I’m going to buy a black chilli baron. The one on offer from chain reaction, wiggle, next day tyres etc is the ‘apex’ sidewall version.

however, I was going to try and get it rigged up tubeless

so, will i be ok with the apex version, or should i try and hunt down a UST specific, which seem to be a bit scarcer to find. What are folks experiences of each?

thanks in advance.

i bought the cheap ones… ran them for 5 months (with tubes) last winter, with fairly light use due to the crappy weather.

When I came to swap them to some different tyres for summer, I removed them and found that the sidewalls were completely perished. Absolutely knackered; looked like they’d been sat in direct sun for 5 years, really badly cracked.

Next day tyres (who I bought them from) said to return them for a full refund. For the sake of a tenner per tyre, I didn’t bother sending them back, just binned them.

Dave

I’m running the non UST’s tubeless and I’m very happy with them. Be sure to scrub the inside of the tyre with soapy water and/or wipe with meths to remove the residue from the mold release agent (miss out this step and it takes ages to get Conti’s to seal).

I’m pretty hard on kit and these have been fine for nearly a year. If I was planning a trip to the alps or uplift I would be tempted to go UST for the back… as I had to do when running Rubber Queens… but the Baron feels more robust than RQ’s and I’ve not had a problem yet.

My sidewalls are beginning to look a bit shonky after a year but no problems other than not looking their best. All my Conti’s seem to do this but they last roughly 18 months to 2 years before they need replaced… the sidewalls do tend to go before the tread which either says the sidewalls are crap or the tread is long-lasting… take your pick, but that lifespan for me for tyres is what I’ve come to expect from all brands I’ve tried. I’m currently a bit of a Conti Black Chilli fan-boi as I like how the RQ and Baron tyres feel; other poeple have other opinions and YMMV etc etc.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/perished-continental-sidewalls-after-only-5-months-light-use

I saw those pics. The black chilli’s don’t perish like that, but you can see the threads through the sidewalls which looks a bit off.

I thought it was only tyres on supermarket bikes sat outside railway stations with buckled wheels for years that had sidewalls which go like that

I don’t know about Apex but I’m using the standard black chili Baron as tubeless, it needed a couple of little holes patched first and took longer to seal than most, but it went up and stayed up with a little persuasion. So a bit of a hassle but worth it IMO.

I have just bought a Baron Apex for the front on my steel HT. I am going to Brechfa and Afan this weekend. What should I put on the back ? I have the following to choose from –

Nob Nic
Racing Ralph
Rocket Ron
Bald Mountain King
Fireroad XC.

I have been obsessing about this for the past 24 hours..

I am a big bloke who does not like falling off.

Any advice please.

Got the my Baron yesterday. But… which way round does it go ? I cannot see any directional info on the tyre but the tread is not symmetrical. So there must be a preferable direction.

Got the my Baron yesterday. But… which way round does it go ? I cannot see any directional info on the tyre but the tread is not symmetrical. So there must be a preferable direction.

Ramps pointing forwards on the top, so they’re the driving edges and the square sides are the braking edges. You could reverse the rear for more traction but worse braking and more drag, but I wouldn’t.