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The Continental Argotal Enduro Soft’s aggressive tread has exceptional grip on soft ground, digging deep into the trail’s surface, but it isn’t as good on rocks and roots.
Designed to work best in loose terrain, it boasts a widely spaced, cut-spike style tread pattern. This Soft-compound tyre is the tackiest rubber available in the Enduro casing, designed to balance weight and puncture protection with grip.
At only 1,225g and costing £74.95, it’s impressively competitive.
There’s an incredible amount of traction on loamy trails, where the Argotal is almost peerless.
Transition to hardpack or greasy terrain and there’s fractionally less grip; its rubber compound isn’t tacky enough to adhere fully to the ground, but control is still abundant.
The carcass lacks some of the damping of weightier MTB tyres, but neither this nor the traction are deal-breakers.
Continental Argotal Enduro Soft 29x2.4 specifications
The aptly named ‘Enduro’ 110 TPI casing uses two plies on the sidewalls and three under the tread, with an additional layer of cross-woven material to help reduce slashes and cuts.
At the Aramid bead (a material used in clothing and protection), there’s an additional insert to help reduce pinch flats and increase carcass support.
The two-two-two alternating central tread has widely spaced, blocky knobs with sharp ramps designed to dig into soft ground, providing mechanical traction.
Three types of sipe are used: horizontal, vertical and a dual vertical cut.
Large, well-supported shoulder blocks are designed for aggressive cornering, claimed to dig into the ground and provide a predictable feel.
Inflated to 25psi on a 30mm internal-width rim, the 29x2.4in Argotal measures 58mm/2.28in wide. At 1,225g, it’s one of the lightest gravity-focused tyres on the market.
Continental Argotal Enduro Soft 29x2.4 performance
Installation
Despite the flexibility of the carcass, its hard-feeling rubber meant installing the first bead onto the rim was tricky.
This lack of stretch proved too hard to install using just my hands, and I had to resort to using a tyre lever. However, fitting the second bead was easier and didn’t need tyre levers.
It inflated after just a few compresses of my high-volume track pump and held air right away. By 27psi, it was fully seated onto the rim.
Given the flexibility of the tyre off the bike, the Continentals are surprisingly tricky to install.
Profile and shape
With a well-rounded carcass profile, the centre blocks have an outward camber, further enhancing its curved shape.
This is boosted by the angled edge blocks.
These are designed to increase grip at high lean angles and prevent a sudden cut-off in traction once the tyre is leant over.
Feel and grip
Excelling in soft and muddy dirt, the Argotal’s tread bites hard into the trail’s surface, chewing deep to generate traction.
Sticking and swapping lines in the softest soil feels predictable and confidence-inspiring; the tyre responds quickly and accurately to steering inputs.
Testament to the grip on offer, it can get stuck on a turn radius on soft ground, requiring active straightening to right the bike.
With so much traction on tap, hammering on the brakes barely locks the wheels up; the tread flicks chunks of trail into the air off its tread, reminding you how hard it’s working.
It digs down, searching out grip by penetrating the ground’s surface. This makes late braking fun, engaging and efficient.
Not offered in the tackiest Supersoft compound, the Enduro Soft tries its hardest to stick to slick rocks and roots. Some deflection – where the tyre slides along the edge of a rock or root – is noticeable, but it’s also controllable.
Likewise, on greasy hardpack, the tread struggles to deform and clench the terrain enough compared to Michelin’s Magi-X or Pirelli’s Smart Evo DH Compound, which are both much tackier.
Here, the tyre can understeer over the terrain, skimming the top rather than sticking to the smallest contours.
Some harshness and chatter creeps in on the roughest, buzziest trails. It seems the casing’s floppiness (which is most obvious prior to fitting) and relatively low weight combine with the slightly tougher rubber compound to create this feeling.
It’s far from bad, but is noticeable compared to other enduro-specific tyres.
More positive, however, is the amount of carcass support on tap in high-load situations.
There’s no steering vagueness, burping or squirming when pushed hard in turns and through compressions. Puncture protection also proved to be impressive.
How we tested | winter enduro tyres
All six of these tyres were tested back-to-back on both the front and rear wheels of our test bike.
Alex used the same 30mm internal-width rim for each of the tyres and inflated them to the same or an equivalent pressure, allowing for small differences in tyre volume (higher-volume tyres require slightly lower pressures).
Alex rode a wide gamut of terrain types – average trail-centre laps to get an idea of rolling resistance, down muddy, boggy and rocky and rooty descents to test grip, and on high-load, high-speed downhill tracks to test for carcass stability.
Tyres on test
- Schwalbe Magic Mary Radial Gravity Pro Addix Ultra Soft 29x2.5
- Maxxis High Roller III 3C MaxxGrip DH Casing 29x2.4
- Michelin Wild Enduro MS Racing Line 29x2.4
- Continental Argotal Enduro Soft 29x2.4
- Pirelli Scorpion Race Enduro T 29x2.5
- WTB Vigilante SG1 Tough/High Grip 29x2.5
Continental Argotal Enduro Soft 29x2.4 bottom line
In soft dirt, the Argotal is almost peerless. The chunky, well-spaced blocks bite and chew their way through the trail’s surface to provide exceptional grip and control.
On slimy rocks and roots grip is good but its compound isn’t as tacky as other brands.
It’s a shame Continental doesn’t offer their enduro casing tyres with the Supersoft compound, because I’m sure it’s a product people are crying out for. That enduro carcass has good stability but it’s not the most damped.
SQUIRREL_13162410
Product
| Brand | continental |
| Price | 75.00 GBP |
| Weight | 1225.0000, GRAM (29x2.4) - |
