Continental Kryptotal & Xynotal Tire Review - Can They Compete With The Best?

Words by: Liam Woods

Did Continental Mountain Bike Tires Just Rise To The Top Step?

Continental has been making bike tires for a very long time, including mountain bike tires. But if we are being honest it wouldn't really be a top choice to spec on your bike. That is until Continental redesigned their entire gravity range of mountain bike tires in 2022. Launching just before Sea Otter, Continental broke out with five new tire patterns that also have three different casing options. We have the Kryptotal Fr (Front), Kryptotal Re (Rear), Xynotal, Argotal, and Hydrotal, and all of these are available in Trail, Enduro, and Downhill casings. 

For this review we are looking at three of the tire patterns, the Kryptotal Fr, Kryptotal Re and Xynotal. These are the tires that will probably be most common since they are best for mixed conditions. The Kryptotal Fr is very similar to the Maxxis Assegai while the Kryptotal Re is very similar to the…yeah, you guessed it, the Maxxis Minion DHR II. While the Xynotal is really just a faster version of the Kryptptal Fr, I would compare this tire to the Maxxis Dissector, a faster rolling tire that is great for trail or gravity bikes. 

After seeing the Continental tires in person, I knew I wanted to get some time on them and time on them I got. Right now I’m going on about six to eight months of these tires, wearing some out, going back to a Maxxis control set and back again on fresh Continental tires. I have been able to get a great feel for these tires. I’ve also had the chance to ride them in all types of conditions like dry blown out dirt, perfect dirt from rain, too wet of dirt and sloppy conditions, back to hardpack and dry marbles. Finally the long term review is here, so grab your popcorn. 

What's New?

Pretty much everything is new, starting at the casing where Continental really worked hard to improve on previous tires like the Der Kaiser and Der Baron. I spent some time on both of those tires a few years ago. I remember those tires giving that hollow wooden feeling when the casing is too stiff and just not right. Continental then worked on the tread pattern, which is all new and there are multiple different versions for every condition imaginable. And lastly, the rubber compound has also been improved. While still using the Black Chili Compound that Continental is known for, the specific differences are notable. With a SuperSoft, Soft and Endurance compound the tread compounds also match the casing in which you would want the different rubber properties on. 

Something else that is new and really drew my attention to these tires even more was the race results these were getting. While tires won't make you win a race, they can certainly help you lose a race. Right away these tires started to get on the podium. Riders who have been close to podiums are now having the best results of their life. The Pivot factory team and the Atherton Racing team both had this happen. Could it be a coincidence that the results came the same year as the new Continental tires? Yes, of course. But it should also be noted that they were able to take these tires to the top of the racing world in their first year of being ridden on the World Cup and Enduro World Series circuits. 

Specs: 

Kryptotal Fr:

• Sizes: 29 x 2.4, 27.5 x 2.4
• Casings: Trail, Enduro, Downhill
• Compounds: Endurance, Soft, SuperSoft
• Weight: Trail = 1,040g | Enduro = 1,125g | Downhill = 1,290g

Kryptotal Re:

• Sizes: 29x2.4, 27.5x2.4
• Casings: Trail, Enduro, Downhill
• Compounds: Endurance, Soft, SuperSoft
• Weight: Trail = 1,040g, Enduro = 1,125g, Downhill = 1,290g

Xynotal:

• Sizes: 29x2.4, 27.5x2.4
• Casings: Trail, Enduro, Downhill
• Compounds: Endurance, Soft, SuperSoft
• Weight: Trail = 1,040g, Enduro = 1,125g, Downhill = 1,290g

On Trail Performance:

