[rockyuphill]

Just received a pair of Continental Race King 2.2 from Chain Reaction today. 488 and 487gms for a 2.2" that measures an actual 54mm (2.12") wide inflated. Black Chili rubber compound and they appear to be built nice and straight and hop free. That's 50gms a tire lighter than the Nevegal 1.95's they'll replace. These are supposedly the secret weapon that Irina Kalentiyeva used at Offenburg in the rain in 2007 so I'm hoping that they work in my neck of the woods on wet roots and rocks.

It does fill up a big percentage of a SID fork

 

[Thomas]

Here is mine

Race King Supersonic 2.2" = 494gram
Speed King Supersonic 2.3" = 434gram

 

[BlownCivic]

Race King Supersonic 2.2" = 494gram
Speed King Supersonic 2.3" = 434gram

That is the exact combination that I am using currently on my Giant Anthem Advanced. The 2.2 Race King is really really close to the rear brake arch/seatstay support. When the tires was brand new, it definitely rubbed the arch, but now that there's some wear on the tire, it only occasionally touches when there's some mud/stones on the tire. I'm looking at getting the 2.0 for the rear to see how much clearance I gain.

On another note, the reason I'm using the Speed King on the front is due to a failure of the Race King that was there at first. I am running then with Stan's on Olympic rims. I had a "burping" incident on a big drop, where I had too much weight/not enough pressure on/in the front tire. The fork bottomed, and the next thing to go was the tire bead. The tire still had air in it afterwards (enough to ride down the rest of the descent), but when I got to the bottom and pumped the tire back up, it had a bit of a "tweak" to it. I thought nothing of it, expecting to re-seat the bead when I got home, and have the tire running true once again.

After re-seating the bead, the tweak was still there. "Oh well" I thought. "Live and learn". Next ride, I did it a 2nd time, and this time, the tweak was much worse. It seems that the carcass/kevlar bead was somehow damaged so that the tire no longer runs true. It's bad enough that on the road ride home from my ride, I was keeping the speed down because the tire was so badly out of true.

As far as I can tell, the tire is toast. There is no externally visible damage other than the fact that the tire is seriously out of true. Damn it, the thing is practically brand new. Anyone else ever experience this type fo failure? Needless to say, I'm running a little more pressure in the front tire these days.

 

[EGF168]

When you guys have ridden them a way, tell us how well they grip, how fast and how puncture resistant they are.:thumbsup:

 

[nino]

When you guys have ridden them a way, tell us how well they grip, how fast and how puncture resistant they are.:thumbsup:

i tried the 2,1" Speedkings first, then i got very light samples of the 2,3" and used them on my rigid winterbikie front and rear hoping for some added cushion. to my surprise the ride was really bad. the cushion wasn't there at all. i was hopping around like on a full rubber ball regardless of the pressures i tried. when i lowered the pression it would start feeling VERY sketchy to the point it would burp air, when riding it with higher pressure i was getting white knuckles from holding to the handlebar...when i went back to my original 1,8" (!!) Nobby Nic the ride was MUCH better. felt like adding supsension. sounds weird but the fat 2,3" Speedking was by far the worst dampening tire i ever mounted on a MTB!
and i definitely didn't like its grip as well. cornering is bad. as is with the 2,1". they do roll decent but are a long way from real fast tires....i used them for about 50km only and they already seemed to seperate. you can see on the pic below that each centerknob seems to be halfway ripped away and the sealant would "shine" through....very strange.

i won't recommend them at all.

 

[EGF168]

Well that isn’t very encouraging, but I don’t use tubeless so hopefully I would get away without some of those problems, all I really need is something for the UK mud later in the year that clears easily but doesn’t have the problems for normal use that you get with specific mud tires. I’ve got it down to the Speed King protection 2.1/3 combo and Hutchinson Toro’s, I guess I’ll just have to buy and try one although I don’t like the look of the centre knobs in that pic.

 

[nino]

Well that isn’t very encouraging, but I don’t use tubeless so hopefully I would get away without some of those problems, all I really need is something for the UK mud later in the year that clears easily but doesn’t have the problems for normal use that you get with specific mud tires. I’ve got it down to the Speed King protection 2.1/3 combo and Hutchinson Toro’s, I guess I’ll just have to buy and try one although I don’t like the look of the centre knobs in that pic.

the Speedking does VERY bad in mud! as mentioned i had it mounted on my winterbike and was very diappointed. the 1,8" Nobby Nic is what works best for me during the wet/muddy season. surprisingly good cushion ( i run it at 2,2 bars with sealant), really light (around 400g), pretty fast rolling and great grip. my favourite for the winter/mud right now. WORLDS better in the slippery stuff than the Speedkings!

