Well, got myself a Conti Race King to try out on the back of my Voodoo 29er
Now I got to say I've always been kinda shy of the smaller tighter knob style bikes tires. I have tried a few
(specialized Fast Trac, Kenda Small Block 
and have always found them to have 2 major issues.
- 1. they sand blast me legs
- 2. they load up in moist conditions
If you ride an array of terrains like I do these types of tires just don't cut it. Hitting a loose, sandy location and having the tire grab the sand so it blasts your legs is beyond annoying. and going out in the early summer mornings with dew on everything and having the tire turn into a slick of mud, leaves and pine needles is just down right dangerous!!
So, needles to say, I had my doubts about the Race kings. But, my Mt Kings were probably my favorite on the back of the bike after it was pretty much worn out.
Still had great bite and traction with out the tall, flexy knob wander it had when it was new. Now if I could only find a shorter knobbed tire with a wider spacing so it wouldn't load up under moist trail surfaces I'd be in heaven.
...
Well after looking at the Race kings pictures and reviews everywhere else online, and loving the Mt Kings I decided to order one up over at Bike29.com
(along with a new Mt King just to be safe) 
Who by far had the best price ($35+ shipping at the time for a 29er)
Threw it on my ghetto tubeless Velocity P-35 rear wheel. Did have quite an issue getting it to seat. I actually had to go around the tire and take my thumb and push the bead of the tire up against the rim. But once I had done that the bead locked immediately with a hit of air. Had a removable core stem so I squirted in the Caffe Latex sealant and the blew it up again. No issue getting it to hold air after the normal "shake, shake, shake, a puddin"
I don't think anyone using a normal tubeless rim will have any problems at all getting these to seat and seal.
Now, I did give her a quick test ride on my dirt driveway and immediately noticed the sand blast effect on the back of my leg which made me almost just tear it off right then and there but I figured I'd give it a real ride on the trails once just to see. That night I spend some time searching the web and someone had mentioned that if you take that tire and ride on pavement for a mile or so when new, the sand blast effect goes away. And they were right
Now, I ride everything from wood chip covered to crush stone park maintained paths to solid rock cliff faces and regular hard pack single track and in all these conditions the tire preformed amazingly well. there is one pretty short but steep hill on one trail that is covered in processed stone that I really expected the tire to spin out on. and toward the top it did a very little, but no where near enough to make me loose momentum or make me even think of stopping. Very surprising!!
I also headed over to a section of the fire roads where a small spring seeps out of a hill side making the trail moist pretty much 365 days a year figuring the mud would load up on the tire and would bring me to a spinning, slippery, sliding halt. Again the Race King laughed at my doubt and cleared it's self within the first rotation of the tire
( OK, all over my back creating the common wet/muddy skunk strip, but all tires do that 
)Well after a few more ride and different terrains I will say I pretty damn impressed with the Race King. They have a very low roll resistance but, It's a tad heavier than some tires with similar characteristics. That being said, the side walls are by far the strongest and stiffest in it's class that I have seen to date. This aids in it NOT rolling out on corners under lower air pressures and helps prevent sidewall tears.. both BIG bonuses!! I HATE ultra light tires under low pressures,
(pretty much anything below 30lbs), because if you really bank into a corner the sidewall wrinkles up and makes the whole bike squirrelly and unpredictable. Not the Race Kings.
The tire has really surprised me on how well it performs so far.
On a first impression basis I think a 9 out of 10 is what I'll rate them. I haven't gotten everywhere on them yet and I have a feeling they will have issues with looser soil/surface under them but we'll just have to wait and see. If you are riding on solid rock/stone or nice hardpack, I'd say you probably couldn't go wrong with Race Kings on your bike.
