So, start today’s ride and notice a 2nd cut in the sidewall of my Conti X King! Not even that old!

Fed up of them cutting up just on normal XC rides, not like I’m throwing them down rocky DH trails! Each time it looks like they’ve been cut by razor blades! Can’t run them tubeless either as the cut are to big to seal up.

So, what would be a good replacement? My mate swears by the Maxxis Crossmarks, good choice? What would be choice for dry, and damper conditions I.e. Autumn?

I usually run X King, X King, with a Mountain king up front when it gets muddier.

Cheers!

Crossmarks are brilliant. The Advantage would be a good bet for the front in the winter if you normally run a Mountain King.

Cheers! My mate uses the Crossmarks all year round, but the tread looks like it would clog to me in mud? Will check the Advantage out.

I have used Ardents and Advantage: Ardents are much grippier than Mountain King, and a tad slower. But better all round IMO. AdVantages are much slower (although my 2.4 flava may have something to do with that..)
I now have some Bontager XR4 Teams on and they are even gripper, with another *slight* drop in speed. They are also really supple feeling in rocks.

Conti’s are shite! You can rip the side walls by using harsh language in their general direction! I ditched them and opted for Advantages. Not long back we met up for a ride with some of the good folks of this parish (east lancs). I noted that 6 out of 7 of us were running Advantages. There’s a very good reason for that

🙄

Bonty XR4’s here also. Very grippy but a bit draggy when there’s mud about……..in which case Bonty X-mud. Bloody brilliant.

What version are you running?

I’ve been running protection x-kings and mountain king 2s for a year in Scotland, Skye, Torridon, and local Scottish singletrack. Not one cut. Sidewalls have been great, they’ve had a load of knocks from granite rock.

In my experience its not the tyre (unless you’re running race tyres for trail riding) its either being unlucky, or just taking bad lines. Any tyre will rip up if you find something to cut it on.

If you want something sturdy and very decent, a pair of on one smorgasboards will do you proud. Better than advantages IMO. And half the price, so win win.

Crossmarks are brilliant. The Advantage would be a good bet for the front in the winter if you normally run a Mountain King.

exactly what I have on a 26 I,ve just built, Crossmak rear, Advantage front, found it great the other night on damp roots and trails.

Maxxis all the way!

Best all-rounder for damp to wet conditions = high roller.

Best all-rounder for dry to damp = ardent (and nice and tall for rocky stuff).

Best rear tyre for dry = crossmark.

The most noticeable thing about Maxxis for me is how easy they are to get on and off the rim. Not to be sniffed at with winter approaching and puncture stops becoming very unpleasant rather than a nice chance for a breather.

They also seem to last ages, even supertacky ones as the soft compound stuff is just in the tread, not the carcass. I’ve just replaced a supertacky high roller that has done two winters, the tread is splitting up now, but that actually increases the grip up to the point where the side knobs actually start to rip off.

In my opinion anything spikier than a high roller is getting into ‘specialist’ territory, so I wouldn’t be qualified to talk about them.

As above, the conti protection sidewalls are fine and still pretty light, but the racesport are like paper and IMO are truly a tyre to be reserved for racing (as the name suggests).

Duplicate post.

if you have problems with Conti, you cant fault their customer service (or as far as i have seen) Give them a ring and let them know. You might get a replacement tyre, and if its a common problem, they might listen and rethink the design!

Another vote for Maxxis ADvantage here. No problems at all.

I’d been using Conti RS’s. I’ve got 2x X Kings, a Mountain king and a Race King in standard (?) version. Can’t fault them for grip etc, just to fragile.

Are the Conti tubeless versions any better?

And I presume I need the Maxxis LUST versions for tubeless ?

I run Mud X’s in winter and love them!!

banks – Member

🙄

Sorry for asking questions on a forum 🙄

Advantages for me. 2.25 front, 2.1 rear. They’re not too draggy for my local riding (a lot of bridleway joining stuff up), but still grip well on all the loose flint round here when descending. They also give pretty consistent braking performance all round.

Ladders- that’s your problem 🙂 . The racesport are a bonkers thin tyre, meant really for racing only.

The protections are excellent, and only a tiny weight penalty. They tubeless very easy, but do make sure to scrub the inside with fairy, to remove the mould release agent.

As well as the protections having sturdy sidewalls, they also hold up better tubeless and don’t fold like the racesports tended to do with me, so you can run lower pressures.

If money’s not an issue, the Contis are the best tyre I’ve used, but if money is a factor, I’d be going to the smorgasboard.

Thanks Rickon. Might have a go with a protection and then switch if it cuts up again

IME, if there’s a Protection version of a conti tyre, it means the standard version is made of sausage skin and will puncture if you use a sharp tone of voice near it.

For summer riding.

Ardent 2.35 front Maxxpro 60a
ADvantage 2.25 rear Maxxpro 60a

For wet trails I am trying Minions.

Have also used a High Roller 2 for the past 2 years on the front and it has been brilliant

For more rocky places look at Exo protection.