conti x-king mountain king or trail king for all round winter use?

Any thoughts on the above (all in black chili not the cheap stuff). Wanting something alright on mud but a good allrounder as well..?

For a 29er hardtail.

From the grip patterns I’m thinking MK will have the best mud shedding ability but TK will roll better on roads. XK is lighter than either, will roll better than either and will grip worse than either. Any more thoughts?

I have the xKings and a Mountain King (not used yet). The XKing is for summer use only. Its a great tyre though, love the black chilli.
The MK I’m hoping will be a good allrounder on the rear of my FS. Not for the deep mud, but wet and sloppy.

Not got the TK/RQ.

Haven’t used the MK but the XK is sketchy once its loose/muddy, though very fast rolling. The TK/RQ is a very good tyre if you want good grip wet or dry or muddy and decent rolling resistance (bizarrely so for a tyre so sticky). Needs to be run at fairly low pressures to perform at its best in the mud, which helps it shed and lets the side knobs do their thing.

I found the trail king very cloggy, not a tyre I’d choose for winter. In fact, the Conti that I would choose isn’t on your list, the Baron is superb.

I found the trail king very cloggy, not a tyre I’d choose for winter.

It could be your mud, it could be your sylphlike weight, it could be that it’s a big tyre and needs low pressures to get on with mud, or it could be a combination of all three – but we get mud galore down here, proper thick sticky clay stuff and it does amazingly well. Looks like it’s clogging but still grips.

Daft question – why not the Mud King?

@ratherbe – because I’m after an allrounder and presume a specific mud tyre might be too much of a pain on roads, rock etc.

@Northwind – thought the Baron was more of a downhill tyre, this is for a 29er hardtail xc bike

Nah, Der Baron is a dh tyre but the standard Baron is trailbike, and a surprisingly good allrounder. THat said, I don’t know if there’s a 29er one.

It could be your mud, it could be your sylphlike weight, it could be that it’s a big tyre and needs low pressures to get on with mud, or it could be a combination of all three – but we get mud galore down here, proper thick sticky clay stuff and it does amazingly well. Looks like it’s clogging but still grips.

Then again, it could be our mud – everything appears to clog here! It’s the wet tree roots that land you on the ground and spoil your corners, the mud is manageable but the roots are vicious, so the big sticky RQs tend to be better at keeping you upright than a skinny mud tyre.

I suspect a Baron would be better still in the mud (but draggier, especially in the dry) – I have one in the garage waiting for a second set of wheels because I don’t have the time or patience to deal with a tyre that’s being difficult to tubeless on my lone MTB…

I use RQ/MK in the winter and MK/XK in the summer

X-kings all year round for the last 2 years here.. on 29 hardtail
Can’t recommend them enough
6th at mayhem open team (slightly damp)
2nd gorrick masters autumn the other week (lashing down)
2nd bontrager 12 team (complete with water splashes)
all on x-king 2.2 protection folding ~40psi tubeless

Jono

So what rolls faster out of RQ/TK and MK? Am I right in thinking TK?

I switched to a X-king on the front of my 26er hardtail earlier this year. Worked very nicely in the dry but if you get aggressive with it did start to get a bit flustered but in a predictable manner. I was mainly riding on dusty hardpack and loamy woods. Haven’t tried it yet in the wet (new full suss seems to get chosen all the time now) but not sure I’d have much confidence with the X-king.

Do the side knobbles still come off on the X King like the early versions?

I’ve only used mine for a few months before I got the new bike and didn’t notice any abnormal wear. I had the racesport versions which are tubeless ready in case that matters.

Its just the MTBR reviews tend to say this (and the one I used when they first came out did just that) Was wondering if they sorted the problem yet?

X-kings all year round for the last 2 years here.. on 29 hardtail
Can’t recommend them enough
6th at mayhem open team (slightly damp)
2nd gorrick masters autumn the other week (lashing down)
2nd bontrager 12 team (complete with water splashes)
all on x-king 2.2 protection folding ~40psi tubeless

what tyres were the guys in the positions in front running – those are the tyres that I want…

So what rolls faster out of RQ/TK and MK? Am I right in thinking TK?

Theoretically should be the MK, as it’s sold as a trail tyre, and the RQ (which was a tremendous brand name) more AM.

