Continental ContiSportAttack 5 Review

Replacing the outgoing ContiSportAttack 4, the fifth-generation tire shifts the formula slightly more toward performance. Continental says the new tire is designed for 80% street and 20% track duty, compared to the previous tire’s 90/10 split. The SportAttack 5 is still a street tire first and foremost, but what Conti means by it having more track performance may be different than what you think. Beyond having the grip and durability for the odd trackday, Continental designed the SportAttack 5 to do it without demanding the usual trackday rituals like tire warmers, pressure changes, or obsessive temperature management. Those are big claims. Let’s take a look at how it’s done.

What’s New

The thing with tires is that it’s never one change that makes all the difference. The same is true with the SportAttack 5. Continental’s core technologies were tweaked and reconfigured to achieve a successor to the SportAttack 4. The big feature is an update to Conti’s MultiZoneBelt internal construction. In short, this is an updated steel-belt design meant to vary stiffness across the tire depending on where you are in the contact patch.

For a better understanding, imagine a series of steel belts around the circumference of the tire’s carcass. Steel belts in itself are nothing new to tires — they’re what limit a tire from expanding wildly due to centripetal force as the tire spins. Continental’s MultiZoneBelt technology varies where the cords are placed and how tightly they’re wound to achieve the desired result. In this case, the center of the tire gets tightly spaced cords for durability and stability, while the closer you go towards the edge of the tire, the looser the cords are spaced. This results in a contact patch that flexes more, creating more grip when the bike’s leaned over.

The MultiZoneBelt is a big contributor to the SportAttack 5’s performance, but it’s also paired with other Continental technologies like its BlackChili compound — a complex formulation of synthetic rubbers, resins and tread mixtures reserved for specific tires in Continental’s lineup, not just this one. So sensitive is this compound technology that tires in Conti’s lineup with BlackChili are produced exclusively in Continental’s plant in Korbach, Germany. In this case, BlackChili compound is aimed at maximizing dry grip while maintaining mileage and also fast warmup times.

MultiGrip technology uses a temperature-controlled curing process that creates varying hardnesses across the tire, creating the equivalent to multi-compounds you might see from other tire companies but from a single piece of rubber instead of multiple compounds bonded together.

Another interesting piece of tech Conti uses is what they call TractionSkin; a micro-rough surface that reduces break-in time for new tires. Other tire manufacturers use release agents to break the tire away from the mold. These agents stay on the rubber and you’re advised to ride a few gentle miles to scrub the agent away before riding normally. TractionSkin’s micro-rough surface effectively allows the tire to break free from the mold without any agents. Then you’re free to ride like normal right from the get-go.

Lastly, Continental’s GripLimitFeedback technology, is Continental’s claim that the tire communicates clearly as it approaches its limits of traction and lean angle. This is especially important at high lean angles when the motorcycle’s suspension is practically useless.

Beyond those technological changes, the SportAttack 5 benefits from a fundamental difference: more rubber. Compared to its predecessor, Continental simply put more rubber across the entire tire, from edge to edge. This serves two purposes: first, these larger rubber blocks will flex and deform more under use, creating heat necessary to provide grip. Then, at a basic level, more rubber equals more mileage from the tire.

When looking at the tread between old and new, let’s start at the front. Here, the new tire’s edge profile has a larger slick surface for better edge grip. As you move toward the center of the tire, the sipes get bigger for better water dissipation before going back to solid tread in the center. The rear tire also has a solid tread block in the center for mileage. Big sipes on the shoulder aren’t quite as big as before, which hints at the new tire’s sporty intentions. The edge of the tire is slick for ultimate grip leaned over, but just before that point, little mini cuts in the tread surface promote flexion to help the compound warm-up faster and provide grip.

In short, the ContiSportAttack 5 is supposed to warm up quickly, work in a wide range of conditions, and offer enough grip for spirited riding both on the street and track.

Track Impressions

Naturally, for a tire that claims it’s main usage is “80% street,” Continental invited us to test the tire at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. While I love a private trackday as much as the next person, I suppose a trackday environment that would test the “20% track” claim could be extrapolated to provide street impressions, too.

I’ll admit, this concept of keeping tire pressures the same for street and track took some time to wrap my brain around. You do this long enough and it gets ingrained into you to adjust pressures for the environment. At first, the rear tire moved around a bit when cold, which is normal. It felt like the MultiZoneBelt construction doing its thing, allowing the tire to flex as it warmed up. Within about a lap, the movement settled down noticeably. At that point I started pushing harder.