 

[rockyuphill]

The interesting thing is the difference in size between the Mountain King 2.2 and the Race King 2.2. The MK 2.2 has a 49mm carcass and a 52mm wide knob to knob width. The carcass on the Race King is huge at 54mm wide, so it could be run with a lower pressure, it'll be interesting to see how it feels on the trails. It looks like the Race King 2.2 is built on the same size carcass as the MK 2.4, the side knobs on the RK don't extend past the carcass width.

The bouncy quality was my big complaint with the 2.3" Vertical Pro's, they ricocheted off rocks and roots like mad. I'm hoping that the Black Chili rubber helps keep these tires from being a like a basketball on trail lumps and bumps.

 

[Tiffster]

might give those race kings a try, the 2.2 is wider than my 2.2 MK which is more like a 2.0 and smack bang the same weight.

 

[Bikeon]

Continental Race King WorldCup 2,2 LTD, cut tails ! = > 479 / 492 g. http://light-bike.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=3462

Plenty of room on my Santa SL. I run them +/- 100 km only so it's little to fast to say more. Fast tire, allow low pressure (under 2 bar with tubs). Traction on sand - as long as you can ride. Very good mud cleaning. Good bump absortion. I ride in the forest only. I'll write some more few km later .

Conti Race King Supersonic 2.0 (not mine) -> http://light-bike.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=3481
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was wrong with too low air pressure on them. Definietly more then 2,0 bar /30 psi is needed, for light rider too. I was flat with rear on XC downhill. That wasn't fault of a tire. Puncture of the tube was from rim inner site. No hole in tire after this (short carefull breaking). But the tire is thin. On rocks it will be ?? cut in same situation. The tire work great on dry, slow technical downhills in forest with roots etc.

 

[KERKOVEJ]

The Race Kings are thin. I run them tubeless with Stan's on the DT Swiss XR 1450 wheels. Most of the team members are running them with latex tubes. As far as traction....they are like velcro! They are pretty much my tire of choice for all racing conditions. As for day-to-day training...I suggest a little beefier tire in non-Supersonic.

I have been testing since June of 2007
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffkerkove/593375608/" title="DSCF0007.JPG by Jeff Kerkove, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1284/593375608_5b61481771.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSCF0007.JPG" /></a>

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffkerkove/593132587/" title="DSCF0006.JPG by Jeff Kerkove, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1365/593132587_f52821b010.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="DSCF0006.JPG" /></a>

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffkerkove/2443420905/" title="DSCF0169 by Jeff Kerkove, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3089/2443420905_3e7cc3a2a1_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="DSCF0169" /></a>

 

[Tiffster]

You've been testing them since June 2008 That's impressive as it's only May 2008


Nice bike, nice rider too!

 

[KERKOVEJ]

You've been testing them since June 2008 That's impressive as it's only May 2008

Err....since June '07 :thumbsup:

 

[Tiffster]

:thumbsup:

What frame is that in the pic with the blonde ?

DT Swiss Carbon rims too

 

[KERKOVEJ]

Our team frame sponsor is Rotwild. It's a brand out of Germany.

 

[rockyuphill]

:thumbsup:

What frame is that in the pic with the blonde ?

DT Swiss Carbon rims too

She is the current World Champ... no surprise she gets some nice kit.

 

[rockyuphill]

Finally had weather cooperate to get some riding done on these Race Kings. They are really nice fast rolling tires at 30psi. Lots of grip on smooth rocks and smooth polished roots, work really well in the mud of varying gooiness without spinning out and without packing up, really well on loose over hardpack and feel really good on a hardtail. I was quite familiar with the way my 1.95 Nevegals felt on the hardtail and they were a good compromise between grip and rolling speed, the Race Kings feel like they roll faster and have really nice squirm-free cornering.

I think I might swap the 2.2 Mountain Kings off of my ETSX and put some Race Kings on it, they feel much more predictable on roots and rocks and less squirmy with the more densely packed knobs. I like the big carcass for deformation grip capability over roots and rocks.

 

[eliflap]

i bought a pair of Race King WC 2,2

never used ... so decided to sell on ebay

468 and 460 their weight

i agree with Nino ... NN 1,8 are wonderful

i used with latex on my scalpel 2008 , great tyre

 

[KenDobson]

Where can I order the race king in 2.2 and 2.0 in the us?

 

[rockyuphill]

You'll need to get them from Chain Reaction Cycles in the UK, they haven't floated across the Atlantic yet. I think CRC still only has the 2.2", the 2" haven't crossed the English Channel yet.