Continental Terra Adventure 700 X 45mm Tires: Review

Note: Continental Tires sent Guitar Ted Productions two Terra Adventure 700 X 45mm tires for test and review at no charge. Guitar Ted was not paid, nor bribed, for this review. All opinions are Guitar Ted's. 

A little over a week ago Continental Tires announced their most aggressive gravel tire in the Terra line - The Terra Adventure. Arrangements were made for a set to come here and be reviewed. Since the narrowest size was a 45mm, and the others were 50mm and 55mm, I opted to have the 45's sent, since most of my current gravel bikes don't take really big tires. Once they arrived direct from Continental's tire factory in Koblenz, Germany, I got busy and have the following introduction for your reading pleasure.

What It Is: The Terra Adventure is meant for the toughest gravel tracks, rough dirt roads, steep, loose climbs, and rowdy descents, (within reason). Inspiration for this tire was drawn from Continental's XC MTB line, and it shows.

The central tread area is a pattern Conti calls "3-3-4 Center Stud", while the shoulder tread design is angled for better cornering grip. The compound is "balanced" for the best all-around characteristics shining on loose terrain to hard pack. The casing is a single-ply design constructed for the best characteristics of rolling resistance and toughness.

Of course, the Terra Adventure is tubeless ready and it is also hookless rim compatible. Once again, it comes in 700c X 45mm (tested), 700 X 50mm, and 700 X 55mm in black side wall or Conti's "tan" side wall. Prices are 61.95€ and $69.95 USD.

First Impressions:

These tires came in nice, recyclable cardboard boxes. I appreciated this and I did recycle them after I removed the tires. The tires have copious mold  "whiskers" which sometimes can make a tire like this perform poorly out of the box on pavement and harder surfaces. So, I will not be reporting on this aspect of the tires until those burn off the casings which should take a few longer rides.

The many knobs and their depth are very unusual for a gravel tire. I can think of a few with similarly deep knobs, but they all had bigger blocks (Pirelli Cinturato M) or wildly different tread patterns (WTB Nano 40 and Maxxis Ravager) WTB's 650B Sendero was also a pretty knobby gravel tire, but a completely different diameter.

So these tires from Conti are not necessarily a new thing, but they are a niche of gravel tires which is not common. With Continental offering these larger sizes though, it points to use on bikes like the Salsa Fargo, Cutthroat, and bikes like the Mason In Search Of, or that new Ridley bike, the Ignite GTX.  A slew of newer gravel bike designs which will take up to a 50mm wide tire would also be a choice for use with this Terra Adventure tire.

The casings and rubber compound both felt like high-quality materials were used, which one would expect from Continental. Another thing that I expect from Continental is an overall width after mounting which is not matching what the hot patch on the sidewall says. Would the Terra Adventure be an outlier, or would it follow in a similar vein to most of my Continental tire experiences? 

Measurements & Mounting:

I decided to put this pair of tires on the WTB CZR i23 wheels which are carbon and have, as the name suggests, a 23mm inner rim width. This narrower rim width would have  a slight effect of making the Terra Adventure tires a bit more rounded in profile and probably a bit narrower than they would be on 25mm inner rim width rims or slightly wider rims than that.

The tires fit fairly tightly, but I was able to mount them by hand without tools. The Terra Adventure tires also aired up without removing the valve cores with my SILCA Terra pump. Before I mounted the tires I weighed them, and immediately after mounting at 40psi I measured them for width. I also rode them for about a half an hour then remeasured after 24hrs of being mounted. Here is what I found:

Weight: 530/526 grams

Width of Casing After Mounting: (40psi) 42.69mm / 42.56mm.

After 24hrs and Test Riding: (40psi) 43.6mm/43.7mm

Comments: The weight is fine. I mean, there are a lot of knobs there, so you should not expect a really light tire due to this. On the other hand, the width is less than I would have guessed. I was prepared for this tire to not be quite 45mm wide, but just under 44mm after 24hrs? And at 40 psi, which is higher than I'll actually be using them at? (Lower pressures will yield narrower measurements) That was a surprise. 

As stated earlier, it has been my experience over the course of 30+ years working as a mechanic and reviewer to find Conti tires to be less wide than stated. Sometimes they stretch and get there, sometimes not. We will have to wait and see after these tires break in to re-measure and find out what these end up being for width. 

So Far... The Continental Terra Adventure promises XC MTB-like performance for your gravel bike. Meant for hard pack dirt, looser terrain, and gravel for the most part, I do not expect to find these tires to be stellar pavement goers. I have test ridden them and I can find no glaring traits, either negative or positive, to report as of yet.

I plan on doing the normal gravel and dirt road testing, but with regard to this tire's intentions, I also will be riding some single track to see if any kind of MTB-ish performance can be squeezed out of these Conti tires.

The Terra Adventure tires mounted very easily, in my opinion, on the WTB CZR rims, and aired up with a floor pump using no out of the ordinary tricks. This was impressive and welcomed.They look great, and the weight seems okay for such a knobby tire. While Continental says the tire has a durable casing, and it did feel pretty beefy, you have to wonder about sidewall cuts on a tire with a MTB bent to them like the Terra Adventure.

I'll be back in a month or so with another update on these aggressively treaded gravel tires.