The Continental Mountain King has been out for quite a few years. A few years ago it got a complete makeover; the Mountain King II was born. Gone where those awkward placed knobs, and a more aggressive sidewall pattern was implemented.
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, that's said to improve grip, but also decrease rolling resistance - it sounds a bit contradicting to me, but I have been trying to be open minded about it.
I have been using this tire for 5 months now, and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised; the tire has a good bite, corners predictably, braking is consistent as well. Its not a tire without some rolling resistance, but its okay. Ive been running this tire in soft and loose conditions, both dry and wet, and this is actually a decent performing tire, I have a hard time putting my finger on a single bad thing for these conditions - well besides the slight-above-medium rolling resistance
Mountain King II has given me a single snakebite during my test time, contrary the Schwalbe Nobby Nic, that just kept the snakebites coming (and yes, Im using the same pressure, and riding the same trails). The carcass seems to be putting up with the heat as well. But for very rocky conditions it would probably be a wise thing to go with the "Protection" version of this tire, boasting a thicker sidewall. The size I have been testing is a 2.2", and is just that, not bigger, not smaller (take note Maxxis).Overall a great performing tire for the Trail and AM rider, who wants a lightweight tire, and doesnt ride trails with needle-sharp rocks. Definitely recommended.
Size: 2.2"
Tested on: Rear
Claimed weight: 550 gram
Actual weight: 531 gram
Score: 5/6
The Black-Chili compound is not the holy grail of grip, but it IS really good.
These two vids had too many variables to be considered good enough for a head to head comparison. The line wasn't as good as we had hoped, as well being a bit too jumpy, and not really representing what we had in mind.
Ill post the vids anyway, however I wont tell you whats SLOW and whats FAST rebound. Im kinda curious whether you can guess it, just by watching these two vids. Lets call it an experiment. Answer will be posted after feedback.
VIDEO 1 Raw edit:
VIDEO 2 Raw edit:
So whats slow, and whats fast? VID 1 or 2? Comments does not require sign in.
My second take on slow vs fast rebound. Last time I did this kind of test, it was somewhat inconclusive. This time around; we had a better setup, let me summarize;
-some 75m of testing range (240 feet).
-more variation in bump size.
-way faster rider speed.
-camera focus on fork action, and nothing else.
-testing done with a BOXXER R2C2, allowing for longer stroke action
-polarizing between slow and fast is bigger, a massive 17 clicks. Slow is slow, fast is fast.
So what we wanted from this test is to see how slow vs fast rebound would affect rider, traction, and overall performance. Lets take a look:
Fast rebound, 240 fps:
17 clicks slower rebound, 240fps:
Conclusion:
When looking at the footage I still have a hard time seeing any actual difference. However I did FEEL a difference.
When riding the fast rebound, the bike felt more alive, and a bit more - say, playfull. This appealed to me as a rider. It was however a bit harder to steer, and a tiny bit more energy consuming. I wouldn't run a fork with such a fast rebound setting, but boy, was it fun to try.
When riding the slow rebound, the ride felt a bit more stabilized and controlled. The fun factor suffered a bit, but that really depends on who you are, and what you want out of your ride. Traction felt a bit better, but there was no gain in actual speed, or in some way better clearance over the cluttery stuff.
There was NO DIFFERENCE in A-B speed.
Im still not completely satisfied with this comparison, like the small change in line, and an even longer test section would be nice, so expect to see some more.
Do you see something I don't? Have an suggestion? Feel free to comment, it does not require a sign-in.
Another trip to the mountains of Germany. We didn't really shoot that many pics, but the few we did shoot are here. I guess I was the photographer, because im not on a single of the pics : D Anyway, we had 2 days in Braunlage Bikepark, and once again there was new features and improvements to find here. We also had a day in Schulenberg Bikepark, witch turned out to be quite surprisingly good for its size, I hope do do a small mashup-video that shows some of the lines, as well as adding some text to go along with it. First up, the few pics we did shoot from Braunlage:
Normally I crop pics to some extend, this one however, stands its own.
(click to enlarge)
I wasn't the only one shooting pics..
