Fun w/ Continental Trail Attack Tires

[avc8130]

After a trip to the Adirondacks 2 weeks back, a buddy (SwampyVT) and I planned a trip to Deals Gap this weekend. His stock Bwings were looking a little sketchy at 4k miles and we didn't think they would make the ~2200 for the TN trip. He ordered up a set of Continental Trail Attacks and we set out to put them on last week.

The rear went on in typical tire fashion with 2 nice POPS as the beads took. Balanced it up and back on the bike it went.

Front was similar, but no "pops". Balance was easy, .375 oz.

Flash forward to last night. I get a call from Herb, "my bike has a death wobble at 35mph". I tell him to ride it up and we will figure it out. I take it for a ride...sure enough...3" amplitude wobble in the bars at 35mph.

We pull the front tire and check balance. Not bad, not perfect. We re-balance and put .5 oz on this time. Take it for another ride...WOBBLE.

I check the spokes, all have a clear ring to them.

We decide we don't have time for games and go to swap on the old front tire, the Conti was the only thing we changed so we were eliminating variables.

I deflate the Conti and go to press the bead off, the tire FALLS off the rim. I have never experienced that, so I try to re-seat the bead. Again, no "pops". We decide to continue removing the tire. Again I push the tire off the bead by hand. I was actually able to remove the tire BY HAND. No spoons, no bars. WEIRD!

To stop this ridiculous story, I install the old BWing, balance it up with .25 oz and Herb goes for a ride. Smooth as glass.

Think he just got a "bad one" from Continental?

ac

 

[jajpko]

After a trip to the Adirondacks 2 weeks back, a buddy (SwampyVT) and I planned a trip to Deals Gap this weekend. His stock Bwings were looking a little sketchy at 4k miles and we didn't think they would make the ~2200 for the TN trip. He ordered up a set of Continental Trail Attacks and we set out to put them on last week.

The rear went on in typical tire fashion with 2 nice POPS as the beads took. Balanced it up and back on the bike it went.

Front was similar, but no "pops". Balance was easy, .375 oz.

Flash forward to last night. I get a call from Herb, "my bike has a death wobble at 35mph". I tell him to ride it up and we will figure it out. I take it for a ride...sure enough...3" amplitude wobble in the bars at 35mph.

We pull the front tire and check balance. Not bad, not perfect. We re-balance and put .5 oz on this time. Take it for another ride...WOBBLE.

I check the spokes, all have a clear ring to them.

We decide we don't have time for games and go to swap on the old front tire, the Conti was the only thing we changed so we were eliminating variables.

I deflate the Conti and go to press the bead off, the tire FALLS off the rim. I have never experienced that, so I try to re-seat the bead. Again, no "pops". We decide to continue removing the tire. Again I push the tire off the bead by hand. I was actually able to remove the tire BY HAND. No spoons, no bars. WEIRD!

To stop this ridiculous story, I install the old BWing, balance it up with .25 oz and Herb goes for a ride. Smooth as glass.

Think he just got a "bad one" from Continental?

ac

That is weird. Did you measure the ID of both tires? Sounds like the Conti was mis labeled or the mold was screwed up.
I use the Contis and have had great luck with them.. Hope this did not happen to a large batch.

 

[S_Palmer]

Did you lube the bead when you installed the tire? How much air pressure did you use to seat the bead? The lack of a pop may
Be a clue that it was never completely seated.

 

[colorider]

Did you lube the bead when you installed the tire? How much air pressure did you use to seat the bead? The lack of a pop may
Be a clue that it was never completely seated.

I agree. More likely than the wrong ID or similar manufacturing defect.

 

[jajpko]

I agree. More likely than the wrong ID or similar manufacturing defect.

It is strange, but have you had a tire just fall off the rim? Even with all the lube juice in the world, that would tough. ::025::

 

[avc8130]

Did you lube the bead when you installed the tire? How much air pressure did you use to seat the bead? The lack of a pop may
Be a clue that it was never completely seated.

I used NoMar Tire Lube as always. The bead was on VERY easy. <20psi had the tire even all the way around. The 2nd time we brought it up to max pressure (42psi) twice, but no pop, same "slip" on and even fit all the way around.

I also suspected an unseated bead, but nothing we could do changed it. No "pop" was happening with this tire.

ac

 

[avc8130]

Update:

The tire retailer did the "right" thing and over-night shipped a replacement Trail Attack to our trip destination. On Saturday we stopped at the local bike shop where the tire was and had a "professional" install of the new Trail Attack.

Rode ~800 miles. It didn't seem "right", but it wasn't terrible.

Guess what?

IT'S BACK!

35mph and the front wants to yank out of my hands.

This is crazy.

ac

 

[MotorcopBBQ]

::006::

 

[tomatocity]

The RoadAttacks that were on my DL1000: the front tire made in Korea and the rear tire made in Germany? The front tire was super tough was going to last 20,000 miles. The rear tires lasted 6,000 miles. Never had a problem with them. I had a pair of TrailAttacks on a KLR that I sold. Only had 1,000 miles on them but they were smooth as ice. I have a pair on a KLR in my garage that have a pair of TrailAttacks with 400 miles on them and they were smooth as ice. I know this is not what you are looking for but it is my experience.

 

[swampyvt]

Apparently it seems that I'm not the only one that has had an issue with these tires. There is an entire thread on adv from april 2010... funny that the tire they shipped me was made in january 2010

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[avc8130]

::006::

What do you want a picture of? Everything LOOKS normal.

Herb, strap a Hero Cam to your head and point it at the bars/speedo. The death wobble should show well in a video.

ac