Depends on your use, I suppose. Since I'm always down to hear the opinions of those in the industry, I reached out to Revzilla about this. Geared the questions towards my bikes but maybe i'll be applicable for some of you guys. His thoughts mirrored my experience. I got 1800 miles out of the Conti SMs that came with the bike. I'm at about 3500 with the Rosso 3's and am ALMOST at the wear bar.
Honestly, for the smaller tires, IMO, anything MotoTireGuy listed would be just fine. On the bigger sizes, if you're a street/track rider, I guess it comes down to individual preference since they're all relatively great these days.
John K.
8:51 am
Thanks for contacting RevZilla! How may I help you?
cg_ops
yO! Conti Attack SM vs Rosso 3 for a 701 and WR250... what's your take?
John K.
Rosso 3 will be the more practical one, I'd probably go with that. More mileage, still super grippy, I like that tire a lot. Conti is great but those tires would be destroyed pretty quickly with any kind of normal street riding.
cg_ops
What about on the track? How's their performance compare?
A-/B+ pace
John K.
Depends on the track. If it's a normal one the Rosso III would probably do the high speeds better. Supermoto tracks are fast, but short (and involve dirt).
cg_ops
Regular (Sonoma, Laguna, Thunderhill)
John K.
I'd still stick with Rosso IIIs then. I mean, they'll both perform really well but if you're riding a normal sport track, the sport tires will like that better than the sumos.
cg_ops
Makes sense - what are the advantages of the Contis? If I were considering both tires for a sumo/kart track
John K.
A faster warm up probably, but it's mainly non-quantifiable things - the fact that it's made for supermotos, they'll be a bit softer because of the weight difference, they're made to be stable at extreme lean angles like you see in sumo racing, but don't handle higher speeds as well. I don't think they'd wobble or anything, but they're just two very specific kinds of tires made for two different sorts of riding.
cg_ops
Any other tires I should consider over the Rosso 3's if I'm doing about 500 miles/month on the street and 1-3 regular track days a month? Q3? PP? S21? Etc
John K.
Pilot Power is the big competitor, though I prefer the Pirelli's handling (a bit snappier). The Q3 would be feasible, that one is particularly stable while leaned over, but just like the Conti is made for sumos, the Q3 is made for sport bikes. S21 is popular, but I don't have much experience with 'em.
cg_ops
If it were you on a 690SMC/701 and you were going with one for yourself, which would you use.... assuming track performance is the more important factor than longevity
John K.
Probably the Rosso 3 at first. But I really like Conti as a brand too, I'd probably want try both (eventually) and see which one I preferred.
cg_ops
9:04 am
John, you're a credit to Revzilla and the MC community, thank you!
