The new Continental Grand Prix 4000 S II is a fresh option that puts colors down at the bead rather than on the tread. This lets them keep the Black Chili compound where’s needed, so it has better grip and reduced rolling resistance than they could ever get with a colored rubber on the top.
The color comes all the way to the bead, so when mounted it touches the rim. They’re available in 700×23 in gray, orange, green, blue, yellow and red.
Speaking of Black Chili, their reps say the engineers are able to incrementally improve the compound by 3-4% every year just through continued R&D, so this model has slightly better adhesion in wet and dry conditions, better durability and lower rolling resistance.
Just as exciting, there are now wider and (much) cheaper options from Continental, too…
And to keep with trends, there’s a new 700×28 width in black only.
From a manufacturing side, they’ve opened a new, wholly owned factory in China that has the same exact processes, expertise and materials as what they’re doing in Germany. That lets them bring their new Pure Grip compound and NyTech breaker to tires at $40 price points in the new GrandSport folding bead tire. It has a 60tpi casing and comes in at just 220g.
The new UltraSport has those same features except the breaker for just $24.95. A wire bead version is $19.95. All are available in 23/25/28 widths.
More interested in mountain bike tires? Check our Eurobike coverage for those here.
