Bt-021 vs Conti Road Attack - cold weather?

I'm in canada so we know cold and they were fine.... good in the wet too... I can't speak for the 021 though...

Another one that seems to be gaining popularity... and suppoosed to be very good in the wet is the Dunlop RoadSmarts... apparently they are as good as the road attacks but slightly better in the wet... and I believe they are a dual compound if I am not mistaken...

I loved the road attacks on my 99... I had some Battalaxe BT010 series tires on the bike when I got it.. they were ok... but the road attacks were a lot nicer... I loved the round profile.... they will be soooo much better than the stock turd-circles.... god I hate the d220s sometimes

Another plus is the Conti road attack is going to get you more miles than many of the competitors.... they wear well.... you can hammer on them and they grip great.... only under very hard acceleration out of a corner did I ever get them to slip at all... and then it was verry controlled... and the slippage was probably due to dirt on the road... the stockers slide around terribly....and it is very abrupt... the conti had to be forced to do it and it was more like one would drift a car tire... it was very controlled the whole time..

With the number of good reviews they get, I'd be tempted to go with them again... but now I am thinking I might do the RoadSmarts just for a change when it comes time to do the replacement on my 06 for the stock turds...... if they are better than the Contis... why not... especially if they grip as well in the wet/dry and get the same if not better mileage..

Checking in from Minnesota. I have used or am using both sets of tires. While I haven't had any warm up or cold weather issues with the Contis I am currently running, I have to give a slight nod to the BT 021's in this department. The 021's grip seemed to be 'instant on' from the moment I first rolled down the driveway for the first time and was consistently great until I removed them and installed the Conti Road Attacks. My only complaint about the 021's was the relatively short life span: I flat spotted the center by ~7-8K miles. I only have ~4-5K miles on the Contis, but I am projecting them to be a ~10K mile tire.


As stated earlier, both will be a significant improvement over stock (D220) in terms of warm up and cold weather grip. They do have much different profiles and turn in characteristics: the RA is a taller, triangular profile (sharper, quicker turn in) while the 021 is a rounder profile (stable, controllable turn in).


HTH. Any other questions about comparing the two, let 'em rip.




[Edit: Couple other advantages for the 021 over the RA: The RA's slip noticeably for me on painted surfaces, particularly in the rain. They also slip noticeably over tar snakes above 85* F. No such occurrences with the 021's or other comparable modern ST tires I've used. I also don't hold the shorter lifespan of the BT 021 against it due to its lower price: the miles per dollar come out even against longer lasting, more expensive rubber.]