Continental have done a very good job of confusing everyone about the mythical ‘black chili compound’ – it doesn’t actually exist!
‘Black chili’ is their name for a carbon additive which improves the elastic flexibility (and thus grip, durability and rolling resistance) of tyre compounds. There are tons of different black chili compounds – I’ve ridden 4 different black chili types of tyre and I’m pretty certain they were all different compounds – X-King, Mountain King 2, Rubber Queen / Trail King, Baron; in ascending order of stickiness or descending order of speed.
The Baron is similar to Maxxis Super Tacky in grip, maybe a bit better in the wet, and rolls a fair bit faster. There are black chili road bike tyres which will be faster than the X-King (I guess the Race King is too) and black chili downhill tyres, some of which will be stickier than the Baron.
Trail King is pretty good on wet roots for a relatively fast rolling tyre but it is pressure sensitive – and all black chili tyres I’ve tried have been sketchy as hell when brand new until the mould release agent has worn off (same reason they can be difficult to tubeless if you don’t clean the insides thoroughly).
If anyone wants a couple of Swamp Things (next best thing to the Baron for wet roots and mud) I have a 26″ 2.35″ Super Tacky and Maxxpro barely used pair that need rehoming – cheap!
