A1 Accessory Imports takes on Continental
Continental motorcycle tyres have a new Australian home, with A1 Accessory Imports adding the German tyre manufacturer to its portfolio of powersports brands.
The agreement puts Continental’s motorcycle tyre range into A1’s national dealer network, covering everything from road and sport-touring applications through to sports, racing, scooter and adventure rubber.
The move comes only months after MCNews travelled to Portugal for the international launch of the new-generation TKC 80², where we spent almost 300 kilometres sampling Continental’s latest 50/50 adventure tyre across a demanding mixture of winding tarmac and off-road terrain.
You can read our full Continental TKC 80² launch review here.
Continental joins A1 Accessory Imports
A1 Accessory Imports is based in Yatala, Queensland, and supplies a national network of motorcycle and powersports dealers.
Continental joins the company’s portfolio with a particularly broad motorcycle offering. The range stretches from road and sport-touring products such as the ContiMotion EVO through to the more sporting ContiSportAttack 5, along with racing, scooter and adventure applications.
The latter is particularly topical following the arrival this year of the TKC 80², the first major generational overhaul of Continental’s long-running TKC80 adventure tyre in decades.
More than 150 years of Continental
Continental’s history stretches back to Hannover, Germany, in 1871, when Moritz Magnus and nine investors began manufacturing rubber products.
Motorcycling subsequently became part of that story during the early development of powered two-wheelers, with Continental tyres used in competition, endurance riding and record attempts over the decades.
Continental also traces one of its major early tyre milestones to 1904, when the company says it pioneered the world’s first treaded tyre.
The company has continued to use motorcycle competition as part of its development and promotional activities through the generations.
Modern Continental motorcycle tyres draw on technologies including BlackChili compounds, MultiGrip, TractionSkin and RainGrip, with tyre construction, compounds and tread design increasingly tailored to very specific motorcycle applications.
TKC 80² brings the story right up to date
For Australian adventure riders, perhaps the most interesting product in the range right now is the new Continental TKC 80².
The original TKC80 had been around for roughly four decades and had earned an enviable reputation in the adventure world. Continental made numerous construction and compound revisions along the way, but 2026 brought the biggest rethink in the tyre’s history.
Continental identified wet grip, stability and off-road performance as three of the principal areas targeted during development. The company benchmarked almost 200 tyres during the programme and evaluated hundreds of bias and radial prototypes before ultimately retaining a bias-ply construction for the production TKC 80².
When I rode the tyre at its international launch in Portugal earlier this year, my initial impression was that Continental had produced a carefully judged evolution rather than reinventing the TKC80 concept. It felt noticeably composed on the road while still retaining the dirt behaviour that made the original tyre so popular.
There were limits to what could be established during a single launch ride. We didn’t get the conditions necessary to personally validate Continental’s claimed wet-weather improvement, while longevity obviously requires much more mileage, but the initial impression was positive.
For the complete riding impressions and technical breakdown, see our Continental TKC 80² review and launch report.
How Continental developed the TKC 80²
That Portugal launch also gave MCNews the opportunity to go considerably further behind the scenes with the people responsible for the tyre.
We sat down with Emily Altenhofen, Continental’s Head of Motorcycle Tyre Development and Industrialisation, for a detailed discussion covering compound development, carcass construction, tread-pattern design, noise and vibration, high-speed testing and the compromises involved in creating a tyre expected to perform across such a wide operating envelope.
You can read the full discussion here: Talking Tyres – Continental TKC 80² development process with Emily Altenhofen.
We also spoke at length with Christoph Ettenhuber, Head of Continental’s Motorcycle Business Unit, about the bigger picture surrounding the project: why Continental finally decided to replace such a successful product, how the development programme was structured, manufacturing and process control, the economics behind modern tyre development and where motorcycle tyre technology might head next.
Read that interview here: Motorcycle adventure tyre development – The big picture with Christoph Ettenhuber.
Continental motorcycle tyres in Australia
With A1 Accessory Imports now taking responsibility for Continental motorcycle tyres in Australia, the brand’s adventure, sports, sport-touring, racing and scooter ranges will be available through A1’s national dealer network.
The new arrangement also gives the recently introduced TKC 80² a fresh distribution platform in Australia as its range of applications continues to expand.
Further information on Continental’s Australian motorcycle tyre range, available sizes, and applications is available on A1’s House of Powersports website.
