“It’s what pro members picked” I’m guessing.
Joe
Schwalbe has a pretty deep MTB offering, with four or five compounds of eight or more models over the last few years, which would explain why they account for about a quarter of the tires tested. Additionally, when a tire from a manufacturer tests really poorly despite being labeled as their “fastest”, it’s pretty easy to write that brand off, and I personally am not too interested in seeing each of their lesser tires tested(see Maxxis Aspen, IRC, etc…)
Just picked up Maxxis Rekon Race for the rear and Maxxis Rekon for the front… super excited to try this combo.
Sir, what pressures are you using with the Thunder Burts?
So far I like 20 rear, 18 front with tubolight inserts on both ends and I’m 190#”s
Joe
Excellent, I will give it a try.
I borrowed some 2.4 Reckon Race tires from a friend and tried them out this week and really enjoyed them. It left me with some questions that some of you may be able to answer.
Entire ride weight was 230lbs, rim ID 29mm, Tire 29 x 2.4 - I ran the tires at 21/22 respectively as that’s what the sram calculator said for wet conditions. It is saying 23/25 for dry - does this sound right to the group?
The tires were absolutely hooked up IMO, I naturally just lay the bike over in corners. I didnt have any traction issues in reality with a rekon race as a front. Is there another tire I can try that’s even faster but shares similar traction characteristics (these are borrowed, I still need to purchase).
I will mainly be XC racing so just want to grab something - maybe Rekon Race F/R is just about as good as it gets?
My goto is Racing Ray and Ralph, next is Fastrak and Ground Control.
Just did Cape Epic on Scorpion XC RC ProWall 2.4 with zero problems (mechanical or grip)
But interested in RR… looks fast but bot sure…
Continental Race Kings are pissing me off again…
Last year I had a bunch of trouble getting them to mount straight with no wobble, even went through a couple sets of tires. Finally had a set that worked well for me. I pulled them off over the winter, cleaned out all the old sealant, cleaned up the wheels, and just tried to re-mount. There’s a wobble so bad it’s like the casing’s damaged, and these are the tires that were working fine for me… Maybe from dismounting it? Needing to wrench on it to break the bead?
I am going to try one more re-mount, but I am 99% sure this is not a bead seating issue - I can see the indicator line uniform around the entire tire, I’ve tried with soap and water, it’s literally like I was dealing with multiple tires from a bad batch last year.
At the same time - they aren’t horrible to mount, but breaking the bead is a bear, to the point it has me actually thinking about not wanting to do it during a race. And, wondering if I did something to damage them because of it.
Bad batch? Fragile tires? Just really tight with my rims? Anyone else? Just me?
I’ve seen this repeatedly with Terra Speeds and I’m sure have read about it with Race Kings too. It’s to do with the seam where they join the casing into a circle and seems to be a thing across all of the speed-focused off-road Conti offerings. First time I saw it I got so frightened that I went to my mechanic and we did a really close inspection and re-mount together. His conclusion was that the tire itself was fine, just not straight anymore.
If you look closely you can probably find evidence of the join - it’s a scarf joint that goes diagonally across the tire, and you’ll probably notice that it gives the tire roughly the shape of a split-ring lock washer, with a pretty sharp wobble at the joint and then a really smooth transition from one side to the other over the entire rest of the circumfrence of the tire.
I know in theory this can affect steering stability but I’ve never once noticed it when riding - only when spinning wheels in the workstand. Have been through a few sets since and used them happily until they wore out (for non-wobble-related reasons). Makes me wonder if they actually straighten out under load?
I’ve quit worrying about it, but I know lots of other riders aren’t so comfortable with that and I’ve seen multiple reports of people successfully returning them to Conti under warranty for this. So they must know, and they clearly also know they’re not going to get away with saying it’s normal. It’s not new either - has been present for at least one refresh of all those models.
I guess it must be worth it to them because of the speed they’re able to achieve by doing it that way?
I just had the same problem with my new Race Kings on new EIE wheels. Impossible to mount without levers and almost impossible to break the bead (had to do it numerous times due to difficulties with rim tape) without causing extreme pain to my fingers and hands!
Ultimately, the rear had such a bad wobble I decided to remove them before ever using. I picked up some thunder burts, mounted them by hand, and no extreme wobbles.
Unfortunately it was an expensive lesson and I have two unused race kings going to waste.
Great insight there. I ran into this bad with a set last year that I had to write off, but I’ve had others that went on pretty much fine. The thing with this one, these were on the bike last year and while they had a tiny bit of wobble, they were pretty good. The only thing I can imagine is that they’re so tight on the rim, that I bent or “tweaked” the casing wrenching the tire to get it to break the bead when I took them off. I’m almost wondering if I should just go out and ride them and see if it makes much of a difference or even improves over time with some load on the tire? That, and wait for some new stock to come in this spring and maybe they’ve improved things…
@Majoeric - pretty much what happened to me, I’ve just stuck with them because I really like the tires once they’re on and straight…
Yeah I didn’t say that explicitly but I can often get brand new terra speeds to mount straight, then as soon as I remove and re-fit them (after running something else for a specific event) the same pair have the wobble. I wouldn’t say there’s any extreme leverage involved in fitting or removing either.
I’d say go ride them gently at first and see how they settle and whether you can feel the wobble in use.
Has anyone tried running the Racing Ralph as a front tire? Have seen it in some bike check photos, would be faster than the Ray/Ralph but the Ralph is meant as a rear and looks as such. Wonder how it would perform on the front for a Ralph/Ralph combo.
I’ve had the Conti tread wobble as well on Terraspeeds, my LBS said it was the plies shearing/separating and I should stop riding them.
Not sure where I stand, I’m halfway through the tire and they haven’t presented any issues. Keep riding?
as long as you set the direction the same, I don’t see why not, I mean people run Thunder Burt F/R so 
I would keep riding them.
We have a winner!
Kenda Rush SCT 29x2.4 Review officially “Coming Soon” on BRR…
Now we have to decide what to try and vote up next. My reaction might be to try and get the Racing Ray voted up over the next two months as it has the best chance of actually making it… (Schwalbe Racing Ray Addix SpeedGrip SuperGround TLE E-25 29x2.25)
Or, Wolfpack Speed TLR 29x2.25 as that has 3 months to make it (But zero votes as compared to 15 for the Racing Ray currently). I’m pretty interested in this tire. I have the 2.4’s and haven’t had a single issue with them, light, and could be a good alternative to the Race King…
Ideally would be nice to find something that just hit the list with a full 4months to go, but there’s nothing there…