Well after the complete failure of the Schwalbe Nobby Nic tire, I had the Continental Mountain King II next on my try-list. I have been hearing alot of positive hands-on statements about this tire, and I even got more than a few direct encouragements to test this tire - the red line was; the Black Chili compound is above the rest. Black chili is a german-produced tire compound, thats said to improve grip, but also decrease rolling resistance - it sounds a bit contradicting to me, but I will try my best to be open minded about it.
I have been using this tire for a month now, and everything is going as hoped; the tire has a good bite, corners predictably, braking is consistent as well. Its not a tire without some rolling resistance, but its okay. I wonder why Continental didn't optimize the center-knobs to reduce the drag.
I had a shit-load of snakebite punctures on my Nobby Nic, but the Mountain King II hasn't given me a single yet, what a relief!
I had a shit-load of snakebite punctures on my Nobby Nic, but the Mountain King II hasn't given me a single yet, what a relief!
I actually wanted to try the protection-version of the Mountain King II, but it was sold out, so I settled with the racesport-version. The Mountain King II racesport has a thinner carcass, and no sidewall protection. Is it too light for its own good, or can it actually hold up to AM use? Time will tell. Stay tuned on All Mountain Next as I conclude this test with a review.
Is the Black-Chili compound the holy grail of grip?
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Last time I did a test on a light weight AM tire it failed miserably. Lets hope Continental pulls it off.
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Excited to read how this tire ends up performing for you. I would love to hear your thoughts on the Rubber Queen/Trail King as well. I think you'd dig it as a front tire.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I might just look into those tires.
ReplyDeleteHey, just found your blog and like it!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to your review on the M.K.II. I moved to Hamburg and need to go down from ONZA DH tyres to s.th. lighter and thought about MKII front and XK rear...
You're from DK, right?
Cheers, Max
Thanks, glad you like the blog : ) So far the MK2 are doing just great, I'm hoping they will continue to do so, im off to the Harz mountains next month, hope to give them a proper rock-test there.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to your round-up of the trip! The Harz mountains are in my book too for future trips...
ReplyDeleteCheers!
You should definitely go there if you are into AM.
ReplyDeleteI always loved the old Mountain Kings, both Protection and Supersonic. My experience with the new generation is very poor indeed. I bought both RaceSports and Protections late last year.
ReplyDeleteOn my first ride last fall on the RaceSports, one of the side knobs broke off with a loud bang. I thought that it was just bad luck and didn't complain.
Yesterday I rode a 67 mile race in Colorado that has a reputation for being hard on tires. I put the new generation Protection on the back and an old generation Protection on the front. I didn't flat but after the race I could see that the old front was fine and the new back had 4(!) side knobs ripped off.
I'm going to talk to the people that I bought the new ones from and let them know that I'm an unhappy customer.
Yikes, that doesn't sound good at all. All my knobs are luckily on the tire still. My trails aren't particular hard on tires, so that might be a factor. I will be finalizing my review in a few months, and you can be sure that I will document any flaws I might experience. Thanks for your input.
ReplyDeleteFair enough. Maybe this is just a fluke that I'm experiencing. I ride very cautiously (slow) but the trails that I ride tend to be pretty rocky. It just seems odd to me that I've done many hundreds of rides in Colorado & Utah with few tire damage issues and then go 0 for 2 with the new Mountain Kings.
ReplyDeleteYup, that is a bit odd. Take a look at my Nobby Nic review, I ripped them apart in no time, some other people tell me that they have been using them for years without a single remark.
ReplyDeleteI contacted the retailer. They told me that that this issue has been acknowledged by Continental as being present in early batches of the new Mtn Kings. They claim that it has now been fixed. Since I've always liked Continental tires, I'm going to take them up on their offer to take back the old ones and send me new ones. Please assume all is well. I'll post again if the problem persists. Thanks for the forum.
DeleteCool, perhaps im one of the lucky ones with the new batch.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone comment about the sizing, I heard the Rubber Queen 2.4 is even bigger than a Schwalbe big Betty 2.4 (I love the betty´s ) but they are to big for my AM bikes.
ReplyDeleteI am considering trying something new. But I am looking for somethign around 2.3 , 2.35.
My impression is that the Continental is just a tad smaller than the Schwalbe 2.4", Schwalbe is just notorious for having huge tires.
ReplyDelete