Review: Continental X-King RS

Towards the end of last season I moved over from a tried and tested combination of Schwalbe Rocket Ron 2.1 front and Kenda Small Block 8 2.0 rear to Continental X-King RS 2.1 front and back. These tyres are supposed to be a tubeless ready version of the Supersonic X-King, which its self is supposed to be a superlight XC race tyre for just about all conditions. At a glance, the tread pattern looks similar to the Schwalbe Rocket Ron with widely spaced aggressive knobs to clear mud quickly. They also live up to their billing as a superlight tyre, unfortunately I didn’t weigh them before I set them up but they felt at least as light as the tyres they replaced. Unfortunately, this is where the positives end.

Despite the RS version being designed to be run tubeless, it took about 6 months, and copious top-ups of sealant to get them sealed. Every time I went to ride them I had to top up the air pressure and there were always signs of sealant bubbling through the side wall. I have never had this with my previous set up (or my current set up) using standard, non-tubeless tyres. They must have swallowed so much sealant by now that the stated weights are half what they currently weigh. Admittedly, I should not have raced on leaky tyres but I don’t have the luxury of spare sets of wheels and this problem cost me positions in at least 2 races when I had to stop and pump them up.


The next issue I have with the tyres is they don’t inspire confidence when tubeless. When running with pressures as high as 25psi (not too low by tubeless standards) you could feel the compression and roll of the tyre when cornering and hear the edge of the tyre coming into contact with the trail. I should say I never actually rolled a tyre off the rim but I rode less aggressively at times to prevent it.

My final woe with these tyres was the lack of grip in loose or slippery conditions. I had ridden the Small Block 8 on the back for almost 2 years and expected grip in these conditions to increase in these conditions considering there is almost no tread on the SB8. Bizarrely I seemed to lose traction much earlier on the Continental tyres both when accelerating and braking. On the front I lacked confidence in the tyre and quickly swapped back to the Rocket Ron but on the rear I persevered with the X-King (partly due to the fact that I had finally got it sealed and didn’t want the hassle of changing.

In summary, I was not impressed with these tyres and in the future I will stick to what I know and trust. I certainly won’t be buying any to go on the XTC 29er I am riding this year! Obviously this is my opinion and some people must like them or Continental probably wouldn't still be in business.