Continental Terra Adventure 700 x 45mm Tires Review: Update 1

 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.

 
The Continental Terra Adventure tires were introduced a little over a month ago HERE for review. Please check that post out for all of my impressions and the technical side regarding these gravel tires. In this post I will give my testing impressions of this aggressively treaded gravel tire from my riding on various surfaces ranging from pavement, dirt, and all sorts of gravel types.

I'll also get to my opinions on the width question later in this review, but for now, I wanted to share my mostly good impressions on this tire. It does several things quite well.

First of all, at lower pressures, it runs so smoothly with a damped quality which is very nice. In fact, I thought the tire was going flat after having ridden a stiffer tire for a bit on the same bike. (I am swapping wheels and tires for another story here on the blog) This smoother ride quality enhances comfort and reduces the amount of chatter reaching my hands to a great degree.

Continental doesn't talk much about what is going on with this casing or the rubber used, but whatever it is, I like it. I could not ask for a better feeling at the handlebars or saddle while riding these tires. For what it is worth, (which I would caution you is probably not much) I run these at 30psi. However; my pressure should not be yours and vice versa. There are a lot of reasons for this, but this is not the article for that discussion. (Read THIS if you want to dive into the subject.) 

These tires are also extremely quiet. I was very surprised by this as any gravel tire with an aggressive tread design usually has a singing quality on pavement. Not so with this tire. It makes a sound, but it is very subtle. 

Continental is using the "3-3-4 Center Stud tread design here. This is something borrowed from their XC MTB line of tires which is supposed to give you great low rolling resistance without compromising traction or braking as the shoulder knobs are angled for better grip.

What this means in reality is that the central rows of knobs account for the contact patch while riding in a straight line. The cornering knobs are almost on a different plane, or stepped down, from that centralized section. It is almost as if the central section, which is about 30mm in width is the "main riding portion" of this tire, and the rest is only applicable in deeper grounds or in turns where you would lean the bike over.

This works great on hard pack and on dirt where I was railing corners with a confident level of grip most gravel tires do not display. If I were running single track which was more dirt than not and pretty buff, this would be a great tire to consider.

However; this same characteristic works against the Terra Adventure when the gravel gets loose and chunky. The minimal amount of tread hitting the gravel, coupled with the rounded "C" profile of the tire on my 23mm inner width rims, makes for a nervous handling bike. A tire with a flatter profile would handle this sort of gravel much better, and not want to push rock aside and "hunt for the path of least resistance".

Okay, so now let's talk about this tire and the claimed width. Continental sells this as a 45mm tire. I have yet to reach this width with the tires I have being a bit less than 44mm wide each. Now, yes - On a wider internal width rim this tire might eek out a 45mm width. I'd be a lot more comfortable calling these 43mm tires than I would 45mm tires and the volume of the casing speaks to a 43mm tire more than it does a 45mm tire as well.

I know this Terra Adventure is a "sample of one", but I also have been testing tires since 2005 and mounting hundreds, if not thousands, of Continental tires over the span of a 30+ year career as a bicycle mechanic. My experience tells me this is commonplace for Continental tires to be "undersized" for their stated width. Use this information as you will. All I am saying is this undersized characteristic Continental tires have does not surprise me in the least.

So Far... From the viewpoint I would use for a 43mm tire, the Terra Adventure is a great tire for dirt, hard pack, and it rolls 'okay' on pavement. Deeper grounds in terms of sand, loose rock, or the like, can upset this tire and cause some handling quirks. Soft ground, some mud types, and wetter gravel (as long as the base is hard) would be fine with this tire. Surprisingly it lets loose of packed in soil pretty nicely. However; I'm still skeptical this tire would make a good mudder tire.

The ride quality is very good. Maybe one of the most damped tires I've ever used on gravel. If only the casing was not quite so rounded. Perhaps a wider inner rim width would solve a couple of issues here. This is something I think I will try now with the Terra Adventure. Look for a new update in about a month.