6th at mayhem open team (slightly damp)
2nd gorrick masters autumn the other week (lashing down)
2nd bontrager 12 team (complete with water splashes)

What was the rest of the team running? Maybe you were the slowest.

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On a serious note…

I’ve had all, in many different flavours.

Xkings roll the fastest, Rubber Queens are the stickiest, although when fully lent over on the front they skip out, due to the non-continous edge pattern.

Mountain King 2s are the middle tyre in the family, they do come up small for their size. 2.1-2.0 for the 2.2s, and 2.35 for the 2.4. They’re voluminous tyres though. This is on Crests and Arch exs, so decent width.

With regard to mud, they’re very predictable, I’ve had some nice two wheel drifting round corners, the back end is easy enough to get out if you weight the front and drive the back round.

I run 2.4 protections front and rear, the race sport is a fine tyre if you don’t ride anywhere rocky, and not tubeless. The protection holds the sidewalls up nicely whereas the race sport tend to fold over.

A 2.2 would dig into the mud better, but the 2.4 are just a much better tyre for everyday riding.

For me the MK2 2.4 Protection are about as perfect a tyre can get for my riding, which is a lot of wet roots, mud, tight twisty corners and granite rock gardens.

Other guys running x kings too, but they were on unicycles!
Great tyres!

I’ve found the rq pretty good for wet conditions on the front. I’ve not noticed it clagging but I might not have taken it through the appropriate type of mud. Going to try one on the rear as well for winter. I really wish they’d make the baron in 29 though. Cracking tyre.

I’ve been running 2.2 MK protections (Black Chilli) and find them OK as an allrounder up to mildly greasy.

With the rain we’ve had and the mud I’ve not found them great and had a huge tankslapper on a greasy clay mud descent the other day. They’re off now for Bontrager XR muds.

I would rather drag on roads than sliding all over on mud.

I rode X Kings throughout last winter (29er rigid SS).

I expected them to struggle on muddy Welsh trails but they were faultless. I won’t be swapping them out for this winter.

With the rain we’ve had and the mud I’ve not found them great and had a huge tankslapper on a greasy clay mud descent the other day. They’re off now for Bontrager XR muds.

I had a horrible tankslapper with Bonty Mud X’s on wet setts…

Been running 2.2 MK for about a year.. Normal folders first which were ok.. Now running 2.2 protections and they’re awesome.

Could of gone for 2.4s but for my mix of commuting and off road the
2.2s are great.

Its funny how some people get on fine with some tyres and others cant..

I have some X kings that I’ve used all summer, even though I have a pair of new racing ralphs which I prefer.
Just couldn’t be bothered to change them over..

X Kings are fine in the dry, but I found they let go in the corners when the ground is either loose or damp.
In the mud there awful, they slip all over the place..

I might try the MK’s, problem for me is id like a mud tire but a lot of my local routes/trails involve some road riding up lanes..

Mendip rider: I know about winter mud

2.4 Mk2s are my mud condition tyre.

Interesting thread, thank you.

I’m wondering whether to try a MK II 2.2, with bells and whistles of Protection and Chilli would work well as a front tyre? Tubeless. Continental seem to suggest about 50psi, which seems quite a lot to me, I’m light and have been running NN’s and HD’s at low 20’s psi. Any thoughts please?

And at the seemingly bargain-tastic price just found on Amazon… or is it too good to be true?

Balls…! I ordered 2 MK in protection black chilli flavour Thursday evening, from r2-bike.com.
£66 delivered, cheapest I could find..

I’ve just ordered one! Looking at Conti tyres site, they say that all Protection models come with Chili compound and so given the Amazon tyre is advertised as a Protection Folding jobbie, at £24 a pop, the worst that happens is I return it if it isn’t.

I’ll let you know.

Took my bike out yesterday in some local mud. Found that the MK2’s roll OK on the road, but drag a lot in mud. Get a bit of sliding and skwirming in mud, which at times on the canal can be a bit if a worry of ending up in the water..

MK2’s arent much fun in this mud we have at the moment..went up ashridge today.
Any kind of descent with a slight camber is lethal.. Got a lovely bruise on the inside of my leg, from an off on not even a steep descent.
Which ruined my confidence for the rest of the ride.

Yeah, I don’t really rate MKIIs as any good for midwinter mud. Despite being fairly knobbly with well-spaced tread, they just don’t seem to grip that well or shed mud. I’d probably change to Barons if I could be bothered to changes tyres every season.