The Tires for Professionals

What’s your favorite tire for adventure? Continental certainly has the best all-around range of tires for adventure whether you ride mostly on pavement with some occasional dirt (ContiTrailAttack 3) or a genuine 50/50 mix of pavement and rugged off-road (TKC 80) or somewhere in between (TKC 70). Nothing better than getting advice from a pro- right? Let’s see what professional driving and riding instructor, Bill Conger picks as his tire choice.

Bill has quite an impressive resume on both 2 and 4 wheels. Bill originally pursued a 4-wheel racing career starting with an instructor’s gig with the Jim Russell Racing School, leading to some IMSA (sports car) racing and even a stint in an ARCA series stock car. When he decided to give 2 wheel a try, he was hooked and began motorcycle road racing after a track day on his Katana 600.

Fast forward a few years and Bill is working with BMW at their new Performance Center in Greer, SC as a driving instructor. Bill was on-board when approached by management about establishing a 2-wheeled curriculum and the 2-wheel program we know today was launched.

Bill began riding the big Adventure bikes in 2006 and went “headfirst” into off-road riding and racing, including the 2010 Sandblast rally which he won the motorcycle class. In 2012 Bill started the Dakar Rally only to retire with a hole in the engine case.

When asked about tires for Adventure bikes, Bill choses Continental every time, “I’ve tried everything and the TKC 80 is the best all-around tire we tried at the Performance Center. I’ve ridden them from Parson’s Branch to Deal’s Gap for many years and never had a problem. I’m a believer in Continental, I haven’t found any tire I like better”. When asked about the TKC 70 Bill says, “It’s really the longevity answer– I’ve ridden TKC 70 everywhere including the Baja Peninsula, both on and off-road. It’s a great tire and they last forever. I’ve gotten 12K miles out of 2 different sets of TKC 70”. Bill’s 2012 BMW R1200 GS is currently outfitted with the TKC 70 Rocks rear tire, “It’s a great tire, I’ve got a lot of miles on it including some rocky routes on the Hatfield McCoy trails and in the Smoky Mountains. I’m going to keep running the TKC70 Rocks.”

When taking a break from his driving instructor duties at the Ford Performance School, Bill still finds time to do some small group or private adventure rider training. If you are interested in rider training contact Bill at [email protected]