Apologies in advance – I’m so very sorry for posting this tyre thread.

Anyway, I like Conti Mountain Kings.
I Run them in 29×2.4 protection (version II not III), on a Transition Smuggler with tubeless insert on the rear. (Trail bike ridden fairly hard on mixture of terrain. I’m 13 stone.)

I like them with one exception: I keep killing them on the rear.
Usual pattern is smashing through high speed rock garden, rip them at the bead. Latest incident was on a local rocky downhill this week. Smashed usual pattern – ripped the bead off about 2″ long. Tyre unusable.

So, I need a new tyre yet again. Have been searching around for what might suit, and I am wondering about the Specialised Slaughter Grid 29×2.3. It’s a bit heavier than the conti which is probably no bad thing so long as it is tougher. It looks like it will be faster rolling to offset the weight though

A couple of questions then:
1) How do they size up to the contis? Don’t like having mismatched tyre sizes! Rear being a bit smaller is OK so long as it is tough. I would still keep the conti as a front for the time being

2) Are they actually any tougher than the contis?

PS I’m a leave tyres on sort of person and like tyres that will work OK in all conditions. The only exception is I will swap on some Schwalbe supergravity tyres if I am going somewhere really rocky like the lakes.
I tend to use this bike only on dryer days though, so if the slaughter is compromised in the wettest conditions I’m OK with that. (if it is sloppy out then I will use singlespeed or gravel bike instead)

Anything else I should be considering?

Thanks! (and sorry!)

If you want to know about the real size of different tyres plus the rims they were on, this is a good site, in German though, but it’s readable.

http://www.reifenbreiten-datenbank.de/reifen.html

Maybe add the Maxxis Aggressor / DHR2 to the list as well – go with DD casing if you keep mangling tyres. Although I’ve never ripped an Exo casing Maxxis – there is another bread going where someone has holed a few exo’s though.

Aggressor would be my choice for a bike generally run in the dry as it’s faster rolling than a dhr2.

One of the reasons I stopped using the Spesh GRID casing was that they feel a bit insecure. I think Spesh have tried to save a bit of weight, and made the side walls a bit too thin. I didn’t have a failure, but they were really pressure sensitive, too low and they wobbled about, too high and no grip, there was about a 3-5psi sweet spot around 25-28psi where they were OK, but I never felt super confident on them. It’s a better rear tyre than a front though, and at least they’re cheaper than most Cont and Maxxis, but in the end I went back to DHR. Oh and I found that any sort of wet was enough to make them slide. (again worse on the front than the rear) . If I rode somewhere super rocky, I don’t think they’d be my first choice, sorry.

Nice one – thanks for the info.

The http://www.reifenbreiten-datenbank.de/reifen.html link is really useful. Looks like the Maxxis Aggressor and the Slaughter (2.3s) come up about the same size. On a wide rim the carcass of those two is about 3-4mm smaller than the conti 2.4, and about 5mm lower in profile

The slaughter will be a wee bit smaller, but it’s a great tyre, my choice for year round riding.

The side knobs grip pretty well, a lot more than you’d think. It’s only 2 downsides are that it’s slightly small, and straight line braking on greasy stuff isn’t amazing, as you’d expect.

You can get the aggressor in a 2.5wt size though…..

I use a Slaughter for all my rides that don’t involve an uplift all year round, it’s grip on rocks and hard surfaces is great. And it rolls very well. In grid form it’s a tough tyre too.

It’s terrible for braking on slimy mud though, so if you have much of that where you ride you might want to avoid it.

I tend to swap it for something grippier for uplifted rides where it doesn’t matter about rolling resistance.

I prefer the rock razor to the minion ss and the minion ss to the slaughter tbh. Personally I don’t think the slaughter does anything as well as the other 2.

Why not try the new mountain king?
I’ve killed a couple of older mk2s and x-kings on my hardtail with small bead tears from sharp square edge impacts to the rim, but new MK3 and cross kings have been great.
I didn’t get on with the MK3 as a front tyre but pairs well with a baron when win out back.

For future reference, went with a 2.3 aggressor exo. First impressions very good, sidewalls appear tougher than the conti, especially at the bead (in fact the bead area on the conti seems less tough than the rest of the sidewall – probably hence the problems I have been having with them going at the bead)
Aggressor is very slightly narrower than the conti, but not too much. Seems a good balance between the front and rear tyres. Also rolls quicker than the conti I reckon.

Should be a good choice – I swap on the aggressor for the dhr2 as soon as the trails dry out and then run it until it gets a bit sloppier again. The same aggressor has been going for a couple of years so far with no punctures that I’m aware of. Been to BPW for a jump coaching course / BMCC for an uplift day / Flyup 417 uplift day and I did the gap a couple of weekends ago which is reasonably rocky and again no issues. Plus normal riding on trail centre trails.