We leaked a few photos of Continental’s new X-King (pronounced Cross King) earlier, and now we’ve got full specs. It will come in a 2.2 and 2.4 for 26″ and 29er. It’s an all-purpose tread pattern, and uses a new version of Protection and Race Sport casing tech. About those casings, they have to new technologies on offer: a revised Protection flat proofing and new UST compatible Race Sport.
Race Sport replaces Supersonic, and is their new tubeless ready system. On their regular tires, we’ve had no problems running them tubeless, but the lighter weight Supersonic versions’ patterned sidewall was too porous to hold sealant and air on its own. It also gets a UST bead. There will still be a couple of SuperSonic tires available, but the weight difference between comparable SS and RS tires will only be about 50g, which is pretty much negated by the weight of a tube, and their tires tend to be especially good when run tubeless.
New ProTection replaces the old external DuraSkin bonded to the outside of the tire with a new internal floating layer molded into the entire tire wall from bead to bead. Besides offering broader coverage, it’s 25% lighter than the old version, more supple and more effective in protecting against all types of puncture and cuts. They don’t have models with both ProTection and Race Sport, but you can run any ProTection tire tubeless with sealant should you need something a little beefier.
They’ll also have standard UST tires and economy versions of many models.
Jump past the break for the revised Mountain King and new road, TT, touring and commuter treads…
A little more info on the new casing technologies, click to enlarge.
A closeup of hte new X-King’s tread pattern. widely spaced solid knobs are low profile for good traction and mud clearing with low rolling resistance. Weights range from a miiniscule 440g up to 840g.
Mountain King gets entirely new tread pattern to broaden it’s use beyond just softer, looser conditions and can now be used for most conditions. It gets reinforced, beefier shoulder knobs and very open center knobs to shed mud quickly. Comes in both 22 and 2.4 for 26″ and 2.4 only for 29er.
Top view of the Mountain King’s new tread pattern. Weights range from 500g to 800g depending on size and configuration.
The Podium TT tubular road tire is an upgraded version of their Podium tire by adding a 180tpi casing, Vectran puncture protection in the tread strip and their sticky Black Chili compound. It’ll be available in a 19c and new 22c width. This let’s you run the popular narrow front/wide rear tire combo for time trials.
There’s a new 32c width for their Gatorskin and GatorHardshell touring tires, making them a good option for turning a road bike into your commuter.
New TopContact Winter commuter tire has micro sipping tread tech borrowed from their automotive tires. They’re available in both 26×1.9 and 700×37.
