Following on from a recent thread about softening up my hardtail, I’m looking at some large volume tires. The shortlist is as follows:

Mountain King 2.4
Rubber Queen 2.2
Rubber Queen 2.4

I’m doing this on a budget of about £20 per tyre so the black chilli option on the rubber queens isn’t an option. I’m tempted to go with the 2.4 Rubber Queens but the general consensus is they are very large for a 2.4? Bike is a Genesis Core 30 and riding is rocky stuff in the Peaks.

I found the queens to not have enough tread for my liking. Front end washing out on many corners.

Hans dampf or spesh butchers.

Oops sorry, never seen yer budget.

I’m doing this on a budget of about £20 per tyre so the black chilli option on the rubber queens isn’t an option.

Maybe give On One’s Smorgasbord / Chunky Monkey combo a go instead then.

Well under budget and I’ve got them on my HT now, they’re good.

I found the queens to not have enough tread for my liking. Front end washing out on many corners.

Me too.

I’ve just thrown a pair of 3 week old mountain king II’s away.

Ive gone through 10-15 tubes all caused by thorns, and tore through the carcass. I liked the grip but getting a puncture or two on every ride was painful.

The non-black-chili Rubber Queen is absolutely awful, waste of £20 and waste of whatever bike it’s attached to frankly. You will get better value taking your £20 and paying a tramp to kick you in the balls. The chili one is pretty good but as you say expensive.

It’s a slow option but I picked up most of my Specialized Butchers from ebay and classifieds- they come as OEM spec on a few Specializeds and some people replace them straight away without riding. Their loss my gain, they’re ace 😉 Slightly used Minions and Highrollers are also generally not hard to find.

Before shelling out on rubber queen/mk2 in chili flavour I ran a Maxxis advantange/ardent combo it was very grippy and didn’t wash out perhaps worth a look, some decemnt used ones around at reasonable money

I did have 2.4″ rubber queens on my bike. Strava told me a road climb was 27 minutes. I swapped to 2.4″ X-Kings and the same climb was 18 minutes.

I really liked them up until that point!

You can have my lightly used black chilli 2.4″ rubber queens for £30+postage if you want them. I’ve got a 2.2″ as well. £40 the lot! Just don’t ride up any hills or with anyone else.

Before you splash the cash, take a look at Merlins site.
Selling the Panaracer Rampage 2.35″ & i picked up a regular for the rear and a soft compound for the front for £45.
Fast rolling, large volume tyre.
only used them twice so far and done just under 60 miles but happy with them .

No experience with RQ but MK are draggier than having the body of piers Morgan lashed to your bike by a length of rope*. Loads of grip, but effing hard work

*Fun but tiring

Ok thanks.

Sounds like the non black chilli RQs aren’t worth the bother in that case.

So the question is: what larger volume tyre would be a good upgrade to the current MK 2.2s I’m currently running for around £20?

Non-chilli 2.4 x-kings can be had for £20 each. Large volume, fairly knobbly and fast.

+ 1 for the on one combo, running them on my FS and very good for very little money.

Or you could buy, my one ride old 26 x 2.2 black chilli rubber queen, I am about to put on the for sale forum. for £25 posted, for a £50 tyre. I went 29er so put it in stock. as said apart from a lap of the marin trail its brand new

5thElefant, if those are all black chilli versions i’d take them off your hands for £40…. posted? 😉

Nobby nics were £23.99 on chain reaction when i last looked, seem better than the MkII’s puncture resistance wise, and similar on grip.

5thElefant, if those are all black chilli versions i’d take them off your hands for £40…. posted?

Yeah they are. Well I’m 99% sure they are. If you know how I can confirm it I’d be glad to double check and/or send you photos.

We can continue the conversation on email…

<myusername>@googlemail.com

Hey muddydwarf.

Can you shed some light on how they size up please? Thinking a 2.35 would be too large for the back end if they are a true 2.35″. Could always go 2.35 front and 2.1 rear I guess.

Cheers!

Er, well they say 2.35″ on them! Hang on and I’ll do some measuring..

Ok just measured across the rear tyre, 60mm from lug to lug (by sight and a ruler).

I’m hoping the non chilli 2.4 Rubber Queens aren’t that poo, twas all I could get my hands on in the LBSs here, other than a bunch of 1.8 or 2.2 summer treads. Just discovered my sidewalls on the old treads were showing threads and I’m off to the Lakes later today.

They were only £17 though, so won’t be too upset if they suck.

muddydwarf – …..just measured across the rear tyre, 60mm from lug to lug (by sight and a ruler).

Cheers matey. I’ll offer up the stick of inches when I get back home and see if it’s a goer 🙂

Thanks.

I’d looked at the Smorgasbord tyres but they are only 2.25 so not much bigger than the 2.2 Mountain Kings I’m currently running.

The Chunky Monkey 2.4s look like a possibility, as do the 2.4 X-Kings. Are either of these two better than the other?

I’d looked at the Smorgasbord tyres but they are only 2.25 so not much bigger than the 2.2 Mountain Kings I’m currently running.

The Smorgasbord is bigger than the old 2.4in Mountain Kings, let alone the 2.2s!

Different manfrs tyres come up quite varied widths.

It’s a good size, honest.

I’ve been impressed by the on-one’s and completely unbeatable in the price bracket.

mattrgee – Member

I’d looked at the Smorgasbord tyres but they are only 2.25 so not much bigger than the 2.2 Mountain Kings I’m currently running.

Old Mountain Kings? My 2.4s came up just under 2.2 inches, my 2.2s were bang on 2. Pisstakers.

You could do a lot worse than a Stick-E Nevegal or Blue Groove upfront in my opinion and on that budget. You might find some in the sales. DTc version’s aren’t all that though which is probably to blame for their not so favourable reputation these days. Stick-E Blue Grove 2.35 will be vastly better than the basuc compound Queen or King…

Both Kendas are a bit slow for the rear but some of the WTB tyres come up pretty big and work well on the back and are very fast (Weirwolf and Wolverine) and they do a cheaper version.

I’ve got the 2.2 MK snakeskin black chilli on my mud/hack and really like them. They are small for 2.2s which is what I wanted for my XC717s.

Tyres are not something to scrimp on IMHO. Probably have more true effect than the difference between deore and XT as well as being a safety issue if unpredictable etc.