Like many "unsung" brands, for more than 137 years Continental Tyres have continued to let their great products do the talking.

I must confess to feeling a bit daft at having only recently "discovered" the brilliance of Continental Tyres.

Over the last 20 years I have been - wrongly as it turns out - a bit of a brand snob when it comes to hoops.
It was always Pirelli or Metzeler or Michelin for me.

Oh, never mind that Pirelli and Metz are one and the same, the two are merely used for differentiation of branding.

It's all in the perception after all.

In my conservative rut I had never thought to buy anything other than the most-vaunted "now" rubber - that was until Dean of Bits for Bikes raved to me about Continentals so gushingly, I had to give them a go.

The first set I tried was a pair of Conti Sport Attacks; essentially a mid-range sports tyre aimed at real-world sport-focused riders.

These were fitted to my Aprilia Pegaso Strada 650, in 110/70ZR17 (front) and 150/60ZR17 (rear).

Right off the bat, the new Contis inspired confidence.

Even though I typically run a 150 rear tyre for quicker steering, the Contis quickened the steering still further; transforming the feel of the Pegaso from roadster motard into something a good deal more frisky.

Available grip was astoundingly high, translating into a rock-solid feeling of confidence.

"This is how sports tyres should be" I thought, while pushing the front end playfully into Gillies apexes.

Steering was pin-sharp and light, with commendable feedback.

These are seriously sticky tyres, and naturally I expected a spectacularly short service life from them.

Not so, as it turned out. Now bearing in mind the Sport Attacks were fitted to a tour/hire bike which is given death every time it goes out, I reckon a life of just shy of 11,000km is pretty good going.

No doubt this is at least in part due to the dual-compound construction, and indeed the next set of Contis I tried were a pair of Conti Road Attacks, which are touted as a sports-touring tyre, leaning towards the sporty end of the spectrum.

These are still on the bike, and wearing well after some 5000km of canyon scratching and open-road blasting.

It was when my clients remarked on how great the tyres felt that the decision to fit Contis felt vindicated.

By now convinced of the worth of the brand, I fitted a set of Con Sport tyres to one of my RZ350 tour bikes.

Once again, grip levels and steering precision improved noticeably - and when running bacon-slicer 90 fronts and 110 rears, you need all the help you can get.

Give those Contis a go, I say.

They are not the most common tyre on the road, but by crikey they do a mighty job.

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