Continental's latest DH racing tire is named Rammstein, and it represents a new push by the German manufacture to re-energize its off road tire program. Continental head of marketing Joerg Malcherek freely admits that their high-end tires weren’t good enough and he has pushed everyone at Continental to work hard to change that. A big part of that change has been working closely with Continental's sponsored athletes, and the Rammstein is the direct result of working with the Atherton family. In a recent PB feature, we toured the factory and captured some of the passion that Continental puts into its
handmade tires. In this continuing feature, we travel with the engineers for a first ride on the tires that may bring Continental its first World Cup DH podium. Meet the Rammstein.
The brief the the Athertons gave Continental's designers was to create a mixed conditions tyre. Something to place in the range that the High Roller fills for Maxxis. It took a couple of years to get from the initial meeting and discussions to the final version of the Rammstein.
Inside the Rammstein TireContinental used DNA from it existing Kaiser and Baron tires as reference points to begin the Ramstein project. Continental settled on a 2.4-inch width and there are no plans right now to offer any other sizes (although we think a smaller, enduro-friendly version could be great). The casing will only be in their heavy duty DH-flavour, with a two-ply carcass which is sturdy enough to go tubeless if you're so inclined. As for rubber compound? Well, they weren't saying much, just that like their other downhill tires it will be in the Black Chili Compound, which is designed to both be grippy and fast-rolling, and if it follows that path, we'd expect them to last pretty well too. When pushed on the compound issue, they explain that they felt a lot of people were confused by tire compounds, so they opted to keep things simple and offer the single option. Poking the tread, we'd take a guess that at least some of it is around the 40A mark, near Maxxis Supertacky/SlowReezay territory. Projected weight is 1100g per tire.
Looking at the Rammstein's tread, there are two things that are very noticeable - the consistent tread design of the edging knobs and the channel between the centre and side tread.
Many tyre companies are going down the route of using square-edged tread patterns, but as far as we know, Continental are one of the few who use a single style of block for the side tread. Specialized does something similar with its Butcher tyres, but the Rammstein has a much more substantial profile and the edges are at right angles to the centre. A consistent row of side blocks should mean that the tire will feel predictable when leaned onto its side, and that channel means you should be able to feel when you move from the centre tread to the side tread. Reportedly, when the tire is drifting, it should move in a single direction as the edging blocks are at a right angle to the wheel and thus should not deflect the tire off line.
PerformanceTo try the Rammsteins, we stole one of the Nicolai team DH bikes and hit the DH trails at Thale and Schulenbach bikeparks - two testing grounds near the Continental factory. It had been raining on and off through the day, leaving the ground conditions a bit strange. Soil was at a midpoint between loam and clay - soft, but surprisingly slippery if we pushed too hard. What we were blown away with was how quickly we could start pushing these tyres hard. They do what the Conti engineers said they would do – feel consistent.
We quickly looked for excuses to rail the bike onto its side, because it was so much fun. When it came time to grab some photos we ended up sliding the bike out all the time because it felt so consistent going sideways that we knew when and how the grip was going to go and were certain when the soil was ready to give up. It may sound negative sliding out, but in the rainy conditions on the slick clay soil, there was a very limited amount of grip available, and the fact the tyres gave us the confidence to play to the limits of grip on a first ride simply blew us away.
Going onto the side of the Rammstein tires, the big rows of side knobs feel great and in the soft conditions we could feel them biting. Continental photo
On the second day we headed up to Thale bikepark first thing – a big, braking bump-ridden motorway. Those kind of dull, sculpted conditions don’t really ask much of the Rammstein, and it ran as if on rails there. After lunch we headed out into the sticks for the gem that is Schulenbach. This tiny little bike park, hidden away in the middle of a forest let us try the tyres out on a real downhill track. Roots, rocks and wet loam were the order of the day. It was easy to find the confidence in the grip to try high lines over wet rocks and roots, and to push the bike into the catch berms. After each session, we knew that we could do it a bit faster next time.
The Rammstein tire ruled the roots. The only negative that thing we did notice was that the tire seemed to squirm a little under heavy braking.Continental photo
Continentals Rammstein's tread design made it easy to find enough confidence in the grip to try high lines over wet rocks and roots. Continental photo
Pinkbike First Impression:Testing a tyre over two days can only tell you so much about it. The fact that it rained on both those days means we can’t tell you for sure what this tyre will feel like in the dry, or how well it will last. For us, predictable is the one word that describes this tyre. There are plenty of good downhill tyres out there that offer a shedload of grip, but we can’t think of another one that lets you explore the limits of grip this comfortably. We are properly impressed with the Rammstein and can’t wait to spend more time with it in the wider range of conditions that this tyre was designed for.
- Matt Wraggwww.conti-online.com
Now who will wright it backwards....... O.o
If it ain't broken, don't fix it.
Sometimes a product dominates because it really is THAT good. Sometimes it doesn't need improvement. Sometimes there isn't a lot of room for innovation.
Speaking in empty platitudes -- like encouraging "progress" or "growth" or "innovation" -- is not very useful communication. It's about as helpful an observation as saying, "you know, I really wish someone would mold rubber into a tire-shaped tire, that would totally rock!"
People praise the Minion because it works well. That's not the same as them saying, "Nobble, you MUST remove your High Rollers and use Minions instead."
Sheesh.
saying I've got a "reading perception issue" is pretty ironic actually.
wheelworld.com/images/library/large/wtb_disent23_10_m.jpg
Breaking down your nonsense, (1) you are the one who first imagined the "Minion fetish" and imagined everyone is trying to force Minions onto your rims; (2) you are the one who whinged about how the High Roller is far superior (thus, worshiped it); (3) you are the one who made it sound like no other tire exists, which makes your worship of the HR very ironic; (4) you haven't displayed any understanding of what irony is, even though you try to use the word.
Hoo-ray for Nobble, he's saying this... then he's saying that... and this and that contradict each other... but it's YOUR fault, reader!
I don't have a "Minion fetish." I don't run Minions. How many other things do you want to wrongly imagine are taking place in my life?
2. Again, no i did t. I simply said i would take them over minions.
3. Where did i say that? You're putting words in my mouth that never came out of it.
4. The irony grows stronger with each comment.
Any other bullshit you'd like to pretend I said?
good article matt!
and crazy-d makes some valid comments, the pricing on Maxxis tires here in the UK went crazy high last season
I got turned onto Specialized tires some seasons back from a close contact, and have found their rubber to be extremely high performing and a great price point which makes them more accessible than the Maxxis 2-ply tires
a good number of riders in the UK have been looking further than Maxxis for other options, although I'd strongly agree with Matt's comments about Maxxis being the de facto tire standard for many years in DH and FR
Fast rolling and grippy , don't make sence but thats what you get.
Only down side is if you get them in 2.5 at some upilft events where they use a rack that your wheels go into they are tough to get in/out , some times causing the loaders to threaten to cut them down with a stanley knife like what happened to me last weekend.
the most beautiful name for a tire i've ever heard !
One thing I'm not used to yet is this gap between central knobs and shoulder knobs (just like on the ramstein?) which makes that the bike can handle only 2 positions: vertical and (guess) 45° bend. It kind of falls from one to the next and seems unbale to hold in between. I have to try on a larger rim though, as they are really big for some 2.2.