Continental Kryptotal Fr & Rr tyres review

On test we have the Continental Kryptotal with front and rear specific tread patterns in the Super Soft compound, Downhill casing in 29 x 2.4in.

Brand: Continental
Product: Kryptotal Fr & Rr tyres
From: Continental Tyres UK
Price: £74.95 (Super Soft & Downhill)
Tested: by Rhys Wainwright for 6 months

Continental’s latest range of gravity tyres have been gaining some serious popularity the past year or two. With credible World Cup downhill results under several top-flight teams who’s to argue?

The Continental Kryptotoal tyres come in a front and rear specific tyre so they’ve been on either end of a Hope HB.916 for about six months. They’ve seen all the conditions and been raced more than they’ve been ridden in training.

As for where these tyres sit in the range, they’re considered the full fat race tyre for downhill and enduro with 6 plies of 110tpi material, coming in at ~1300g.

The enduro carcass comes in around ~1100g with 3 plies of 110tpi material and crucially, is not available in the super soft compound. There is also a trail carcass that is made of 3 plies of 60tpi material an comes in at a smidge over ~1000g.

In terms of the rubber compounds available there’s Super Soft, Soft and Endurance. The Super Soft is only available in the full thickness Downhill casing. You can also get the Soft compound in the Downhill casing.

The mid weight Enduro casing tyres only come in the Soft compound.

The lightest Trail casing tyres only come in the hard-wearing Endurance compound. Simples.

The 1300g downhill tyre weight is in the ballpark for a beefy enduro tyre, possibly a little light for a typical downhill tyre. I usually find that tyre weight is a good guesstimating gauge of how a tyre carcass will feel and my guess for these tyres is ‘supple yet supportive’.

On the other hand, the supple feeling does not translate to easy fitting. The downhill tyre trademark of being a bugger to fit holds true here.

Fitting them onto 30mm wide rims with inserts took patience and required me to install them dry to get one side of the bead fully seated. Then removed the opposing bead and install the insert and sealant and prepare to get wrestling to get the other side back on.

Not the worst tyres I’ve installed but certainly tight.

My first ride out on the new treads was also my first ride on the new Hope HB.916. Exciting times. A weekend in Innerleithen seemed an adequate christening.

To kick things off I opted for my usual 20psi front and 22psi rear – a tried a tested standard for me when riding UK woodland enduro trails. I pretty much maintained this for the entire test period.

First impressions were good. The suppleness I could feel in the tyre carcass by hand translated well into ground conforming grip over Golfie’s endless roots. It gave me the confidence to hit rooty high lines and off camber sections without a second thought.

I’ve no doubt that the super soft compound both ends of the bike was also at play here. When conditions were mostly dry, with no peanut butter style mud, the grip from the Continental Kryptotal tyres was frankly astonishing. This only got better as the trails dried over the weekend.

I found myself fully committing to corners with the front wheel delivering the grip and support I was looking for.

Leaning the bike over on flatter turns to really engage those tall well supported side knobs also delivered heaps of grip. The tread pattern, casing and rubber compound all working in harmony to deliver one of the most confidence inspiring rides I’ve had on any mountain bike tyre.

Since that first weekend of riding I’ve raced the Kryptotals in every ground condition you can imagine. Tweed Love gave hero dirt practice and mega slop for race day. Predictably the Kryptotals delivered the goods in the dry.

However, once the overnight rain had fallen the stages turned to thick mud – the Kryptotal’s kryptonite.

The tall relatively close packed tread blocks filled with mud and became much less inspiring to race over wet roots and rocks. The mud between the tread blocks acting as an unwanted lubricant on every feature. The tread was reluctant to shed the mud until moving pretty quickly.

Mud clearing is not a strong point. There are other tyres in the Continental range for wet conditions – namely the Continental Argotal with its widely spaced square block tread pattern. The Argotal is available in all the same sizes, casings and compounds as the Kryptotal. Alternatively, the Hydrotal exists for full on monsoon level downhill racing and is only available in a super soft downhill variant.

The Boltby Bash once again assured me that the dry grip of the Kryptotal was something to behold. Even as the dry conditions led to deeper dust as the weekend progressed the Kryptotals did not let me down once. Such was the confidence that I achieved a half decent race result despite a chainless run on stage two.

A round of the PMBA enduro series at Ae forest delivered some torrential conditions for race day and had me worried about the tyres clogging. As it turned out the conditions were so wet that the thin mud cleared easily from the tread and the sticky rubber made good use of the ground underneath.

How do the Kryptotals compare to existing gravity tyres?

Comparing the Kryptotal front to a Schwalbe Magic Mary in an equivalent Super Gravity casing, Addix Super Soft compound; the Continental has a serious edge in the dry. The bigger shoulder tread is better supported and once committed to a turn it’s one of the best out there.

When pushed super hard in the dry I have been able to tear the shoulder tread off a Mary. Don’t get me wrong, the bite of a Magic Mary is still awesome, it probably my all-time favourite tyre, but in the dry the Kryptotal takes it.

As an all conditions, all year tyre the Magic Mary has an edge. It clears mud better and provides a more consistent level of grip.

Comparing the casings I’d say Continental have done an excellent job of creating a tough tyre that is the ideal blend of suppleness and damping verses cornering support. The Magic Mary Super Gravity casing feels stiffer and harsher in comparison, with no discernible benefit in terms of support.

Overall

In summary, the Kryptotals have been exceptionally good tyres. The casing, rubber compound and tread patterns of the Super Soft compound Downhill casing Continental Kryptotal is truly something to behold.

The range of useable conditions maybe much narrower than the top tier gravity tyres from other brands. If things get mixed and tricky then you might be better on a tyre that clears sticky mud better or have an Argotal lined up to stick on the front at short notice.

If you’re looking for a summer enduro/downhill race tyre then you’d be foolish to overlook the Kryptotal. The dry performance is the best I’ve experienced.