Trials Queen Or Der Kaiser

[gary-mac]

As title, Looking to get conti front and rear tyres but which is best model to get for the rear?

Fancy getting the supersonic for front but unsure about rear, the trials queen is nice and lite but does it have a nice feel, with stand pinches ok, whats the grip like??

der kaiser looks a beast which will with stand the odd heavy landing and pinches but the only down fall is the weight.

any thoughts would be apprectiated

thanks

garymac

[Ali C]

if you ride natural or anything off camber, get the der kaiser

[gary-mac]

if you ride natural or anything off camber, get the der kaiser

Hi ali how you doing, yeah i'll be doing afair bit of natural riding but will also be doing the odd day doing street.also what do you think about front tyre.

cheers

[Ali C]

I am not a fan of super light front tyres, they tend to bounce you off rocks (lighter tyres have a faster rebound because usually you need higher psi to stop folding and punctures, the same reason why light rear tyres have a lot of bounce). A heavier front tyre is sooooo much more accurate when riding natural.

Rear tyre, I still say Der Kaiser, it's not like they are mega heavy and unless you are competing in the world champs I would be more concerned on making the bike ride well rather than being a weight freak.

[gary-mac]

I am not a fan of super light front tyres, they tend to bounce you off rocks (lighter tyres have a faster rebound because usually you need higher psi to stop folding and punctures, the same reason why light rear tyres have a lot of bounce). A heavier front tyre is sooooo much more accurate when riding natural.

Rear tyre, I still say Der Kaiser, it's not like they are mega heavy and unless you are competing in the world champs I would be more concerned on making the bike ride well rather than being a weight freak.

Spot on Ali thanks, Der kaiser for rear it is then. what conti front tyre is worth getting as I will be on natural 90% of the time.

Cheers

Edited December 8, 2010 by gary-mac

[Mark W]

Try-All Stiky front tyres are really, really good. Definitely one of the best out there, although people seem to have abandoned them now in favour of tyres that aren't as good. Don't really understand why, but hey ho!

[Ali C]

I was going to say a try-all stiky front tyre is still probably my fave (the normal one, not the shift)

[gary-mac]

Try-All Stiky front tyres are really, really good. Definitely one of the best out there, although people seem to have abandoned them now in favour of tyres that aren't as good. Don't really understand why, but hey ho!

Am using tryall rear lite and sticky front, find them really good the only thing I don't like is the front is to thin imo.

[Franksx2005]

I just got the shift on the front, hardly any tread on them and they are a lil wild on rocks. sticky lite on the rear is good though. did have a rain king before, which was good for pinches and very grippy too. was a b*****d to get on and off of the rim though.

[trialsmax04]

Gary i thought you rode mod?

[gary-mac]

Gary i thought you rode mod?

I started of riding mod 2months ago then decided I liked stock better after 2/3 wks so now ride a custom limey3, Sold the master.

Think i'll go for the Der kaiser on rear and the trials king for front.

Edited December 9, 2010 by gary-mac

[gary-mac]

Well i tried out the new conti tyres today and what can i say, there brilliant, trial king on front and der kaiser on rear, amazing grip and feel. thought the try-all sticky lite was good but it got nothing on these.

[rupintart]

I'm starting to realize tires are one of those things like handlebars and stems where it's completely preference. Twopeople may have the same style of riding and even ride the same terrain but prefer a different tire marginally over another.

I'll use myself for example. I'm a person that absolutely HATES pinchflats. When I was purchasing tires, I was going based off the experience I had with Try-All Stiky tires and how impossible they were to pinchflat. However, I wanted a lighter tire. I understand that a lighter tire means I will get more pinchflats. HOWEVER, I've found that getting more pinchflats isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Trial Queen on the rear is probably the most rewarding tire I've ever ran. It has decent enough flat protection to where you don't get completely punished from running a lighter tire, but it lacks enough to punish you for not riding smooth. There's this ledge I sidehop onto that if I'm not smooth, I pinch about 50% of the time, but if I do the sidehop smoothly (i.e. correct technique), I land without the tire even touching rim. It puts in a sort of mental training to make you adjust your technique and ride smooth(er). Its extra bounce also is pretty nice.

When running the Stiky I found I was pretty sloppy in just hacking around from object to object. Although I was riding more aggressively, I was being a complete hack. I have a feeling if I had another tire that wasn't as light or responsive (the Stiky felt dead and felt like it just absorbed all my mistakes), I wouldn't try to be as precise and accurate with my tire placement. The TQ is forcing me to be a bit more selective in how and where I place my tire on an object.

All that said, there are several others on this forum and OTN that ride pretty similar terrain and don't necessarily care for riding smoother, just don't want pinchflats. Or, they want to get smoother, but just don't want to sacrifice pinchflat reliability and deal with the weight. in any case, it really boils down to preference. At first I loved the bounce of these tires but hated getting flats, but now I can see my riding has gotten much smoother as my landings and gaps are no where near as harsh. Smoother and effortless riding is more what I'm after, rather than seeing how high or far I can get.

Edited December 13, 2010 by rupintart

[gary-mac]

Nice read there bud, I get exactly what you saying, i'd far rather be smooth than heavy and rough! I always practice techniques as I want to master them in the most effortless style, ok I have along way to go but practice makes perfect! love the new conti tyres, out of interest what pressures do you guys all use in natural terrain, i'm 10st6 would say am pretty smooth and run 19psi in rear and 20psi in front.

cheers

[markmac25]

10st6!! Ha shouldn't have had that indian other night! Haha they new. Tyres were extremely soft and molded to rocks it seemed

[rupintart]

In my Stiky tires, I was able to run nearly nothing, like 18psi and never flat. On the TQ however, I have to run like 30-33psi. Seems like a lot, but it's really not. If you ever watch Gilles, he was running a rubber queen and that's about what it was at. The tire didn't squish until he preloaded or was on a corner. Same as Vincent on the stiky lite (which is about comparable to the TQ), his tires look rock hard unless he lands on an edge or when he preloads. I think too many people get too involved with tire pressure. There's too many variations with tire characteristics to really place a definite answer. Couple that with the terrain and personal riding preferences, as well as weight of a person, and it's too loaded of a question to ask really.