I’ve ridden at Dyfi a fair bit and would totally agree – if you can nail a tyre that works well at the Welsh Bike Park it will likely work well most places. Wet rocks, roots and loose dirt lie in many areas, so a tyre has to cut it everywhere from blown out dirt, to slate, to mud and roots as well as rock-hard armoured jumps and berms buffed up by rippers. Dan and Gee Atherton told us how testing tyres at an uplift Bike Park like Dyfi is an extremely tough test, due to how hammered and polished some of the harder surfaces get and the fact that there is such a mix of aggressive terrain. The Athertons (and other DH teams like Pivot and Nukeproof) have been fully involved in the testing and development of this new Gravity range throughout the whole three-year process to develop the rubber blends, casing lay ups and tread patterns. I didn’t see a single brand-new tyre lose air at the launch, whereas topping up older Continental tyres for several rides until sealant fully coated the interior and tyres stayed at consistent air pressures was a given, so this looks like a big area of improvement. One aspect of Continental tyres MTB performance I had an issue with in the past was tubeless sealing properties and am happy to see the brand’s revised the shape of the lip on the tyre bead to improve sealing. Both Enduro and Trail casings have a single ply 110tpi carcass and three layers underneath, with the Enduro casing sharing the latest Apex protection that wraps around the bottom of the sidewall and bead to resist sidewall cuts and pinch flats. The three new replacement rubber mixes are now logically called Super Soft, Soft and Endurance and welded to six layers under the tread in total on a DH tyre. Inside the dual ply carcass, Conti revised every aspect of construction and also moved on from the Black Chili compound that’s been its signature high-end MTB blend for over a decade. Most rival full-on downhill tyres have a double layer of coarser fabric with less threads per inch (typically around 60tpi), which might help explain why Continental’s DH casing tyres are slightly lighter than some of the competition at just under 1,300g for a 29 x 2.4in with Apex protection. The downhill casing model has a folding aramid bead and dual ply construction with two 110tpi plies. DH, enduro and trail casings options, plus the Supersoft, Soft and Endurance compound options on top of this make for a wide array of tyre choices to suit pretty much every gravity rider’s desired terrain and condition setup. Continental Gravity tyre range overviewĪ total of five different treads spread over four different models are available the Kryptotal, Xynotal, Argotal and Hydrotal. It’s a bold move and something I don’t remember another tyre brand doing before. The result? Continental feels that it’s overturned the assumption (by its own admission) that it was lacking products people needed in every area for several seasons, so launched an entire range at once. Testing took the form of ‘blind’ back-to-backing, with much mileage at Atherton HQ at Dyfi Bike Park, with the lead German engineer constantly probing rider expectations by changing compound blends and carcass designs to challenge preconceptions about exactly how each element of the tyre build ‘matrix’ interacts with each other. This whole Gravity project started in late 2018 and has taken three years and dozens of prototypes and revisions to reach this point. Three compounds: Supersoft, Soft and Enduranceįrom what World Cup-level test riders like Gee Atherton and Bernard Kerr and the German tyre boffins over from Germany explained, it’s clear Conti has gone all in on this relaunch and is committed to making a big splash in the more aggressive end of the MTB tyre market.Four models designed to suit dry, wet, loose and mixed terrain.But with new tyres incoming, expect full reviews of multiple models in MBR in the coming months. The first impressions here are just that, since I’ve only ridden the tyres at one location. I got to ride some of the new models at Dyfi Bike Park alongside the professional riders that helped develop them. Developed with the input of pro-riders from Atherton Racing, Nukeproof and Pivot teams, they promise better braking, surer placement, fewer flats and lighter weight, the magic qualities that may elevate them to among the best mountain bike tyres on the market if the claims bear out. Continental has just released a whole new range of Gravity tyres designed to suit downhill and enduro riders, with multiple casing, compound and tread options.
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