I bought a RQ black chilli from Ribble and a Mountain King that was advertised as black chilli from CRC. They’ve both arrived but the compound seems very different.

The RQ came in a box with a black chilli logo and it says made in Germany, whereas the MK came in a box without the black chilli logo and says made in Taiwan. The RQ compound has a shiny appearance, but the MK is matte.

I suspect that despite being advertised as black chilli, the MK isn’t. Ordinarily I wouldn’t be too fussed but I’ve been told the none black chilli variants are poo.

I’m 99% certain my Black chilli MKII 2.2s came in a box that said made in germany. I think they say something on the side wall as well. I’ll check later.
You’ve paid for black chilli so may as well make sure you get it.

From Conti’s website

Black Chili is only made at our factory in Korbach, Germany. No other tyre facility in the world has access to its secrets.

http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/de/en/continental/bicycle/general/innovation/blackchili_en.html

Non BC are reported to be crap as well as only about £15 whereas BC ones have a RRP of £45ish.

Pretty sure all Black Chilli tyres are made in Germany. Check the Conti website to be sure.

Edit: see above link. 🙂

Cheers for that, I’ll send them back.

Black chili tyres are only made in Germany and AFAIK every tyre Continental make in Germany has the black chili compound additive.

A very common mistake (which I’ve seen written by numerous magazines including Singletrack) is to refer to the ‘black chili compound’. There is no such thing! The Kaisier is stickier than the Baron which is stickier than the Rubber Queen which is stickier than the Mountain King which is stickier than the X-King which is stickier than the Race King and so on. Bear in mind that Continental make black chili DH tyres and black chili road bike tyres – clearly it would be ridiculous if they were the same compounds!

The black chili additive allows increased flex in the compound with lower losses, so the compound deforms more easily giving you more grip but doesn’t lose as much energy as heat when doing so, so you get lower rolling resistance. And because the black chili additive is long carbon nano-rods, it helps the compound hold together, stopping you losing the grains of rubber as quickly as if the nano-rods wheren’t there.

I recently bought a Continental Baron 2.3 Black Chili. It states on the box and clearly on the tyre side wall ‘Hand made in Germany’. It only says Black Chili on the box and not on the tyre.

Apparently if it does not say ‘Hand made in Germany’ then it is NOT Black Chili, as the Black Chili range are only made in Germany.
Made in Taiwan is not Black Chili. But you should know by the price difference as Black Chili will be double.

The Baron is a nice tyre by the way.

Wow chief majorly impressed with the knowledge.