kenda nevegals vs conti mountain king 2

dankay123

would i benefit from running conti mk on my bike i use the nevegals at the moment but would like a quicker tyre that still grips when off road.

The Northern Monkey

I found that the MK's were crap on anything other than dry/hardpack, but they did roll fast.

I've got nevegals on my Canyon and they're a similar to the feel to my minions but with less rolling resistance.

cooldad

Panaracer Rampages are very similar to Nevegals and often cheaper.

mitomaniac

Hi, I run mk's on my avalanche they are not the greatest tyre in the world for sludgy mud as I fin they retain a lot of mud but maybe it's my riding as I'm quite a noob but value for money they are fantastic can get a pair from eBay delivered for £22 which is why I use them once I get a bit more ability and skill and more adventurous I will probably she'll out for some nevegal's they are on my backup bike (only bike the child seat fits due to gt weird frame shape) as they seem to handle more moist terrain a bit better.

rockmonkeysc

Nevagals are probably better than mk's but still crap. Schwalbe Nobby Nics or Racing Ralphs would be better,

mrmonkfinger

what's your budget?

YeehaaMcgee

dankay123 wrote:

would i benefit from running conti mk on my bike i use the nevegals at the moment but would like a quicker tyre that still grips when off road.

Seems a bit of a marmite tyre.
the MKIIs are unquestionably the best tyre I've ever used around Snowdonia, in all conditions from baked dry, to rainsoaked mud. They really excell on natural trails, and roll exceptionally fast on road sections when linking trails together.
I also found them to work really well at Coed y Brenin (hardly surprising really since it's one of the staff there that recommended them).
HOWEVER - they suck in llandegla when it's wet!

So, your mileage may vary. It seems that when they work, they work very very well. But where they don't (llandegla in the wet) - they just don't work at all!

mrmonkfinger

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

I also found them to work really well at Coed y Brenin (hardly surprising really since it's one of the staff there that recommended them).
HOWEVER - they suck in llandegla when it's wet!

whats the predominant surface at llandegla - rock? roots?

cyb was quite rocky from what I remember.


the conti mk2 look quite similar (amount of knobs, spacing, etc) to the old school style verticals, I'm liking those a lot (with the obligatory BC compound).

lostboysaint

Tend to use Rampage SC (Nevegal Stick-E a-likes) for when I know it's rocky/rooty gnarly but have changed my "fast rolling" tyres to WTB Mutano. Very impressive speed, excellent edge grip, puncture resistance has been good. MUCH quicker than Nobby Nics or Mountain Kings and with better edge grip than the first and better everything than the second!

supersonic

I like the Mutanos too - but they lack in the wet too.

MK with Black Chili are better IMHO.

YeehaaMcgee

mrmonkfinger wrote:

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

I also found them to work really well at Coed y Brenin (hardly surprising really since it's one of the staff there that recommended them).
HOWEVER - they suck in llandegla when it's wet!

whats the predominant surface at llandegla - rock? roots?

cyb was quite rocky from what I remember.


the conti mk2 look quite similar (amount of knobs, spacing, etc) to the old school style verticals, I'm liking those a lot (with the obligatory BC compound).

The surfaced bits are fine, however, there's a lot of people doing skids just before the bends in Llandegla, revealing the bedrock, which seems to be very slimy. It's that bedrock which the MKs struggle with.
The tread pattern is very different to the Verticals I've used in the past - another tyre which offered good grip, but without the BC compound, was just to fragile on natural terrain here, and got torn to shreds in no time.

lostboysaint

supersonic wrote:

I like the Mutanos too - but they lack in the wet too.

MK with Black Chili are better IMHO.

Hmmm, not had issues in the wet but they are certainly not great mud clearers, in the same way that the Rampage and Nevegal aren't. MK is definitely better for that, but really doesn't have enough performance anywhere else for my liking. (They are the most puncture-prone tyres I have ever run as well and continue to offer massive frustration to non-Conti riders on our Tuesday night outings. We're down to one rider with them now!)

mrmonkfinger

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

The surfaced bits are fine, however, there's a lot of people doing skids just before the bends in Llandegla, revealing the bedrock, which seems to be very slimy. It's that bedrock which the MKs struggle with.

gotcha, ta

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

The tread pattern is very different to the Verticals I've used in the past - another tyre which offered good grip, but without the BC compound, was just to fragile on natural terrain here, and got torn to shreds in no time.

Just checked - I've been looking at the original MK not the MK2.

benpinnick

Original MKs were pretty average - ok in many conditions, but never great in any.

bennett_346

benpinnick wrote:

Original MKs were pretty average - ok in many conditions, but never great in any.

Not my experience.

Infact they were downright scary on every surface and condition, even dry road. So many injuries from those...

So much so i've been put off continental tyres for life no matter how much better the new ones may be, i can't trust them

rockmonkeysc

I used original MK's for 6 months on my hardtail. Useless in all conditions & an unbelievable amount of pinch flats and punctures. Replaced them with Nobby Nic's, so much better in all conditions and back to an acceptable amount of punctures & pinch flats.

bennett_346

RockmonkeySC wrote:

unbelievable amount of pinch flats and punctures.

Oh and this how could i forget..

YeehaaMcgee

Well, horses for courses eh.

supersonic

Thing is there ain't no tyre that excels in all conditions. Never will be.

Have to pick one to your preferences, terrain, and conditions.

bennett_346

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Well, horses for courses eh.

I'm sure the MK2 is great, i just can't trust them anymore after cursing at their name so frequently for a year

YeehaaMcgee

That's not my point though, they're great right here, they might suck where you are. They seem to excel in certain places, and then utterly suck at others. More of a specialist tyre I guess, than a do-it-all-moderately-well if you see what I mean.

bennett_346

Yeah i hear ya. I'm a bit like that with high rollers. They seem to be everyones go to tyre when in actual fact a lot of the surfaces ive rode them on made them feel unpredictable and dangerous compared to more obscure tyres. Every time i see them reccomended by default i cringe.

Weirdly the best summer tyre for my local woods is a swampy up front and something fast but aggressive at the back. I run a spesh purgatory out back.