Haven’t seen this in any of the other threads running at the minute.

I fancy trying a Rubber Queen 2.2 Black Chilli on the front but prefer a less grippy rear.

Would X King 2.2 be a good bet?

slainte ❓ rob

RQ non black chilli on the back?

Guy I know runs an X-King out back with an RQ up front, and reckons its a brilliant combo.

He’s running a 2.4″ X-King out back though, which ironically is not even as big as the 2.2″ Rubber Queen! The 2.2″ X-King’s are very narrow for a 2.2″ tyre.

Halford, RQ non black chilli £17 dude bargain.

Sounds good, not something I’ve tried myself, but I’m tempted. The Conti equivalent of the the classic Nobby Nic / Racing Ralph combo I guess.

I’d double check the widths though. I think the RQ 2.2’s are a lot bigger that the X-King 2.2’s, so you might want the X-King 2.4’s if you want similar widths front and back.

EDIT: Now I’ve posted the above, I notice it’s already been said – don’t know how I missed that!

If the idea is less grippy, then I’d stay away from the standard rubber queen- very draggy for the amount of grip.

Kenda’s slant 6 would fit the bill perfectly I reckon- lighter, a lot faster, but still very predictable and surprisingly grippy considering it looks like someone drew knobbles on a slick with marker pen.

Despite Northwind’s continued pasting of the Rubber Queen (which, based on what almost everyone else is saying, I’m now pretty certain is due to motorbike rather than MTB style cornering technique meaning the side knobs aren’t getting properly engaged – which also correlates with liking the Nevegal but disliking the Eskar on the front) I’m thinking a Rubber Queen 2.2 (UST black chili) on the front and a X-King 2.4 (UST black chili) on the back would make a great everything bar stupid mud combination for my 140mm Soul.

If next winter is as wet as April has been the Rubber Queen could then move to the back and a Baron go on the front.

Think we covered that in another thread- the RQ worked best for me when I was cornering badly, with the bike stood up! Fantastic centre-grip. But when leaned over, it wasn’t anything like as impressive, especially in the 2.4. Don’t recall ever pasting it though, it’s a decent tyre.

But, here I was talking specifically about the standard, ie non black chili version- since it’s as slow as the chili one * just less grippy. Can’t see why you’d choose an ungrippy slow tyre when there are equally ungrippy faster tyres.

(* I could be wrong, but it actually felt slower to me… But different bikes, so that might not be fair. Anyway, it’s slow for the grip it has.)

Having had non BC Continentals before that grip deficit doesnt surprise me! The concept behind ‘black chili’ (could the name be any more stupid?) is that the added particles allow a given compound to deform more easily without hysteresis loss so you get more grip AND less rolling resistance. There are numerous different compounds with the black chili treatment from the super sticky DH wet tyres to the super fast XC dry tyres. Rubber Queen should land just to the grippy side of the middle, X-King on the faster side.

I still think you weren’t leaning the tyres over enough to get the edge knobs working – straight line grip would be fine, leant a bit would be poor. 2.4 would need more leaning to get the side knobs happening unless you mount it on a wider rim. Nevegal has transition knobs which avoid the gap, and Eskars have a big gap. I think there’s a pattern! 😉

chief – i dont think conti do a black chili X king ust version at the moment…..ive been looking at a race king or x king UST to go with my 2.2ust black chili RQ but as far as i can see no other tyre they do offer the black chili (race king or x king) in UST 🙁

Try a 2.25″ Maxxis Crossmark on the back. Fast, grippy, seals fairly easily tubeless, decent volume etc. Works very well in combination with a 2.2″ Rubber Queen up front.

Getting a wee bit OT… Chiefgrooveguru- nice to know someone’s paying attention but you’ve got the wrong end of the stick, at least on some parts, maybe I can clear it up a little.

I stopped using the Eskar as a front because it’s quite a hard compound for my tastes, and just not as grippy as I like especially on hard wet stuff. Not a cornering issue. If Specialized made a stickier one I’d probably like that, but as it is, it’s more biased towards speed than I like much of the time- and I’d rather have a bit of excess drag than a bit of excess crash!

As for Nevegal transition knobs, I chop half of them off for a reason 😉 And that gives it pretty similiar cornering manners to an Eskar, just with grippier rubber. (my cut DTC Nev was much like an Eskar… so I didn’t like on the front either)

I get on OK with Minions and I love Clutches, they’re both commitment-cornering tyres but with more shoulder bite. TBH the Baron seems to have the RQ beat there too but it’s ages since I rode a RQ so I can’t be sure about that.

Damn, you’re right Oscillate! Looks like the Protection version is tubeless ready though…

mboy, I can’t see the Crossmark working well where I usually ride – it’s mostly woodland singletrack on dirt so even in the summer there’s mud to content with – the tread looks too tight to avoid clogging and other local riders have found that to be the case. The X-King has a similar tread pattern (but lower profile) to the old XR4s and they perform well in this mud until it gets really claggy.

First ride out on the Rubber Queen/X King combo today.

Rubber Queen out front felt very grippy on most surfaces today (hardpack, mud, stone, gravel, road, even wet roots). X King initially felt a little slidey/drifty (especially on anything wet) but that soon became a predictable break away point once I got used to the feeling.

First impressions are that the combo is going to work (feel) better than my previous Wild Grip’r/Wild Race’r combination.

slainte 8) rob