Comments on: Continental Tire Rumors

By: Randy

Randy — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:03:24 +0000

Don’t get too excited about big volume, I have a set of Mountain Kings 29er 2.2 tires and they are very small compared to my 2.2 Bontrager tires. My guess would be around a 1.95 or 2.0

By: velomatt

velomatt — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:41:15 +0000

Leethal you hit that one on the head!
I’m still in love with the Vertical, still run them.
Wish they would make that a 2.5 in 29″er !

By: Leethal

Leethal — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:42:49 +0000

I hope they make a tire similiar to the 26″ vertical pro, still in my opinion the most versatile, all conditions tire available..

By: Guitar Ted

Guitar Ted — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:29:30 +0000

And just to further clear things up, the Top Tourings were huge, but had NO KNOBS, so clearance in most hybrids was not a problem. Heck, I can slide a Nanoraptor in alot of hybrids even now, no problem.

The point is, it’s what type of casing that old Top Touring had and the “what if” of having something that voluminous with actual knobby tread.

I believe those old Conti tires were still made in Germany, and when production moved overseas, the casings were necessarily different and smaller.

By: name:este

name:este — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 16:11:56 +0000

The 47-622 tyres Conti made that were used before the “tire” were the Goliath and the Travel Master series along with the Top Tourings. Both were slick center/some side knobs that were like skates on loose over hardpack and worthless in the mud. It never stopped a rider of Willits caliber from using them, but I never liked them off road. Most all of the 28″ers Wes made prior to late spring of 99′ needed at least some modification to fit a Nano. But the first frame and those that followed he built after the Nano didn’t.

By: WillitsBikes

WillitsBikes — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 16:05:45 +0000

Cloxxki, yeah, that’s what I was saying, the ones Wes used were crazy-tall but not very wide. Like an upsidedown egg-shaped cross-section. I’ll have to ask him which ones they were. Anyway…

By: Cloxxki

Cloxxki — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 14:13:54 +0000

Come on, how wide can those casings have been? Enough to not fit the bikes they were made for? Trekking bikes tend to not fit any 29″ tires, and I heard that at least some Willits 28″ers from before the Nanoraptor, did not fit the Nanoraptor?

By: Guitar Ted

Guitar Ted — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 11:06:37 +0000

WillitsBikes: I had heard that about the old 28″er being ridden on Conti tires. Back in the decade of the 90’s, Continental, and the other European tire companies for that matter, all seemed to be using these humungous, super rounded casings for their treking tires. I know a guy that ran his Conti Top Touring tires from 1995 until just recently because he loved the “balloon” type casings they had. Of course, they were dry rotted within an inch of their lives up until I convinced him they weren’t safe anymore!

Those Top Touring tires didn’t have any tread worthy of off roading, but the casing on the tire, which I can’t remember the stated width on, was as big as any 29″er tire we have today, certainly it was more rounded.

My hope is that Conti returns to these “old skool” type casing profiles for the new crop of 29″er tires from them.

By: WillitsBikes

WillitsBikes — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 04:32:55 +0000

It’s funny. Before the Nano, Wes swore by some obscure Conti tire on his bikes that were as close to a 29″ tire as you could get. He rode those for years. It was weird one that was narrow but super-tall.

By: Cloxxki

Cloxxki — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 18:12:45 +0000

That sounds awesome! Multiple tires, in sizes, wow!

I suppose the 28″ labels will also be gone now they are acknowledging the existence of a market for 29″ bikes?

I’d be so happy with a Twister supersonic (reinfoced beads) at 2.0! They can hold their own on the dry against every other tires, and smoke them in sucky wet conditions, by total lack of clogging.

Big volume Speedkings, hmmm…