I deliberately spent as much time as I could on bigger bikes, because nothing punishes a tire harder than a literbike trying to hustle around a racetrack, and a particularly punishing bike is the Honda CBR1000RR-R because of its peaky power delivery. Initially I was impressed that it didn’t take a full lap to get the tire warmed up. I knew this because I could feel the amount of cold tire movement (like the tire was flexing and moving through the carcass) getting less and less as I accelerated and braked through the first few corners and straights.

Even after the tires were warm, however, the rear tire continued to move around more than I expected. This time, instead of carcass flex, it felt more like literal slipping and sliding, where the tire would lose traction for a micro-second then get it back, over and over. On decel for a corner, with load transferred to the front, the rear would step out. Then, once mid-corner, there was more movement on the side of the tire, and I had to be especially careful under acceleration to control the spin. To me, this didn’t seem right.

At one point I came in to have the pressures checked and discovered the rear had crept up to 44 psi, which is extremely high by typical track standards (Continental’s test riders said they’ve tested to as high as 50 psi with no issues, but they don’t recommend it) and would explain the amount of movement I was getting from the tire. The crew dropped the pressure to Continental’s recommended 39 psi rear and 32 psi front. That pressure split might sound backwards to trackday regulars. Normally, the front tire runs higher pressure than the rear. Continental’s tire construction flips that logic, which takes a little mental adjustment.

With the corrected pressures the tire behaved better, but the rear still wasn’t inspiring confidence in me. After a handful of laps on the Honda, the edge grip started to feel greasy and I doubled-down on being super careful with throttle application. Still, while having the bike leaned over for a long, double-apex right corner leading onto a short straight, I nearly launched myself into orbit as I got back on the power for the straight. Despite what I thought was fairly gentle throttle, the rear slid out big time. It was pure luck that I was able to gather it back up. Of course, the Honda’s peaky powerband and having the traction control setting very low didn’t help.

Interestingly, when I rode a BMW S1000RR, the experience was noticeably calmer. The tire was just as used and abused as the one on the Honda, but the BMW’s traction control and rider aids were working overtime to keep things tidy. The rear still moved around, but not as much, and the electronics smoothed out the drama and gave me much more confidence to get on the gas earlier. In this case, I’d say the BMW’s rider aids deserve more credit than the tire itself.

With that in mind, let’s give credit where credit is due: the front tire. Bearing in mind that this is a street tire first, I was impressed with its stability under braking, both straight up and down and while trailbraking. There’s good feel and feedback from the front and it warms up very fast, too.

The Sweet Spot

As mentioned before, testing street tires on literbikes would be the quickest way to find the limits, and that proved true again here. But then the question became, “How would these tires do on less powerful motorcycles?”

Enter Honda’s CBR650R. With less power and lower corner speeds, the tires felt completely at home. They still exhibited the same traits when cold, but also warmed up within a lap, just like they did on the big bike. From that point on, the rear never felt overwhelmed; I could be virtually careless with my throttle application, and the overall experience was far more relaxed. Even after an entire 30-minute session, the SportAttack 5s were as consistent at the end of the stint as they were at the beginning. And this was on a bike that had been ridden by others earlier in the day, so these tires had already seen some abuse.

Overall, the tire profile isn’t overly aggressive, so transitions from side to side are very linear. Turn-in isn’t lightning fast, but the movement is predictable all the way to the edge of the tire.

Who This Tire Is For

If you’re looking for my street impressions of the ContiSportAttack 5, you won’t find them here. We never took them on public roads. However, the track environment revealed a lot about what the tire is — and what it isn’t. This definitely isn’t trying to replace track rubber. Instead, it’s targeting riders who spend most of their time on the street but want the flexibility to do the occasional trackday without changing tires. Or even pressures. Based on my experience, that description holds up — but with some caveats.

If you’re riding a sub-100 horsepower sportbike or circulating in the intermediate trackday group, the tire should be more than capable, both on the street or the track. It warms up quickly, communicates well, and doesn’t require the usual tire-management headaches.

If you’re chasing lap times on a literbike, however, you’ll likely overwhelm the rear tire sooner rather than later. Of course, you would have stopped reading this review long ago if that was your goal and looked at more track-oriented tires (or even slicks). Still, if you’re a big-bike rider with no track ambitions, looking for a competent street tire, the SportAttack 5 could still be worth a look.

The Takeaway

The sport street tire category is incredibly competitive right now, and there are plenty of excellent options out there. I can’t say with certainty that the ContiSportAttack 5 is the class leader, but it’s the only one I’m aware of that requires virtually no adjustment between street and track environments. That in itself puts it in the conversation — depending on what bike it’s going on. Refer to the table below for size availability and pricing.