[rickdick80]

Last week my new Continental ContiMotions showed up. After shopping around to have them mounted, I found that most shops in my area charge $45/tire to mount and balance. One shop charges $35, but their tire machine was down and I wanted to try mounting my own anyhow. Soooo I bought some Harbor Freight tire irons and spooned them on myself. The rear was no big deal, the front wasn't that big of a deal until I got halfway through putting on the second bead. Whatta PITA!!! I'll be buying the Harbor Freight/No-Mar bar setup before my next set of tires. With the tires mounted, I had a local shop balance them for me.

Alright! So, with a whole 70 miles on these new tires, here are a few observations:

1) They're sticky right from the get-go. The Conti Blitzes that I put on the Maxim were VERY greasy the first few miles. The Pilot Powers (non-2CT) that I put on the Interceptor last spring were only slightly greasy.
2) The ContiMotions seem as responsive as my squared-off PPs at low speeds (swerves, or just slaloming within a lane below 40mph). The ContiMotions are quite a bit less responsive than the Pilot Powers above that speed. No big surprise there. Also, this seems most apparent to me when I'm coming out of a turn--the PPs took less steering input to stand the bike up. The ContiMotions want to continue the path of the curve.
3) The PPs seem to get more and more responsive the further the bike is leaned over. This led to me being more nervous the more the bike was leaned, and less likely to charge hard through a turn. The ContiMotions feel like they respond smoothly all the way over as far as I've leaned the bike. With only 30 miles on them, I had the bike leaned over as far as I had EVER gone with the PPs. They're a lot more comforting to me.
4) I can't comment on wet grip, since I haven't had them out in the rain yet. I also can't comment on ultimate dry grip, because I never had the PPs warmed up, and I never even slid them while cold (unless on sand or gravel, which doesn't count )
5) Ride quality seems the same, maybe a little harder than the PPs but totally acceptable. It's hard to tell, since I stiffened up the rear shock about a week before putting the new tires on.
6) Regarding the PPs, I got 7,400mi. (one season) out of them, and they were completely worn out down the middle. Outer edges were nearly unused, but hey, I'm a flatlander. Northern Ill-Annoy doesn't have curves or hills!
7) This is my third season riding a street bike, so I still consider myself somewhat of a noob. I take it easy and ride within my limits (most of the time).

Hope this helped for anyone looking for a sport-touring tire! I chose the ContiMotion because I wanted more mileage out of a set of tires than the PPs offered. Time will tell if I made the right decision!