2011 Conti Downhill Tyres – first look

We’re stoked to have been sponsored by Conti Tyres this year.

The Wideopen team ride a real wide variety of disciplines but all found that the tyres worked a treat, whether it was for DH, XC, 4X or dirt jumping. Here’s the 2011 downhill line up, plus a couple of trail tyres that we think you lot will like. Enjoy!

Wideopenmag’s Wayne Appleby putting the Rain King’s (now called Der Baron) through their paces at Ae Forest.

The Kaiser is Conti’s flagship DH tyre and is the race tyre of choice of the Atherton’s. We found it copes well as an all rounder but (obviously) works best in dry, dusty, rocky conditions…. You’ll be happy running these up until the trails start to get greasy.

Team rider Wayne ran these at the BDS, Pearce, Maxxis Cup and various other UK races and got on really well with them. The Black Chilli sticky compound is genuinely really impressive and grips a treat on gritty, rocky, dusty terrain. The pay-off is off course longevity and at £54 each you’ll want to be careful with these – we found that you’ll go through 2 pairs a season if you race hard. Not cheap, but worth the money for the awesome performance.

Conti say:

Intermediate/dry conditions 2.5″ DH tyre

New standard version also available

Used by the Animal Commencal team of Gee, Dan & Rachel Atherton & winner at Fort William World Cup 2010 (Gee Atherton)

1200grams, with reinforced carcass and double sidewall for lower running pressures

Using a special softer version of our Black Chili compound

Der Baron is what used to be called the ‘Rain King’. It was sold as a kind of intermediate conditions tyre that you’d stick on when conditions were wet and sloppy but when you wouldn’t quite need a spike. Similar idea to a Maxxis Swamp Thing.

To be honest, the Baron is actually a pretty decent all-rounder and would be a great choice for all year round UK downhill riding. It’s got nice and wide, deep nobbles to grip in the loose stuff and the Black Chilli sticky rubber compound works well on the rocks.

Conti say:

Intermediate Downhill tyre with reinforced Apex sidewalls
Formerly knows as Rain King
Used by the Animal Commencal team of Gee, Dan & Rachel Atherton
Using a special Black Chili compound for superb adhesion yet impressive wear rate

Our only real grumble with Conti’s range this season was the lack of a spike – meaning Wayne had to jump back to the old Wet Screams when it got really muddy. Not a problem any more because Conti have just dropped the Mud King – their brand new for 2011 downhill spike.

It’s available in 1.8″ or 2.3″ and (they say) has been developed with the input of the Athertons up at their hellish steep, muddy North Wales tracks. We’re really looking forward to getting our mitts on a pair of these for a proper test.

Conti say:

New Mud spike developed with Atherton racing
Apex reinforced sidewall (DH) protects and stabilizes at heavy lean angles
ProTection (XC) carcass adds bead to bead strength

The ProTection (1.8″) will be £44.95 and the DH (2.3″) will be £54.95

Other choice cuts from the range include:

Baron 2.3″ – a slimmed down all mountain/freeride version of the Der Baron. This one comes in a a heap of options and offers prices from around £15 to £54 depending if you want fancy Black Chilli rubber.

Rubber Queen - Another wide, stable all-rounder that will go down a treat on all mountain/freeride set ups. Again, heaps of options to suit your riding and your wallet.

Gee rocking the Kaisers at Llangollen..

That’s it! Thanks to Continental – and particularly Rob at Cambrian tyres – for all of their support this season. We’ve genuinely been really pleased with their rubber and can’t wait to test out the new kit.

Check out the new range on Conti’s site here.

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