These tires have good grip on the road

Unfortunately, bought these for off road use. Ridden them in mud, sand, rocky, and hardpack trails. It was OK on all, not near the best tire of any. This tire pinch flats more than any tire I have had in my life. Have spent a small FORTUNE on patch kits and inner tubes. Been running 60 psi, I am around 215 so I usually run 45 to 50 on most tires. And usually get a whole tire lice out of that tire without pinch flats. If you take corners at a good speed and the tire feels flat evrythime because of the flex from the sidewalls of the tirs

Great for mostly road riding with a few trails. Pinch flats WAY too easy. Would to recommend to anyone that enjoys riding off rkad

mmmmm pirce value?

..... evething else!

They was on my Instinct 2014 in 2.2 format. I was thinking that I regret the entire bike until I putted it out. One word, "Cheesy"

I guess I am being generous by giving 3 chilis but don't like bashing something too much unless it really deserves it.

Rolls reasonably well on hard pack.

OK rear tire.

Not a good front tire IMHO.

Bought a 13 Horsethief and these tires came with it. The first few rides I was wondering what I got myself into because the bike was squirly and didn't inspire confidence at all. I pulled out my 2.4 Ardent, replaced my front tire and life was a good. The Ardent is my benchmark for an excellent tire and the conti's don't even compare. They just seemed to slide off of everything and not track well.

Over the years I found conti road tires to be 2nd to none but have never been overly impressed with their mountain tires.

Similar Products Used:

Ardent, Ignitor

This is for the 2.4 version.

Good loose soil traction.

Terrible hardpack traction.
Ride like poop unless pressure is run VERY low risking pinch flats.
Slow rolling.

If you ride loose, sandy areas, this tire might work for you. I ride mostly hardpack so it is useless to me. Going to try some Maxxis Ardent's.

Works well in loose stuff, wide spaced knobbies shed mud, grips well in ideal conditions.

squirrely, need to inflate well over 35psi to have it feel acceptable, paper thin sidewalls, wet performannce

Got this tire on a super deal at my LBS and I'm running it on the rear on a Flow rim with a notubes kit. Here in Westchester county, NY we've got a lot of rocks and roots. 3 miles into my first run with these I burped the tire while running at ~25psi. Thankfully I had my air tank and sealant still in the truck so I was able to get back into the woods. Filled it to 35psi and the vagueness on the hard pack disappeared, but being 225lbs (fully loaded) on a HT made the ride a bit harsh. It also felt like the tire lost some of its wet performance, especially on dew covered roots and boulders.

During this initial ride, I unfortunately destroyed the tire with a 1/2" slash on the sidewall from what I thought was a simple pinch flat but turned out to be a tear that Stan's goo couldnt fix.

I'm going to call my LBS when they open today and see what my options are, if any. I think I'll go with the Maxxis Ignitor next.

Similar Products Used:

Specialized Purgatory, Maxxis Ardent, Kenda Klaw, Schwalbe Rocket Ron

Hard Pack slick trails, very durable.

Slightly heavy, and slow. I directly compare these tires to Maxxis Ardent 2.5's which have worse slick trail grip but roll noticeably better, and have much more volume.

For the bigger riders, these tires are EXTREMELY slow.

Early in the year when trails are damp, and late in the year when leaves, and pine needles can cause super slick conditions these tires really shine. They pierce through and absolutely bite, creating a feeling of confidence unparalleled. That being said they are not a do anything tire. The knobs are slightly unsteady on slickrock or granite(maybe better with a lighter rider but I am a clyde), and the biggest drawback of these tires are there speed... they are SLOW.

Similar Products Used:

Maxxis Ardent 2.5, Geax Saguaro, Bontrager 293, Wolverines, Weirwolfs, Kenga Nevegal, and now testing UST Ardent, and Crossmark

Holds the trail very well. One of the better 29er tires I've ridden for New England trails. A very good all-arounder; handles wet, dry, muddy, rooty, rocky, trails very well. Strong and well built.

2.35 is probably like a 2.2. Heavy. Rolling resistance is not the best (maybe due to knobs being a bit farther apart than other tires). It's not the fastest tire on smoother singletrack - it tends to excel at the nasty stuff.

Overall I really like em. I think they are a great tire for New England singletrack. A true AM 29er tire.

Surprisingly strong against flatting

Rolling resistance

For stock tires I cannot complain. They have held up well for 2 years. I am switching to something with a better rolling resistance. I ride 40 road and the rest is trails in the DFW area.

mud shedding design (so good i added a fender!!!)
good sidewall strength
long lasting tread

Wee bit heavy (860G for 2.4 folding)
slick on wet roots
Need to pump over 80 lbs of air in them to get them to pop onto rims.

I have used the Continental Mountain King (in the 2.4 as well as the 2.2 width) on 2 different 29er bikes that I use for different trails and have found them to be a favorable tire in just about all conditions.
As most riders, I dont have a tire sponsor so I don't have the money to have different tires for every season,weather condition and type of dirt or trail so I was looking for a tire that would be good for all conditions. An "all season tire" you could say.
I ride a few days a week in the summer at an average of 8-12 miles on singletrack per ride and these tires seem to last forever. I have gotten at least 2 seasons out of them.
The mountain king 29 seem to grip well on almost everything. I found that they corner well in dry dirt, mud and soggy leaves. (they corner HORRIBLY on pavement cornering at high speeds! I found out the hard way at the punk bike enduro....)
They shed mud well due to their wide spaced knob design although the wide spaced knobs seem to slip alot on slick roots (i do not know of many tires that don't). They plow through mud with ease and I never have to stop to clean them off... A few bunny hops and they are clean.
They stick well to turns and inspire confidence which helps me ride to my full potential and are great climbing tires as long as you get the right air pressure.
Getting the tire pressure right can be tricky as I run tubes in these. It seems to me that about 30-35 lbs is good for my 215 lb frame, any less and im pinch flatting and any more and I have less traction than I like. You can easily dial it in through trial and error for your weight and riding ability.
All in all, I like these even know they are a little heavy but I think that comes with a good strong sidewall... and at +/- 45.00, for a tire that will last 2 seasons, you cant beat it.

I am ready for a new set of tires and Continental is replacing this tire with the Mountain King II so look for my next review at the end of this season...
Continental says that they are improving the MK and if this is true, in my opinion, it will be tough to find a better all around tire.

Strong Sidewalls, good company

Wet conditions, weak thin knobs tear off pretty quickly

In wet conditions with loose debris and mud, wet leaves, rocks and rooty, this tire doesn't impress.
My #1 complaint is: Not enough knobs!!
The "widely spaced lugs," are too few and are too weak.
This may be a decent front tire, but don't put it on the back it will dissappoint.
I ride what I guess you would call very technical cross country, loose messy rooty and rocky east coast conditions that seem to always be pretty wet...... Not hardpack.

Similar Products Used:

many other 29er tires