the US, but it seems that most of the R1150R gang has put the wrong tire on their bikes
due to incorrect info on the BMW sites.

I am trying to figure out how the new BMW R1200R (much lighter than my
1150) gets the 'C' in the rear. I assume I should have the plain type in the rear. BMW
motorrad sent me a long list of tires but dont list Conti's at all for my bike.

Could you briefly explain the difference betreen the 'C' and 'Z' types. I
would like to share this info with the group http://www.r1150r.net/ This site is very technical and riders all seem to pick out tires
and accessories based on what they read here.
Thank you.

Ray Webster

Now as for direction, my arrows on the sidewall point to the front counterclockwise
direction and Sonny had no problem figuring out which way to mount them. The arrows
of the V should point to the front. Now why do these tires have grooves at all? Because of water. So doesnt it seem logical to you that the grove should work to displace water
to the outside of the tire instead of bringing it to the inside! What I also didnt like about
the 'C' fitment front was that it was stamped "made in Korea" while the plain rear was made in Germany and Im sad to say it but it looked and felt like a different tire. I exchanged it for the 'Z' front on Florians advice and its made in Germany, and looks
way better than the Korean 'C' version. Motorrad and the steelerships have no idea
which Conti's to put on your bike, so go to the conti site and check your fitment, since these guys seem like they actually tested the tire they made, on our bikes and fine tuned
it to make it right. Sonny, who buys and sell's more bike's in a year than most BMW
steelerships liked the look and feel of the Conti's. He tried to talk me out of them since
his experience was that the sidewalls seemed weak, like if you had a blowout you would be riding on nothing. Well on seeing the tire he grabbed it and putting his body weight on it he smiled and said it felt strong.

[riceburner]

Yes - Conti changed the fitment last year I think.

I had the same thing, and my tyre guy got in touch with Conti directly and we were assured it was correct.

[jas]

Put Conti Road Attacks on last year. Per Conti, the tires need to be mounted in the direction of the arrow on the side wall not the tread itself. As for the C vs. Z, I have the Z's and have had no problem, nor has anyone else that put the tires on their bikes prior to Conti and BMW joining forces. Great tire, good stick and wonderful in the rain.

[frozennorth]

Hmmm, I've got the Z's and they are mounted as per the arrows on the sidewall. Tread looks like it's intended to roll in the direction of the arrows. Good stickum in the twisties, warm up fast, good in rain, no complaints . . . will buy again.

[dnat928]

I have the "Z" Conti Road Attack tires. I like the performance and the look of the read pattern. It seems weird to have the tread arrows reversed on the "C" version. Makes me wonder if they were inadvertently made backwards...like, umm, something got lost in the translation...

[Daryl_stamp]

Conti changed direction, as indicated on their website. This is from their website "...Some confusion exists because some European plants outside of Germany have a tread mould with small arrows at the edge of the tread near the sidewall, these arrows should be ignored. These moulds are being replaced. ContiRoad attack customers may be offered the same tyre with apparently two different directions of rotation. The tread pattern on both tyres is fine. Riders should be aware that all relevant and legally required information regarding speed rating and direction of rotation is moulded into the side-wall of the tyre, not the tread, so be sure your tyre is fitted in accordance with the directional arrow on the sidewall regardless of which way the pattern runs.

The link is http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/contibike/ ... attack.php

Nobody's perfect; clutch splines, fuel line Q-D's (& cooling line Q-D's on German-made Trumpf industrial lasers) and now "which way does the tire go?".

The R's still my favorite way to get somewhere; and the Conti RA's stick pretty good in the rain, even on wet & slimy dirt roads.

DLS