(click to enlarge)
Had this pic been in a higher resolution, It would probably be one of my best shots of the year. Note the couple sitting on the rock enjoying the view.
(click to enlarge)
Some house-wife decided to strip her clothes outside the hotel, made the guys, old and young, (allmost) jump out of the window. Apparently, tits are still in.
(click to enlarge)
Janus was riding aggressively, I could barely recognize him from our trail session earlier this year. I on the other hand, was taking it easy.
(click to enlarge)
Braunlage Bikepark has been the place to destroy gear, this time was no different. My pedal slammed into a stone, so much so that the pedal thread got ripped out! Pedal itself was unharmed. Im currently trying to warrant it, ill keep you guys updated on that matter.
(click to enlarge)
So without my left pedal arm, on the first day of riding, I had to think outside the box, spare SIXC crank arms are not particular easy to get hold of. I talked to the local bikeshop near the bikepark, and got this Hussefelt crank arm for a bit cash. Does it fit into the Raceface? No. Did we install it anyway? Yes. Did it work? Sorta - just be near an allen key at all times. I call it the "FrankenCrank", 175mm on the right side, 160mm on the left side - and constantly loose. It was.. interesting.
A few random shots, and some thoughts to accompany it.
My latest Point One Racing Podium Pedals are still going strong. Sure its lost some pins here and there, but overall they have been doing great since mid-2011. Perhaps I was unlucky with my former set.
(click to enlarge)
I did a very positive review of the Fox Launch Pad Pro some time ago. But after a year of use they started to annoy my skin, just above the knee actually - its the red stuff on the pic.
(click to enlarge)
The annoyance resulted in the purchase of the 661 2012 EVO Knee. Relatively expensive, but you get that 661-knee-comfort, that few players match. These pads has their cons and pros, but overall im positively surprised, there is a big BUT however. I will do a full review shortly and let you know what im talking about.
(click to enlarge)
New shoes from FiveTen, its the FreeRider PRO. The Pro model adds a hardened toe box, and an ankle support. The ventilation has once again been improved, and the weight has gone down as well, about 80 grams, FiveTen is obviosly very keen on improving their most popular shoe - good job guys.
(click to enlarge)
So its been more than an year of ONE riding. Still a great bike, that I really enjoy to ride. The low BB took some time to get used to, but today its something I enjoy, and its definitely a charming side of the bike
So there is a story to this clip. On the first day of our roadtrip we wanted to shoot some rockgarden footage with my high-speed cam. And so we did, from several angles, all was good and dandy - so we started to experiment some more - with camera placement in particular.
I asked Christian to to ride past this stone field, with close proximity to the camera. He did so, what he didn't tell me was that he decided to block his rear wheel to "make stones fly". So there he went, blocking his rear wheel, kicking up stones, some of them where pretty big, like in hand-size big, and just as he did so, I saw them coming full force in the direction of the camera, I remember thinking; "There goes my cam".
For some lucky reason the stone missed. The camera was a inch from destruction, but hey, they footage turned out sweet. Watch the stone at 22 sec.
We packed our stuff, and went south. The plan was to ride some AM and DH for the 3 days we where away. Day 1 was all about the AM, but we got ourself into an awesome local DH-line , and we ended sessioning that alot. Day 2 and 3 was spent in Braunlage Bikepark. The weather was amazing, and we had such a fun time there. We shot a few (not many) pics:
Christian trying to spot the best line. The AM trail we rode was challenging, so much so that we actually had to walk past a few technical spots - as we deemed them unridable (this day). And that's something I usually NEVER do, I rather prefer a fight to the death, than walking away - tail between the legs.. Fun fact; the stuff wee rode this day far surpassed the tech stuff in the bikepark.
(click to enlarge)
AM-setup. Dual ply tires, and coil out back. Btw im not taking a dump here, Christian is cracking me up by asking me to do a better am-pose.
(click to enlarge)
Rubbing elbows with...trees.