Now for the good stuff. How did I feel the new Continental mountain bike tires worked? Well, pretty darn good, and right away I felt like I could get up to speed. I first started to test the tires mounted on my Forestal Siryon E bike. It's a 42lb ebike, so it’s lightweight when it comes to the emtb world. I tried the Kryptotal Fr up front and the Xynotal out back, both in the Downhill casing and SuperSoft rubber compound. I typically ride DH casing or at a minimum DoubleDown or similar casing on the Ebike, so this was no different. When I first started riding the tires the conditions were mid-summer, dry but hard packed and fast. That is why I wanted to try the faster rolling Xynotal rear tire. To my surprise, it had a ton of traction and more braking traction than I thought it would. With our trails, you are always trying to find the best balance between traction on the dry and dusty conditions but because it’s super rocky you need enough pressure to protect against back rock hits and cutting a tire or damaging a rim. I typically ride 23psi front and 26psi rear and I weigh 150lbs or so. I set up these tires to that same pressure and I felt like it was right in the zone I needed to be. There wasn't too much tire roll on the rear tire while the front managed to stay predictable and give me the confidence to ride fast without thinking about tire traction. Pretty much exactly what you want. 

I rode this setup until the rear tire was smoked and then threw on my normal setup of Maxxis Assegai up front and Maxxis Minion DHR II out back, both DH casing. With two rides on the Maxxis tires at 23/26psi, I could tell that I was on Maxxis with the feel of the casing and rubber compound. However, I didn’t feel that I gained or lost any traction when doing so. In fact, I felt like I might have been rolling the rear tire a touch more on the Maxxis than the Continental, but that is hard to know for sure. It's easier to tell on a Maxxis tire after a ride if you got some roll since the smooth sidewalls give you those classic X marks. Conversely, the Continental MTB tires have some texture on the sidewall which doesn’t show the X marks as much. 

I then went right back to a fresh set of Kryptotal Fr and Kryptotal Re on the ebike. My thought was that I get two rides on Maxxis to get used to that again and then get on the Continental Kryptotal to see if I could feel the difference. Once again, I could tell I swapped tires but that didn't lead to any loss of traction, predictability or confidence. I could tell that the Kryptotal Re did roll a bit slower than the Xynotal and especially in those flatter hard packed sections of trail. But at this time it was late fall and we got some early rain. A great time to head to the steeps and try out the Kryptotal Re to see how much braking traction it really had. We had plenty of wet days for testing, something SoCal doesn't typically get. The Kryptotal Re really does provide a ton of braking traction, possibly more than the DHR II as I feel the knobs are able to bite in harder. It also clears mud pretty well in the rear, allowing you to get braking traction when you need it. However, the Kryptotal Fr doesn't seem to clear mud that well. It packs up a bit worse than a Maxxis Assegai. Neither of these tires are made for those conditions but if you are like me and don’t have those conditions often I am not going to throw on a Shorty or a Continental Argotal for two days then take them off. 

As a whole, I came off super impressed with the Continental MTB tires that I was testing, so much so that I have more friends riding them as well. Everyone seems to have the same reaction: they are really, really good and don't really have any compromises over Maxxis, which is the gold standard in our region. I would maybe say the Maxxis rubber is a little bit more sticky and might grip a bit better on some slippery surfaces, but I never felt the Continental tires lacked in this department. Maxxis is just really good with their rubber. 

Pro/Cons:

Pros:

• Predictable grip and drifts
• Great durability and long life
• Weight and cost fall in line with other tires

Cons:

• Not the all out softest rubber
• Model names are out of control

What's Worldwide's Takeaway?

Coming out of nowhere, Continental mountain bike tires really came into 2022 swinging for the fences with five new tire models and sponsoring some new teams that got immediate results. After wearing out multiple sets of the Kryptotal Fr, Kryptotal Re and Xynotal tires, going back to Maxxis test tires, and back again to Continental tires, we can say they are the real deal. With many World Cup DH podiums as well as Enduro World Series podiums, they can be ridden at the top of the sport by the best athletes as well as by the rest of us mere mortals. Feeling confident right away, the grip, speed, casing protection, wide range of models for different conditions and durability of the new Continental MTB tires really make them a top choice for us. 

This article was written / authored by Liam Woods. Liam has been in the bicycle industry for over 10 years as a racer, professional mechanic, service manager and as of late, media and content creator. Liam has ridden thousands of different bikes, ridden countless components, tested endless MTB apparel of all kinds and written reviews on it all. He's a key piece to the Worldwide Cyclery "All Things MTB" content creation puzzle. He also makes consistent appearances on the Worldwide Cyclery YouTube channel and Instagram.