Have tyre choice dilemmas,
I have a 26″ wheeled 130mm travel Cotic soul that I will be riding about the local woods (mixed surface including hard pack mud loose gravel roots but no rocks) I’m more interested in confided on the downs and landing jump than uphil speed but I can’t make up my mind.
Wanna run large volume and have the following available
Conti 2.4 trail King, xking, mountain King 2
2.3 baron
2.4 nobby nic
2.35 nobby nics
Or muddy Mary’s
Was running the xking but wanted a bit more grip and was gonna go trail King but thought they may be a bit overkill
Any thought would be appreciated

I’m basically the same terrain for my local riding

I really rate my x kings racesport I’m running now front and rear (black chilli).

personally prefer nobby nics for overall performance though as they felt that they had a bit more grip when leant over on looser surfaces.

x kings roll better than the nobby nics though.

but then the nobbys knobs don’t wear down as quick if you lock up the rear like the x kings do. I’ve got a couple that havery torn off.

I was running both sets of tyres tubeless (bit of a task with racesport x kings)

I had almost decided on the mountain kings and then read all the terrible reviews

Muddy Marys do everything well and there’s no need to change when the inevitable quagmire resumes

Are they not heavy as f***?

Depends on what kinda carcass you’re hauling about…

Single plys are fine and dandy, though if you don’t already have em, they’ve changed a bit and are called Magic Marys these days

How much of a hooligan are you on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is a sedated care bear and 10 is the incredible hulk with PMT?

I had almost decided on the mountain kings and then read all the terrible reviews

Are those for the Mk1? The Mk2 is a very well regarded tyre for exactly the riding you describe. Seem to remember it winning all the tests when it first came out.

I’d go with the Trail King first, good tyre that- not as grippy or as draggy as you’d think but it still grips decently and eats up bumps. Baron is a great option if you get a bit more mud.- it’s not a mud tyre, it’s just a muddy allrounder. Ace. Muddy Mary is pretty decent too and sort of falls between those two so it’d depend on your ground. Mountain King a wee bit faster but not imo fast enough to justify the loss of grip over the Trail King, ymmv

Nobby Nic, depends what version it is, the old ones are all bollocks. The new one allegedly is good, but I did one short ride on one and it seemed to still be bollocks.

COnti disclaimer: only if it’s black chili. If it’s not, get it to ****.

jivehoneyjive – Member

Single plys are fine and dandy, though if you don’t already have em, they’ve changed a bit and are called Magic Marys these days

Totally different tyre. Ironically the Magic is good in mud and the Muddy isn’t very.

I would say I’m a irritable badger in terms of holiganess,
As for the mountain King, I found really bad reviews for the mk1 and average reviews for the mk2
I do have other options ( interdental I don’t have all these tyres just been offered crazy prices from a local shop)
I’m happy to have a couple sets in fact I already have the trail kings (well rubber queens but I believe they are the same) and kings

My only reservation with the trail queens is they felt super heavy, I guess I should just try them and see,

Minion Front Ardent 2.4 rear…

Sorry if that wasn’t on the list but better than any Schwable

I think your right about the maxxis and will have another rummage for them but I think there are only Xc races versions left

Specialized Butcher Front/Purgatory rear, it’s what I run on my BFe for exactly the kind of riding you describe.

I’ve not yet got around to changing my beavers over to dry tyres and they are actually surprisingly good in the dry…

the mk is noticeably lighter than the TK when riding. Its like free speed. Never had the x kings but assume its the same again.

The MK 2.4 can be compared to a TK 2.2 ( MK2.4 is about 2.3″ wide MK2.2 1.95″ wide TK 2.2 is 2.2″ wide) the TK has a flatter profile than the MK so its much better stood up, interestingly the MK seems to slide more.

hope that helps.

btw ive not run the mary. everyone I know loves them but they are very heavy / big

The mountain king 2 is a fairly good tyre but the trail king is a lot better grip wise although they seem to warp quite often including the one I had on the front. So far my barons have been awesome but replaced them yesterday with summer tyres as it’s nice and dry here in the Surrey Hills and the barons where just overkill and draggy. If I were you I’d go for the barons out of your list.

Butcher/purg grid casing. Our if you want to save money and feel good, then on one chunky monkey/smorg

Been really liking the Minion DHR2 3c Exo TR. Not sure I lose any grip over the MAgic Mary, and it corners really well, same on the back and uphill traction is good too

I can flog you some Trail Kings – I have 3. 1 pretty much new – still has those rubbery little ‘hair bit’s. The other’s had a few more rides but again pretty much new. Last one is a bit more worn.

If you’re interested I can send pics.

Are you allowed to ‘hijack’ a thread like this?

I had a Mk2 Soul from 2010-2014 and rode Mountain King 1, X King and Mountain King 2. I mainly ride surfaced, woodland singletrack.

The Mtn King 2 was my favourite, in 2.4 flavour (which is what I have on my Soul 275 now).

I found the 2.2 Mtn King 1 and 2.2 X King to be too slippery when wet and with too little front end bite. In retrospect, I probably ran them at too high pressures.

Uh- I thought you already had all those tyres, maybe don’t pay my post much heed as it was all “from this list I’d use”.

TK front MK rear was my favourite but they just got ripped up on rocks in the south lakes, if there’s few rocks where you riding that’d be my selection

I don’t have all of them but they won’t cost me anything.
Had a look for maxxis but not much there.

Currently looking at some 2.4 nics

momo – Member
Specialized Butcher Front/Purgatory rear, it’s what I run on my BFe for exactly the kind of riding you describe.

+1

Settled on a pair of rubber queens. 2.4 front and 2.2 on the back, front one is frecking huge!
Also got a 2.4 nik and mountain King but I can see myself trying out some maxis in the future
Thanks for all the comments

Rubber queen/ trail King as its now known.
Wouldn’t bother 2.4, 2.2 front and rear is more than fine and the 2.4 adds weight. Just make sure they’re the proper handmade black chilli versions, protection carcasses. I find I need to nip down the garage to get them on tubeless though first time.