Tires

UPSed said:
http://www.biketiresdirect.com
Great prices on Contis.
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For thin sidewall/non protection tires, you can get them super cheap....at least in 29er form....haven't looked at the smaller step children sizes. :lol:

That is where I have bought all the Conti tires I have tried....and really haven't found one I liked.
 
Mine was a love/hate relationship... Loved the mountain King, and hated the X-King. The knobs tore easily, and I had the porous sidewall issue that never truly sealed. And, it was the protection version with Conti's own sealant.

Just before the Temecula ride, I noticed the sidewall issue on the mountain King. There was still sealant in the tire, but I added a little more to be safe. Is it possible that the sealant changes chemically and allows the seepage? This tire has been on several months now, and has been very good about keeping inflated, and it has been again since the Temecula ride.


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Been running the X- king front and race king rear combo for about 3 years now on my single speed and love it. I had to add an extra round of tape on the rear tire to keep it sealed up at the bead but other than that no issues at all.

When I built up a geared hard tail I decided to go Mountain King front and rear and they took a long time to get used to them. You really need to lean that tire over and get on the side knob for them to work.

I have all my bikes on Conti tires and have been really happy.
 
Varaxis said:
"Painting" the inside of the side wall with Orange seal is how some Conti fans told me how they handled tubeless reliability on them.
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That is way too much work! If you are not true UST or you can't just throw in 2 scoops and seat with a floor pump then you need to explore other options.
 
I've tried many tires. The latest Hans Dampf tires are very good almost everywhere, but they are costly and wear faster than most. Still among my favorite tires.
The old Nobby Nic and Rocket Ron tires were terrible--fast wearing, fragile and just not good.
The new Nobby Nic is pretty good. Tried it up front and liked the HD much more. NN is now being saved for back tire.

With Continental, to get the best bang for buck, wear and traction, make sure to get the Black Chili (German made), protection, tubeless ready versions.
The Mountain King is a mid-volume all-around tire. Provided you get the correct model (see above), the 2.4 is nice up front and rear can go 2.4 or 2.2 (all assuming you prefer larger volume tires)
The X-King look good and are light, BUT I had two of them and the sidewalls on both tore in the first three rides. I mean 1" tears to immediate flat. Apparently that's not terribly unusual for the X-King
The Trail King is a great sleeper tire! It's a bit heaver than the above, but it's huge volume. The 2.2 TK is as big as the 2.4 MK. If you don't mind a few extra grams, a 2.2 or 2.4 TK up front with a 2.2 TK in the rear is a very sweet combo.

I managed to purchase a couple of the TK 27.5, 2.4, black chili, apex, tubeless ready tires at Sea Otter for $35 each. Bigger than the Hans Dampf, seem to last at least 3x longer (yes, really 300% longer or more) and hook up as well.
 
Mikie said:
CBone!
I have heard a lot of chatter about Mountain and Trail Kings and even contacted as "source" :think: to see if I could get a killer deal on them. Unfortunately he does not have access to them. I think it's time however to give them a try and see how they fair.

Mikie
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I've got a 2.2 Trail King 26" Protection (made in Germany) that you can have for nothing*
*but it might cost you your soul to get it mounted tubeless :twisted:
 
knucklebuster said:
Mikie said:
CBone!
I have heard a lot of chatter about Mountain and Trail Kings and even contacted as "source" :think: to see if I could get a killer deal on them. Unfortunately he does not have access to them. I think it's time however to give them a try and see how they fair.

Mikie
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I've got a 2.2 Trail King 26" Protection (made in Germany) that you can have for nothing*
*but it might cost you your soul to get it mounted tubeless :twisted:
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I gave away my X-King when I switched to the Ikon in the back... I told the new owner that it was possessed by evil spirits. He runs it with a tube.

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Rode a Hans Damf on the front today, first time in a long time. Been running asskick minion DHF for awhile. A couple of flat and a little loose tight corners that I like to test the grip (i.e. foot out, just in case), the HD stuck good then went into a nice gently drift, fun as hell! The DHFs would grip like crazy with no drift at all and if pushed past the limit, just let go. I can't say either is better, just different, except the DHFs don't crack knobs off as fast as HD.... Just a couple hundredths of a buck on my experience today, ymmv.

edit/add- non scientific, different bikes and wheels, dirt is drier than last time, yada yada. Only good way to pick a tire is to try different ones and find one you like, then try some others...
 
