Continental X King 29″er Tires: Mid-Term

Mounting the X King was pretty straightforward on the Flows. I was not quite able to get them to set with a floor pump, but an air compressor with the core pulled out of the valve stem was simple enough. I did not see a great deal of evidence of porosity on the sidewall, but it dropped air pressure overnight by 50%. I took the wheel off the bike and did the Stan’s Shake (like in their videos), then laid the front wheel/X King combo on a bucket…first one side then the other. That did the trick and it has been quite air fast since that time, only losing a few PSI over a few days.

The 2.2 X King still is not a very plump tire and is not as wide as the 2.2 Specialized Purgatory S Works it replaced. It actually is not quite as wide as the Race King, as the Race King on the Flow is 2.25”/57.15mm wide (sidewall to sidewall) and the X King is 2.17”/55.1mm wide (also at the sidewall). They are pretty much the same height. Of note is the fact that Continental offers the X King in a 2.4 size, and based on what I see here and with past experience with 2.4 Mountain Kings (the old version), the 2.4s are a better bet if you are looking for flotation, and or cushy-ness.

The first real ride on the X King/Race King combo was a multi hour ride on a mix of fire road, single track, and pavement. The fire road climb was neither here nor there for the X King, but the single tracks were quite tricky. A lot of blind corners on decomposed granite, off camber trail littered with acorns (nature’s ball bearings) and the added complication of the single speed requiring a lot of standing and forward weight shifts in and out of the turns showed a tire that pretty much did its job with no bad traits. On pavement it still seems to run pretty quietly and it felt decent on a very fast and chunky downhill fire road. I don’t think it quite has the presence there as a front tire with bigger, more blocky knobs (like the Purgatory), but it never gave up on me either. I bet the 2.4 version would have fared better as well.

The last section of trail was a real challenge to ride smoothly. You remember the old Kung Fu show where he was challenged to walk on rice paper and leave no trace? Think that way about a very narrow and sandy section of downhill single track that was best ridden on tip toes so as not to break the trail surface. Delicate lines and smooth braking were the order of the day. I was quite impressed with the X King there. I was able to run into the corners, brake at the edge of sliding or washing the tire out, and be on my way with little fuss. It was easy to be precise with it. However, it is still a somewhat narrow tire so I have noticed that crossing sand washes, etc, it is not the ‘floatiest’ tire. It tends to carve like a snow ski instead of stay on top, but it does not wash out either. I suspect that rather narrow casing is the culprit.

As far as mud goes, I dunno. We are kinda feast or famine here for mud, and when it does get muddy, the clay soils will stop any tire/bike combo in short order as the soil packs up on everything turning you into a soon to be not rolling adobe brick. However, in the moist soils it has been excellent and seems to pierce into the dirt quite well. I have ridden it in the rain on a sandy trail with water running down it, over wet rocks, etc, and I was very pleased with the way it dug in and cleaned out. I have not had truly dry dirt yet. We have flirted with it, so the bench mark soil condition of dry sand and rubble over hard packed clay is yet to be truly tested.

I also managed to ruin a sidewall (well, it is repairable, but it was a challenge for the sealant to deal with) against something during a night ride. That is unusual for me as I seldom cut sidewalls. The rocks we have (and there are plenty of them) are mostly rounded by water action. Is this a sign of fragile sidewalls? Hard to say. I have never hurt a Race King and I have beat on them for miles and miles, so we shall see. I know that the 29″er tires from Continental deserve the same options in sidewall and tread compound that the smaller brother tires get and that is coming down the road, likely in 2012.

My initial impressions of the X King being a good all rounder for XC use are seemingly showing true, at least across soil that is not too sandy or especially chunky. It steers very neutrally on hard surfaces and does not seem to wiggle or require any special turning technique and it seemed to be able to cling to littered forest trails quite well. More miles and smiles to come as the rain goes back where it came from and we dry out for the spring to summer transition.

Note: Continental Tires submitted these tires to Twenty Nine Inches for test/review at no charge. We are not being paid, nor bribed for this review. We will strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.