Conti Race King Tyre trouble..

[Plentipotential]

Ok time for some noob questions on the continental tyres.....

 

1. I converted the original tyres that came with my bike to tubeless. Will UST tyres work with my rims or are there other adjustments I have to make?

2. What is the difference between the Race King and Mountain King? Looks like tread pattern to me?

3. Am I correct in saying that its standard to run 2.4 in the front and 2.2 in the rear (tyre size)?

 

Thanks

 

I am under the impression that UST tyres only work on UST rims but may be wrong. For what it's worth the best change I made to my bike was to go with Mavic 819 ust rims, fantastic.

 

Mountain King has a more aggressive tread pattern, most guys run the MK on the front and the race king on the rear. The MK has good grip on cambered sand due to the prominent side wall knob pattern. I never get surprised by my front wheel letting go. Continental tyres are made from rubber as opposed to plastic rubber as used in Maxxis Crossmark. This means that they wear quicker but give more grip. I ran a 2.2 MK on the rear wheel over summer and fount that the grip on wet rock was better with the Race King in the same conditions. Smaller knobs, more knobs = more contact. Mountain King on the rear wears very quickly on tar BTW.

Edited July 20, 2012 by Plentipotential

[travisza]

+1. Got the x-king Race-king combo

 

Thanks guys....will try that combo too. I read some posts that reckon that the race king doesnt offer enough traction at the rear, and others that love the combo so I reckon I'll give it a try for myself.

[travisza]

I am under the impression that UST tyres only work on UST rims but may be wrong. For what it's worth the best change I made to my bike was to go with Mavic 819 ust rims, fantastic.

 

Mountain King has a more aggressive tread pattern, most guys run the MK on the front and the race king on the rear. The MK has good grip on cambered sand due to the prominent side wall knob pattern. I never get surprised by my front wheel letting go. Continental tyres are made from rubber as opposed to plastic rubber as used in Maxxis Crossmark. This means that they wear quicker but give more grip. I ran a 2.2 MK on the rear wheel over summer and fount that the grip on wet rock was better with the Race King in the same conditions. Mountain King on the rear wears very quickly on tar BTW.

 

Thanks. I did some reading after posting my orginial questions and it looks like you can use UST tyres on non-UST rims as long as you convert them (i.e. tape on rim, sealant, etc)

[covie]

Thanks guys....will try that combo too. I read some posts that reckon that the race king doesnt offer enough traction at the rear, and others that love the combo so I reckon I'll give it a try for myself.

 

Depends on your riding style, if you like to lean the bike into corners the race king wont work for you since it doesnt have aggressive side knobbies. I like leaning the bike, but i also like to drift into some corners so i prefer the maxxis aspen in the rear, low center line tread, but nice big side knobbies

[BergForce]

Stay away from the X-king, very weak tyre, go for Maxxis Ikon Exo or Monorail UST, these are much better options than any Conti.

[sias]

Stay away from the X-king, very weak tyre, go for Maxxis Ikon Exo or Monorail UST, these are much better options than any Conti.

 

Interesting! How many of them have you destroyed and how many have you heard of that have been destroyed? How were they destroyed?

Where is the weaknes? Sidewall? Treadlife? Grip? Does it delaminate without reason?

Please advise as I would like to make an informed decision, not hearsay or rumours.

Thanks.

[covie]

Interesting! How many of them have you destroyed and how many have you heard of that have been destroyed? How were they destroyed?

Where is the weaknes? Sidewall? Treadlife? Grip? Does it delaminate without reason?

Please advise as I would like to make an informed decision, not hearsay or rumours.

Thanks.

 

I didnt want to say anything about his comment about x-king being weak, conti's in my experience, and i have had most of them are some of the toughest rubber arround. Definitly tougher than anything maxxis geax or schwalbe has (have managed to totally destroy all three these brands consistently). But you do get the odd one in the bunch, i managed to rip off a side knob on one of my mountainking 2's a while back.

 

Actually threw away a brand new maxxis icon wanted to put it on, after an hour at the bike shop half a bottle of stans neither me nor any of the bike mechanics could get the tyre to inflate enough to settle on the bead. I think we nearly burned out the compressor trying. I think i now realize why a certain bike shop had/have them on special.

 

Currently running the x-king protections and I am very happy with them.