(click to enlarge)
Breakfast when its at its best. The redbull is not mine tho' - thats taking it a tad too far ; )
(click to enlarge)
DH-setup. Boxxer up front, 40mm stem, and no adjustable seatpost. 15.89kg, or 34.96 lbs btw. Note the Mavic Crossmax SX wheels. I wanted to stress-test them in a bikepark on the DH and FR lines - they did great, so look forward to a concluding review soon.
(click to enlarge)
The cue to braunlage bikepark. This place is getting better and better every year, and people has started to notice.
Several hours away from home, new lines, new territory, what is there not to like? I had the opportunity to be a bit more XC'ish, and took upon the challenge..sorta.
So without mentioning actual trail names;
Another day of sharing a hotel room - with your bike.
(click to enlarge)
Sweepy trails near the sea is not that uncommon to me, what is new to me are the trails itself.
(click to enlarge)
Pulling a little fun out of the xc trail
(click to enlarge)
Another place I had a go on my bike, was this huge forrest, lots of climbs and descends, and good variation as well. The xc trails where very varying in quality; both good and bad trail work was apparent.
(click to enlarge)
Besides sporting alot of animals..
(click to enlarge)
...there was the occasional roadgap. Its actually a DH line (well more like a FR line), it was pretty apparent thats this particular line has had a solid thought process behind it - and I salute that.
Met up with Henning the other day, the plan was to do an all day ride of various stuff and trails. Then we hit "your mom" and couldn't leave the short trail section. In fact we sessioned it for 4 hours! And fun it was : ) Total riding time for this day was around the 6 hours mark, great weather, great company, its aaalll good. We shot some pics as well.
Henning giving "The One" a go.
(click to enlarge)
About to land the table
(click to enlarge)
Discussing technique. We actually forgot all about the cam, as it recorded. Watching all the big hand gestures made us laugh : )
Anyone who's been on any of my bikes, know that I like my frontal rebound fast. It works great on the trails I primarily ride (smooth + flow), and the fast rebound makes the bike more playful.
So this other day we where dicking around a rockgarden on a trail I usually don't ride, when one of my riding buddies questioned my fast rebound, and opted for a slower rebound setting for the rockgarden to keep the tire more glued to the ground. I though, well why not give it a go. We set up my high speed camera, and began testing, this is what we found:
Well, from what I observe, the slower rebound doesn't make me any faster on this 15m rockgarden section. It does however look like its stabilizing me a bit more, and that's good. I need to do some more testing, and iron out some of the variants out of the equation. I want to test this as accurate and objective as possible - for the fun of it - perhaps I could use some of this data to setup my Boxxer fork a bit better. Stay tuned.
Do you spot or see something I don't? Got some Yoda knowledge to share? Then drop a comment in the comments section below - it does not require a log-in.
Thomas joining up for this sunny day. Always in a good mood, and just a joy to session with. Here you see him on a Speccy Enduro with a coil in the back.
(click to enlarge)
Air sprung bikes can fly as well ; )
(click to enlarge)
Janus on the booster drop.
(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge)
"Your Mom" rip
(click to enlarge)
A well deserved post-ride beer. I have to admit I was getting a bit tired mentally, its been my fifth day of riding in a row. Still, its a privilege.
Day 2 opened up for some trail rip. Nice to loosen up a bit, and play around with gravity. Allthough there was quite a bit of sessioning, there was indeed alot of pedal mashing as well. Good balance between the two.
Grabbing some air on "Your mom".
(click to enlarge)
Janus dicking around some technical stuff, It took some tries with this particular section, but he finally nailed it.
(click to enlarge)
ChristÃan joining in on the fun.
(click to enlarge)
We have been trying to get a good pic of this drop for ages. It isnt big, 1.5m at best I guess, but its good fun, great transition too.
A mtb buddy of mine dropped by for a few days of rockin', it resulted in more than 15 hours of effective trail time during the 3 days he was here. It was good fun as well. Day 1 was all about trail and xc - while im not particular passionate about that kind of riding, I still enjoy it from time to time. Think the guys had a good time as well, weather was a w e s o m e .
(click to enlarge)
Janus improvising on his Specialized Stumpjumper FSR.
(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge)
Christian joined up, and taught us how to do stuff.
