Continental Tkc 70

CONTINENTAL TKC 70

An ADV tire for reality

Blake Conner

Tires are the single biggest performance enhancement for any ADV motorcycle. By simply throwing on a set of knobby tires, the current breed of 1,000-plus-cc adventuretourers can become surprisingly off-road-capable.

But full-on knobbies have a very limited lifespan, so Continental has created a new tire called the TKC 70 that bridges the gap between its more street-oriented Trail Attack2 and the TKC 80 knobby.

The TKC 70 is unique because of its zero-degree, steel-belted radial construction (most knobbies are bias-ply construction). Via temperaturecontrolled curing, Continental says it creates a harder, more durable center tread and softer shoulder sections

from a single rubber compound.

I recently had the opportunity to ride the brand-new TKC 70 on road and off in the Welsh Midlands on a CS Adventure and a few other ADV bikes. Our first day provided a great opportunity to sample on-road grip, wet and dry. In short, I was impressed with the TKC 70’s performance. The profile of the tires allowed every bike I sampled to handle as they would on stock rubber. Furthermore, despite fairly deep and chunky tread blocks, the tire never squirmed or felt unstable when leaned over at a hot street pace. Road noise was barely perceptible, and wet-weather grip proved to be excellent.

The following morning we ventured out onto some forest dirt roads. Surfaces ranged from damp and smooth graded roads to potholed, rocky two tracks with plenty of mud. On the

fast, flowing gravel, grip from the front tire was predictable and easyto read, even under hard braking. Crip at the rear was almost too good, so I turned off the CS’s traction control to hang out the back and steer with the rear. It wasn’t until I hit a few very saturated muddy roads that I discovered the tire’s limitations and wished I had a knobby on the front.

For the vast majority of offhighway travel, the TKC 70s are an excellent compromise for heavy ADV bikes that will spend more time on road than off. They offer far superior dirt grip than the TrailAttacl2 while offering similartraction on the road. Unless your route includes sand or mud, the TKC 70 is a wise choice. The TKC 70 will be available in all of the popular ADV sizes. Fronts range in price from $105 to $175; rears cost from $195 to $240.