[crasher]

If you want X kings and race kings Brett Sachs at bike bay has some amazing prices and specials at the moment

 

http://bikebay.co.za/index.php?cPath=37_38

 

Also 29er rocket rons for about 230 rand each

[BergForce]

Interesting! How many of them have you destroyed and how many have you heard of that have been destroyed? How were they destroyed?

Where is the weaknes? Sidewall? Treadlife? Grip? Does it delaminate without reason?

Please advise as I would like to make an informed decision, not hearsay or rumours.

Thanks.

 

It`s the sidewall of the x-King, the normal and even the protection version (not talking about UST), tread is still new then the sidewall just falls apart. I saw it happen to my friend, then I researched it online, rice-paper sidewalls, its like it wears out quickly and rips, or it just rips when still new.

[BergForce]

I didnt want to say anything about his comment about x-king being weak, conti's in my experience, and i have had most of them are some of the toughest rubber arround. Definitly tougher than anything maxxis geax or schwalbe has (have managed to totally destroy all three these brands consistently). But you do get the odd one in the bunch, i managed to rip off a side knob on one of my mountainking 2's a while back.

 

Actually threw away a brand new maxxis icon wanted to put it on, after an hour at the bike shop half a bottle of stans neither me nor any of the bike mechanics could get the tyre to inflate enough to settle on the bead. I think we nearly burned out the compressor trying. I think i now realize why a certain bike shop had/have them on special.

 

Currently running the x-king protections and I am very happy with them.

 

I beg to differ about the Ikon, don`t make me tell JanMTB on you. I mounted an Ikon Exo 29er November last year, it was so easy to set up on Crest rims only a floorpump was required. It has seen some long miles and abuse and probably 50 thorns, just pull out the thorn it seals so quickly no inflation required. It is still going strong today (only on the front) just had to topup with Stans once. The tread looks still good for more than 1000km. Wearwise it will outlast 3 Racing Ralphs. The Ikon Exo is magical.

 

I think you tried the non-Exo, and as far as I know they seat easily too.

Edited July 24, 2012 by Berg Bok

[TheV]

I'm with Covie on this, the Ikon's are not made for tubeless. Took me hours to get them to seat on my Haven UST wheels. I have 8 haven wheels in total and all of them always take with just a floor pump. I had to bomb the kuk out of them to finally seat, and to be honest, I like running about 1.8bar and they don't corner well as the sidewall is too soft.

[covie]

I'm with Covie on this, the Ikon's are not made for tubeless. Took me hours to get them to seat on my Haven UST wheels. I have 8 haven wheels in total and all of them always take with just a floor pump. I had to bomb the kuk out of them to finally seat, and to be honest, I like running about 1.8bar and they don't corner well as the sidewall is too soft.

 

We need to stop agreeing , yeah i normally take my geax or my conti's change them floor pump and sorted, I have two maxxis ikons the normal foldable and the exo, the foldable one the bike shop managed to fit once, took it off and have never been able to get it to seat again. The exo one is now on a spare rim with an overinflated tube in it to see if I can manage to form the tyre properly so it will seat. I am not hopefull. As to the longevity of the ikon vs x-king.

 

The post above refers to normal folding bead x-king which is the same tpi as the maxxis exo 120 tpi, I destroyed the sidewall on the folding ikon, after about 200km on it. So yeah the x-king foldable should not be run tubeless and neither should the ikon.

 

The x-king protection is 240tpi double that of the maxxis, and the x-king UST is about 320tpi almost 3 times that of the maxxis. I am happy with the strength of the middle ground vs weight ratio, i.e. the conti protections. The x-king also corners better and sheds mud much easier, take a ikon on a wet rock or root at your own peril.

 

I did like the ikon in summer condtions though, but its not worth the effort of getting them on the rim and if they that crap to seat, makes me wonder how easily they come of the rim under load.

[Tankman]

 

"SOME" tyre suppliers could exchange the tyre, bot most will void the warranty due to use of sealant.

 

 

Continental + Stans = 0 Warranty

[travisza]

Continental + Stans = 0 Warranty

 

So then what sealant should I be using?

[covie]

So then what sealant should I be using?

 

Almost none of the SA distrobuters will take back any tyre for any reason, Its up to the lbs if they happy to take it back or not, has nothing to do with Conti per se. In the UK and EU its a diff story.