Review: the Continental Der Baron Projekt 2.6 tyre
The new Der Baron Projekt has grip, is easy to mount tubeless and shreds without end.
Continental factory visit - Der Baron Projekt 2.6 production process
Continental produces high-quality tyres in their Korbach factory. Seeing how they do it, showed me the level of craftsmanship it requires.
Continental is a brand with tradition. They have been producing tyres since 1871 for various modes of transportation. We went to visit the high-performance tyre factory in Korbach, Germany where their BlackChili compound pneus are made. Specifically, we went to check out how the new Der Baron Projekt 2.6 is constructed.
Product Management
We started our tour in an ornate building where the product management team develops the tyres. Ben and Alex met us there and guided us through the factory as well. A big thank you goes out to the two of them for the great job. Ben is responsible for Road and City & Touring tyre, while Alex runs the MTB sector. Due to Continental’s experience producing car and truck tyres, both Alex and Ben have a ton of expert knowledge they can pull from to put together ideal compounds.
The Product Managment building.
An elegant staircase mirros Continental's history.
The age of the Continental buildings is evident.
Calendaring the carcass
In the Calendar Hall, a well-guarded room that only few employees ever enter, the rubber is joined with a fabric. This is done with a layer of rubber, then a layer of fabric and followed by a layer of rubber again. Joining the three layers is called calendaring.
The fabric thread and rubber thickness can vary between different tyre models. Even with all three layers the calendared rubber can come under a thickness of 0.5 mm. This final product is the tyre’s carcass.
The extra fabric of this carcass still needs to be cut off.
The tread
The tread of Der Baron Projekt, like all tyres made in Korbach, consists of the BlackChili compound. However, the BlackChili mixture is adjusted to meet the needs of the various tyres applications.
The raw BlackChili rubber is first run through an Extruder where it is shred and heated up to a point where it is mouldable. It is brought into its final form after being pressed through a die, which gives the BlackChili its shape and quantity.
Markus and Waldemar run the extruder.
The raw BlackChili compound.
The compound is heated and then pressed through this die.
The BlackChili compound takes on this shape after being pressed through the die.
Building the tyre
Building tyres always follows the same process and requires a lot of hands on manual labour. All the parts of a tyre are laid on a building drum in an exact order. The drum spins and can adjust its diameter depending on the tyre.
First, the carcass is laid on the drum before the bead and Apex material is added. After, the leftover carcass material is folded over the beads. To finish, the logos and tread are added. None of these steps require glue because the materials stick together after being pressed. At this point, the tyre also does not have its individual tread shape yet.
Artur puts all the parts of the tyre together.
The carcass is the base of all tyres.
An Apex layer is added to increase sidewall stability.
The beads being put on the carcass.
The left over carcass is folded over the beads.
The BlackChili compound tread being pressed on the building drum.
The decals are added last.
A finished raw tyre.
Apex
The Apex layer is a rubber insert that is layered into the sidewalls. It stabilises large volume tyres when cornering and prevents tyre burping.
The Apex layer keeps the sidewalls stiff while cornering.
Vulcanisation
This step in the process gives the tyre its final shape and tread pattern. Without vulcanisation, the tyre would be a slick and most likely fall apart under pressure. The tyre also becomes elastic in this step.
Vulcanising is done in a type of press. The tyre is placed in the middle where bellows are also located. The bellows blow the tyre into its proper shape. The outer ring of the press is where the tread moulds are. The bellows push the tyre into the moulds producing its individual tread. The Baron is vulcanised under 16 bars of pressure and a 170° C for 280 seconds. The temperature, pressure and time change depending on the tyre.
Before vulcanisation.
After vulcanisation.
Final thoughts
I was thoroughly impressed by our factory visit. I was surprised to see how much manual labour still goes into producing a tyre. Continental has control of every part of production and are able to decide what types of compounds they use. This gives them the freedom to create top-quality tyres that I personally am pumped about riding. I can’t wait to shred a bit on the Baron 2.6!
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