FYI, Schwalbe claims that there was a period of time in which their TrailStar compound was not manufactured at a quality as high as they expected, implying that period is now in the past. Symptoms included knobs chunking/ripping off.

From Maxxis's FAQ, which explains why their rubber doesn't crack, chunk, get shredded, ripped, etc. as badly as the competition:

"Only Maxxis has exclusive use of the Exxpro polymer, created by Exxon. Our engineers have blended Exxpro with our own MaxxPro elastomer, which allows soft tires to have a long tread life without compromising the increase in traction that soft compounds provide. All MaxxPro tires benefit from 100% perfectly dispersed carbon black. Maxxis’ technology allows for the carbon black molecules to be ground smaller and thus more closely arranged than carbon black found in other manufacturer’s compounds. The result is a smoother tire surface that wears longer than traditional compounds. Maxxis’ perfect dispersion of carbon black also minimizes cut growth in instances where the tread becomes torn or cut. The tire also rolls faster as a result of the rubber recovering more slowly after shaping itself to the terrain."
 
Two more thoughts:

Schwalbe's new hard-core AM tire and one that's taking over some of the DH and Enduro circuits is the Magic Mary. Supposed to be excellent, but haven't tried it.

Varaxis is correct. Schwalbe claims the ripping knobs is a thing of the past. I spoke to a rep at Sea Otter. He apologized and said to use the warranty process on the Schwalbe website to request a free replacement. I did it for two tires and they agreed to send me two free tires! Unfortunately, they are completely out of the HD29 Trail Star for more than a month. They will ship them to me as soon as available.
 
Runs with Scissors said:
Given the pavement/fire road course I'm riding in three weeks, I picked up a pair of 1.8" Kenda Slant Six today. I've heard good things about them...now it's on me.
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They roll well. Another tire I liked as bizarre as it seems are the Kenda Happy Mediums. Talk about rolling well and cornering.
 
Update on my Continentals. I gave them a glowing review here a month ago.

I have been running a 2.4 Mountain King in front and a 2.4 X King in the back - tubless ready, black chili, protection. I liked the way they were wearing and the grip was great.

I need to remove my endorsement of the X King. A couple of weeks ago I hit a g-out and burped the X King. Pumped it up and finished the ride but it was pretty low as I got back to the truck. I remounted it the next day and added sealant. I thought it was good to go as the tire held pressure over night. I headed out for a ride and didn't get far before I heard the dreaded hissing and endured the walk of shame back to my truck.
The rubber had separated from the bead core.

The good news is that the shop warrantied the tire. The bad news is I ended up with a 2.2 Mountain King because they did not have a 2.4. The 2.4 MK is a high volume tire. It is way bigger than the 2.35 Maxxis that I used to run. The 2.2 MK is skinny! It is more like a 2.0. I has been working well on the trails but I miss the added security of the extra volume.

The shop owner say that Conti are coming out with a updated version of their tires to address the sidewall issues. He will not be stocking any of their tires until the new version comes out. So if you have been wanting to give Continentals a try you may want to wait a bit especially if you are wanting to try the X King.
 
I'm resurrecting an old thread...

I love the Mountain Kings. Lots of traction, they wear like iron, and they have stiffer sidewalls, which I like. My experience with the X-King was miserable. It never sealed properly and it suffered from the "Thousand pinholes" sidewall seepage. But, I believe in second chances, so I picked up another to replace the Ikon I cut on Sunday's mini death march. Maybe I'm a masochist?

This one seems to have mounted easily the first time, and hasn't lost any air in the couple days it's been on the bike. It has the same stiffer sidewall that I prefer, and it seems to roll at least as fast as the Ikon, if not faster. I shall report back if it becomes possessed by demons. :devilish:
 
That's what I figured but it's hard to tell how tall the knobs are in pictures. I think I will try it on the Timberjack up front and it might be just the ticket. I've got over 2 yrs of a lot of riding on the Aggressor and it still looks barely used. That tire just won't quit.
 
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