Continental Trail King Tyres – First Look

Having good tyres can make or break a bike. We check out the Continental Trail King tyres.

Continental re-branded their Rubber Queen all round trail bike tyre a while back, probably something to do with sitting along side “specialist” websites in Google’s search pages… The Trail King is the same tyre with a new name. We’ve been big fans of the 26″ Rubber Queen 2.4 on previous bikes, so a pair of the same in 275 was the obvious choice when choosing the rubbery bits for the latest project.

The Trail King is available in a whole range of options including all three wheel sizes, and two widths – 2.2 and 2.4″. Conti’s higher end tyres feature the Black Chilli compound, a nanoparticle treatment that improves the grip without adding tons of extra rolling resistance. The tyres are tubeless ready, and the Protection sidewalls offer a load of extra protection over regular sidewalls.

We set our tyres up to run tubeless on our Pro-Lite Antero rims, and once seated with a tickle from a compressor they have remained in great shape. We’ve not held back on what we’ve asked of these tyres, and so far have launched into trail centre hardpack, the rocks and sharp edges of DH trails and the mossy goodness of a few brand new sections of trail. On the hardpack they roll well, and their profile means you can crank them over with confidence that you will get grip all the way over in the corners. In soft, loose or filth they cope exceptionally well, the large paddle shaped central knobs deliver power well on greasy climbs and hook up well as you try to scrub speed. It takes a special brand of mud to get them to clog, and for most riding conditions they give plenty of predictable grip. The soft compound and lower profile knobs mean there is plenty of contact to grip on rocks and roots without pinging about. As for their durability, a few laps of trails like Nant G, and a couple of epic cases onto rocks left us in little doubt that these were some very capable tyres that needed pushing!

Basically, we pretty much knew what were going to get, and we certainly aren’t disappointed. We’ll keep them on and they won’t be getting any rest in the near future.

Weight (275, 2.4, Pro-tection/Apex) – 992g

RRP £49.99

Continental Tyres