The original Mountain King was popular, but wasn’t the most aggressive design. This new model follows the design cues of Continental’s Rubber Queen, with well-spaced V-shaped centre blocks and closely-spaced shoulder ones. Siping everywhere gives more grippy edges.
Conti have long had a reputation for somewhat arbitrary sizing. After getting used to tyres like the old 2.3in Vertical Pro coming up small, they caught everyone out when the Rubber Queen turned out enormous for its stated size. While the new version of the Mountain King resembles the Queen in terms of tread design and shape, it’s a return to the old ways in terms of sizing – our 2.4in sample measured 2.2in across the tread.
A genuine 2.2 is a pretty big tyre though, and the King also packs a tall casing for huge volume. That gives it a floaty feel, but in a good way – the chunky tread keeps things under control. It’s confident in turns, and if it does break away, it does so gently enough to let you catch it.
It’s not the fastest tyre in the world, with a distinct whirr on hard surfaces, but we’ll take a bit of gentle buzzing in return for all-round grip. The test tyres were the top-flight ProTection models, with a hefty reinforced and stiffened sidewall.