Reviewed by Brian Mullin aka Gram and MTBR.com Pastajet
http://www.gramslightbikes.com/

NOTE: Tires are a very personal thing, and they are hard to be subjective with. Tires are very dependent on the conditions and terrain they are used in and the riders riding style. When reviewing tires I had access to a very large swath of tires and could make many comparisons on the same exact terrain, making A/B comparisons much easier. Out of all the products I have tested, you need to carefully read the review and take everything with a grain of salt, just because I find a tire lacking somewhere does not mean that you the reader will have the same findings. “I’m a god. I’m not *the* God… I don’t think”

I have been using the Schwalbe Albert series of tires for many years, and have always had a special fondest for them. I had predominantly used the Albert snakeskin version (26×2.25), which rolled well, had bombproof sidewalls, good traction, decent weight and was easy to set up tubeless. The original Albert series came in the Fat Albert (26×2.4), the Albert (26×2.25) and the Little Albert (26×2.1) versions.

At the Interbike 2008 show Schwalbe had a couple of new tires on the market. One of the most interesting was the revamped Fat Albert. They come in a 26×2.25 and 26×2.4 size, and in a front and rear specific version. The newly revamped tire has their new U-Block technology and their new Triple Nano compound. The filler particles for the Triple Nano have been changed in size from 200 nanometers to 10 nanometers. This means reduced internal friction, which lowers rolling resistance and smaller particles mean more surface area so grip is improved.

Rear on left and Front on right, rotation to top of page

The front is tweaked for handling and braking while the rear has been optimized for traction and curve control. It still retains the classic Albert series tread pattern and come in a Snakeskin, Performance, Double Defense (only in the 2.25 size) and Tubeless versions.

Hey hey hey! It’s Fat Albert!

Next -> Testing Spec & Impressions

Reviewed by Brian Mullin aka Gram and MTBR.com Pastajet
http://www.gramslightbikes.com/

I have been bashing away on a set of the Continental Rubber Queen 2.4’s for around 4 months now, and I must say this is “Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy”. These are big suckers, that is just a blast to use, and they love to haul ass through the meanest territory you can throw at them. Yes, with these babies size does count!

The Rubber Queen is a new tire for Continental, and it joins their other existing Downhill, Freeride and All Mountain tires the Der Kaiser and the Rain King. The Rubber Queens come in a 2.2 x 26 inch and 2.4 x 26 inch size in both a normal and UST version. The normal version is made with the proprietary Black Chili compound and have the Apex sidewall treatment, and all versions are handmade in Korbach Germany (the Mothership).

Casing
The Rubber Queens casing is comprised of nylon fabric, which has an extremely high tensile strength, and can withstand the abuse the real world tosses at it. The normal version is constructed of three plies of 60 tpi (3/180) bias cut material that make up the casing under the tread and two plies compose the sidewalls, while the UST version uses three plies of 110 tpi (3/330). Tpi is the number of threads per inch, a finer fabric is more flexible and puncture resistant while a coarser fabric is more rigid and cut resistant.

APEX Design
The proprietary APEX sidewall treatment puts additional material above the tire bead to help protect, stiffen and stabilize the sidewall for better control and cornering. The stiffened sidewalls can take more abuse and allow you to bash the tire around with abandon. It is supposed to help reduce pinch flats, but I got plenty of them anyway, so minus 1 for that attribute.

Black Chili
The Black Chili compound is a new tread mixture, which blends newly developed synthetic rubbers with proven natural rubber. They contain ‘nano’ (10 nanometer) sized rubber particles that have surface properties optimized for use in bicycle tires. These smaller particles enable the tire tread to deform around surface objects more quickly, improving grip. They also form a tighter bond with each other, thus improving compound strength for improved tread life, and fewer chances for lugs to rip, and tear. The way in which these particles interact with each other also lowers rolling resistance.

Out on the streets for a living
Pictures only begun
Your day is sorrow and madness
Got you under their thumb

Whoo, black chili, yeah
Whoo, black chili

Next -> Test Rig and Ride Impressions

Continental Mountain King

Reviewed by Brian Mullin aka Gram and MTBR.com Pastajet
http://www.gramslightbikes.com/

I have tested the Protection version of the 2.4 Continental Mountain King tires over the last several months on my Ibis Mojo. I have been able to cross compare them against several other tires in all sorts of variable terrain, and I must say they are primo! Long Live the Mountain King.

Far away
In a land caught between
Time and space
Where the books of life lay
We fear
This castle of stone
The mountain king roams

Tire History 101
Continental has been developing and manufacturing bicycle tires since 1892, back when tires for a bike were leather or iron bands. Iron bands were heated red hot, put around a spoked wooden wheel, quenched, contracting the band tightly on the wheel, and tying the wheels spokes together, hence the term ‘tire’. The pneumatics of those days has evolved into a highly technical, scientific, and the much more functional modern tire (thank goodness).

Tires consist of 3 basic components, the bead (Kevlar or steel), the fabric and the rubber. The rubber consists of many materials and additives; crude rubber is the essential base material, and is mixed with carbon black, sulfur, accelerators, antioxidants, silicas, dyes, waxes and oils. Binding materials such as the nylon casing, and reinforcing materials such as Kevlar or steel, are baked under heat, and pressure, with the rubber materials during the vulcanization process, to form the finished tire. What is rubber like if it isn’t vulcanized? It is brittle when cold and melts when hot, and it is not durable, think of a pencil eraser as the best example. Vulcanization, which is basically adding sulfur to rubber and then heating, was advanced around the 1840’s by Charles Goodyear (he died broke) and was patented by the Englishman Thomas Hancock, although it appears the Mesoamericans were doing it in 1600’s. In 1888, John Dunlop invented the pneumatic bike tires (cool, we were first!), and in 1895 André Michelin made tries for autos, albeit unsuccessfully, tires have progressed and evolved since then to the modern tire.

Hutchinson Tires Cover More Ground at Interbike ‘08

“Interbike ‘08 was successful for Hutchinson on all levels,” comments Eric VanHaverbeke, GM of Hutchinson USA. “The Industry is opening their arms to Road Tubeless, as witnessed by the commitment to this technology with Specialized, Campagnolo, Fulcrum, Kore coming on board. Dealers were impressed with our victorious Tubeless Ready MTB efforts at the Olympics with Gold Medalist Julien Absalon, and reaction to our City/Trekking tires left us knowing that we’ve taken a solid step up in the US market for 2009.”