[Closed] Continental Apex

I have bought both the trail king and der baron projekt to fit to my 29er in apex sidewall. Haven't fitted them yet so not much help but they feel similar to my Specialized Grid sidewalls, certainly not flimsy. Should get the wheels next week so will be able to update then.

Would you say it's similar to schwalbe snakeskin? I have a spesh grid tyre and its pretty much the same.

Please don't try to convince me that Protection sidewalls are actually any good...

Having suffered five punctures in about ten rides on a "Protection" Mountain King I won't be attempting that. I can say that the Apex sidewalls on the Baron which was on the front of the bike for three of those punctures didn't go pop despite being smashed into the same pointy rocks, so I think the material is at least a little bit tougher than the wet bog-roll that they apparently use for the standard sidewalls.

I'm still switching over to a different brand to be on the safe side, though. Shame, cos I like the knobbly bits of the MK a lot, it's just that the damn thing won't say inflated.

Lossy sidewalls?

I have always got on with conti tyres, always preferred protection to snakeskin on schwalbe and got better performance and durabilaty from them.

The apex is more akin to schwalbes super gravity, where the sidewalls are effectively doubled up, but the tread area has the normal thickness.

I just put apex trailking & barrons on my enduro last week, I think they are a little lighter than the SG hans dampf & magic mary they replaced. Seem about the same grip wise maybe roll a little better but there isn't much in it between the two to be honest. Can't really comment on long term durability yet only had a couple of rides on them.

They do have the usual conti problem of sealing the tyres (which I thought wouldn't be the case with such a thick sidewall), always seems to take a couple of weeks to do properly.

MSP - you describe exactly my thinking. I'm currently on schwalbe's but on the rear I could do with something just a little better than snakeskin, without having to scale up to a supergravity tyre, (which, incidentally has more to it than you describe). I thought that conti apex might fill that gap, and I'd get the usual black chili benefits.

Would you say it's similar to schwalbe snakeskin? I have a spesh grid tyre and its pretty much the same.

Pretty much the same as what, a snakeskin? I'd say the contis are beefier than my old Hans dampf snakeskin trailstar sidewall and are what i'd expect of the Supergravity casing schwalbe which i think is the next step up. The Der Baron Projekt tyre weighs about 1kg.

Hang on..... I think i may have misunderstood what you're looking for re your Grid comment. I'm assuming you're talking about sidewall support and the way the tyre rides rather than cut protection? I like the Grid tyres because i can run lower pressures whilst still getting sufficient support from the sidewalls when pushing on. I'm riding in the surrey hills so no requirement at all for cut protection and can't really offer a view there.

I'm focussed on low pressure sidewall support (i.e stiffer and better damped and less squirmy), plus the added resistance to snakebites that you get at the same time. I'm riding in the south west. We have more rock here, which is why I'm interested in a combination of both.

Sidewall damage per-se isn't too much of a problem, but snakebites can be, and upping the pressure means I lose the tyre feel I'm after.

I thought I'd drop a little update here as there's precious little user info out there.

I ordered a trail king protection apex from Zee Germans.

First thing I noticed is that the 'protection' casing is much improved over the pathetic paper thin things they used to put out. Its a little thicker than snakeskin IMO. Now apex inserts - I like these! The lower half of the sidewall is both substantially thicker and stiffer that the rest. It's possible to see where the insert is molded in by looking at the inside of the tyre.

The bead was nicely rubbery and I mounted it with a tube on a spare rim overnight to straighten out the bead from being folded in the packaging. In my lunch break at work I then swapped it over onto a LB 35mm carbon rims, and it went up first time using a track pump, without sealant or pumping like a maniac.

I rode my hardtail this evening with the trail king as the rear tyre at 18psi(!) I felt a few hits go deep into the tyre, but the hits on the rim were pretty muted.

First impressions are good.