Front tire going on the rim
After putting about 1600 miles on the Ninja 1000, I am pleased to have received a new set of Continental Road Attack 2 Evo tires to replace the Bridgestone BT-016 OEM hoops from the factory. I have ridden on Continental motorcycle tires in the past including the Road Attacks, Road Attack 2’s, as well as the second and third generations of the Sport Attack series.
At the Sport Attack 3 press launch earlier this year, I was asking the Continental crew when we might see a a Road Attack that uses some of the new technology in the Sport Attack 3. They suggested I try out the Road Attack 2 Evo’s as there was a lot of that tech from that tire that went into the “Sports”. This past weekend we removed the OEM Bridgestones from the Ninja and the RA 2 Evo’s were set on the rims.
The Ninja 1000 has a lot of things going for it and I generally have been pleased with the bike but the handling has been a bit “nervous” from the outset. I am hoping that the change to these Continental hoops will improve this situation.
BT-016 after 1600 miles, maybe 500 left to go?
The Bridgestone BT-016’s are not bad tires by any stretch and I think they are a great tire for a full on sportbike and a lot of trackday riders have commented they like these tires for street and occasional track use. The Ninja 1000 is more of a sport tourer and weighs more than most full-on sport bikes by at least 70 lbs or more. It also places a lot of weight on the front tire.
The combination of weight and the geometry on the 2013 Ninja 1000 has been wearing the OEM tires out fast. They are probably 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through their usable tread life at 1600 miles and I am not an aggressive rider. I also found that slower turns or moderate trail braking can entice the front end to tuck. (It didn’t tuck, but it got pretty close!)
With only a few miles on them at this point I’m not going to draw any concrete conclusions about performance but I will say they are definitely different. The profile and feel from the RA 2 Evo’s have made a very noticeable change to the way the Ninja handles. Is it better or worse? I’ll be letting everyone know soon with a full review at webBikeWorld.com.
RA 2 Evo Rear installed
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