MTB Tire Test: Continental Race King Performance ShieldWall

The Continental Race King Performance ShieldWall is a cheaper alternative to the Race King Protection, one of our website's most popular mountain bike tires. The Continental Race King is a classic Cross Country mountain bike tire and, in the high-end Protection version with BlackChili compound, is well known to be one of the fastest mountain bike tires out there.

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The Performance/ShieldWall version of the Race King comes with a different construction, a different compound, and it's manufactured in an other country than the Protection/BlackChili version (read our review). The most obvious change is the compound that's been "downgraded" from the BlackChili compound to Continental's PureGrip compound that they use on their mid-range tires.

We've tested other tires with the PureGrip compound, and although its properties are somewhat different from the BlackChili compound, we've found it to be a good compound overall.

After testing bicycle tires for nearly 10 years, we've found the compound defines 70 to 80 percent of the performance of a bicycle tire. This means that even when the tread pattern is the same, there can be considerable differences in how a tire performs. The Race King Performance/ShieldWall is no exception, as it performs vastly different in our tests than the Protection/BlackChili version.

We've tested the 29x2.20 version of the Continental Race King Performance Shieldwall, and that makes it easy to compare to the Race King Protection that we tested in the same size back in 2020 (read our review). While the Protection version of the Race King is only available in the 2.20 size, the Performance/ShieldWall is also available in the 2.00 size, and both sizes are available in the 26, 27.5, and 29-inch wheels sizes, which we don't see very often anymore.

Manufacturer Specifications

Manufacturer Specs
Brand	Continental
Model	Race King Performance ShieldWall
Year	2023
Supplied By	Bought in store
New or Used	New
Mileage	0 km
Price Range	Med
Buy At	Ad Amazon.com
Manufacturer part number	0150296
EAN	4019238797558
TPI	180
Compound	PureGrip
Bead	Folding
ETRTO	55-622
Size Inch	28"
Width Inch	2.20
Specified Weight	750 grams
Max Air Pressure (psi)	65
Made In	Members Only
Available Sizes	26x2.00 26x2.20 27.5x2.00 27.5x2.20 29x2.00 29x2.20

Continental Race King Performance ShieldWall Test Results

Size, Weight, and Thickness Measurements

Size, Weight, and Thickness Measurements
Specified Weight	750 grams
Measured Weight	720 grams
Measured Width Carcass	55 mm (un-round)
Measured Width Tread	54 mm
Measured Height	53 mm (un-round)
Measured Knob Height Center	2.3 mm
Measured Knob Height Edge	3.2 mm
Measured Total Thickness Center (excluding knobs)	2.2 mm
Measured Total Thickness Sidewall	Members Only
All size measurements are taken at an air pressure of 35 psi / 2.4 bars on a 17.8 mm inner width rim.

Rolling Resistance Test Results

Rolling Resistance Test Results
Inner Tube	None (40 ml sealant)
Rolling Resistance 55 PSI / 3.8 Bar	Members Only
Rolling Resistance 45 PSI / 3.1 Bar	Members Only
Rolling Resistance 35 PSI / 2.4 Bar	22.5 Watts CRR: 0.00674
Rolling Resistance 25 PSI / 1.7 Bar	24.9 Watts CRR: 0.00746
All numbers are for a single tire at a speed of 29 km/h / 18 mph and a load of 42.5 kg / 94 lbs. Use the formula: RR (Watts) = CRR * speed (m/s) * load (N) to calculate rolling resistance at a given speed and load.

Puncture Resistance Test Results

Puncture Resistance Test Results (higher is better)
Total Puncture Score Tread	32 Points
Total Puncture Score Sidewall	Members Only
Tread Puncture Force Sharp Needle	Members Only
Tread Puncture Force Blunt Needle	Members Only
Tread Total Tire Thickness	2.2 mm
Sidewall Puncture Force Sharp Needle	Members Only
Sidewall Puncture Force Blunt Needle	Members Only
Sidewall Total Tire Thickness	Members Only

Hard Surface Static Grip Test Results

Static Grip Test Results
Wet Grip Average	68 Points
Wet Grip Center	Members Only
Wet Grip Edge	Members Only
Measured Knob Height Center	2.3 mm
Measured Knob Height Edge	3.2 mm
Grip in points = coefficient of friction * 100 MTB grip test rim width = 30.0 mm
Wet Grip Test and Off-Road Tires (info)

Conclusion

Make no mistake, the Performance/ShieldWall version of the Continental Race King is, even though it almost looks identical, a hugely different tire than the Protection/BlackChili version (read our review). The big difference we've found is that the Performance/ShieldWall version comes short in the performance tests (weight, rolling resistance), where we see a 20-25% higher weight and a 50% higher rolling resistance.

The Performance/ShieldWall version does perform much better in the hard surface wet grip tests, where the PureGrip compound outshines the fast-rolling BlackChili compound that we find on the Race King Protection. We expected this, but to be fair, we didn't expect the difference to be this big.

When we look at competing tires, and considering its relatively low price, the Race King Performance/ShieldWall doesn't look like a bad tire. Its strongest point is the high grip compound, as it's one of the grippiest mountain bike tires we've tested to date. Just don't expect to get an extremely fast rolling mountain bike tire simply because it says Race King on the sidewalls.

Compare the Race King Performance/ShieldWall against the Race King Protection/BlackChili on our comparison section: Race King Performance/ShieldWall vs Race King Protection/BlackChili.

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RATING: 4.0 / 5
TEST VERDICT: Recommended

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