From Andy (@RAD_BARON)

Overview:

Great Eskape has a ‘great’ tradition of which I am perhaps too often the standard bearer: the Big Dumb Ride, or BDR for short. The Big Dumb Ride is a sacred tradition, usually involving gravel or cross bikes, where significant ground is covered on a somewhat ill-conceived route, usually in less-than-ideal conditions, on what is usually a less than appropriately capable bike. These rides are big, and they are dumb. We love them. On a big dumb ride the last thing you want to worry about is your tires: fixing flats sucks, as does losing traction and skidding (off whatever whacky deer trail you are using as a cut through) into a tree. I was impressed with Conti’s most recent overhaul of their mountain tires and had really high hopes for their new, tubeless ready, Terra range as the perfect companion for the Big Dumb Ride. I have both the Terra Speed and Terra Trail on test, both in 40mm casings. The two tread patters are nearly identical, aside from the size of the knobs, and the Speed version, with its relatively smaller and lower knobs, is positioned as the more traditional “gravel” tire in the line up. I’ll expand on this review with a comparison to the Trail in a future blog post, but for now I’m sticking to my experience with the Speeds.

About the tires:

Before I get into it, hier ist was Ze Germans at conti tires has to say:

For your way off-road. For more comfort. For the adventure. Be it the long tour, or the shortcut on your way home. The new gravel Terra series by Continental gets you there. Made to get you over rough and smooth. The ProTection technology involves a thicker tyre casing tread with 240 TPI over the top and 180 TPI through the side walls. Black Chili compound used in the tread is Conti's tackiest option.

ok. So it’s a gravel/adventure-segment tire that promises to roll nice, get you in and out of trouble, and be tough. Challenge excepted. Since being mounted, these have been on single track, on gravel, on pavement, on a 4 day bike-packing tour, and of course on Big Dumb Rides. I’ve ridden them between 30psi and 60psi. I’ve tested them on long stretches of hot pavement and in riding through 20 foot wide stream crossings. From baby heads to red clay mud. It’s a well rounded test, you might say, centered in the belief you can do a lot with a 40mm tire.

Mounting the suckers up:

Was really easy. I mounted them to Mavic Open Pro disc rims with Stans tape and Orange Seal sealant. The Mavic Open Pro’s are the most consistently easy rims to set up tubeless I have ever used. I used a normal floor pump. Plumped right up and popped into place. There is a difference between Tubeless Ready/Compatible (TR) tires and Michelin/Mavic/Hutchinson Universal System Tubeless (UST) tires. The Conti’s here are TR, which means they are somewhat porous and require sealant to hold air, unlike UST which does not (but sealant is still suggested.) Because the tire absorbs some of the sealant, I used more than suggested, about 4 ounces per tire. Despite throwing a fair amount of crazy shit at these tires I have yet to burp them or see any sealant escape.

Observations:

The tread pattern looks very simple and consistent until you look at it really close, where you see subtle variation in the size, shape, and spacing of the knobs as you move out from the center line of the tread. The knobs are all the same height. The shape of the tire is nice and round on this rim. I don’t own calipers, and im not a scientist. It says they are a 40. they look smaller than a WTB nano in a 40, and no larger than a Vittoria Terreno Mix in a 38. Your CX bike will probably fit this tire. If it doesn’t, get a new cross bike.

On Tour:

I rode this tire from Pittsburgh to DC on the Great Allegheny Passage and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal trails. I carried a fair amount of gear and the bike was pretty heavy as a result. I pumped these baddies up to 65 PSI rear and 60 PSI front (out of a curiously specific 73 PSI max) and went on my way. I was on tour for 4 days and never touched them. I got all the traction I wanted in the rare instances I needed it and the tires held up well on the choppy C&O. They rolled VERY easy on the smoother GAP. These tires were not designed for touring, but they served the purpose well. Sure, on the rough stuff I bounced around quite a lot under those high pressures, but that is expected, but in 350 miles they were flat free, slow-leak free, trouble free, and importantly: fast. The last time I did this route I did it in 5 days, this time I did it in 4. I’m not at all saying the tires can be credited with shaving an entire day off this route, but they certainly didn’t stop me.

So they are fast?

These tires roll fast.

How fast?

I donno, I am not a scientist. But these FEEL faster than any “40mm” tire I’ve ridden, even on pavement.

On Pavement:

I wouldn’t mount these tires if your plan is to mostly do pavement on your bike. That’s not to say they are a bad pavement tire, though. On a recent Big Dumb Ride of 140+ miles we had about 50 miles of pavement and these tires rolled really wonderfully on the pavement (for such a large tire.) These tires feel fast enough on pavement where I don’t tend think about what tires are mounted, which is all you can ask for. The reason I wouldn’t use them as a road biased tire is that you will wear the knobs off the tire too quickly and that would be a shame, since they really shine on gravel. If you want a fat road tire that you can journey onto gravel with occasionally I would go with the excellent Panaracer Gravel Kings. Those Gravel Kings feel like they “float” a little on loose, dry gravel (and forget wet stuff) but they are an excellent road tire.

On Gravel:

The Conti Speeds, though, are an excellent gravel road tire. They have been totally care free and trouble free, and have been able to handle all of the conditions thrown at them without packing up with gunk or breaking traction in sketchy situations. I find them to be very efficient and fast rolling, excellent climbers even when really putting the power down, and exceptionally great at maintaining breaking traction. I like to have them in the upper 40’s in PSI for my 200lbs of weight. They find their limit on rocky and rooty single track, and require a lot of body English to avoid asking too much of their traction and flat protection on wet roots and sharp rocks. If there is a lot of slate where you ride, I might consider keeping their pressure higher than you would otherwise. The knobs are pretty low and aren’t likely to save the casing from sharp corners. It’s what you get when you design a tire that roles SO FAST.

On a Big Dumb Ride:

The key to a true Big Dumb Ride is to throw a lot of crazy stuff in and cover a lot of ground. My BDRs demand efficiency on both road and gravel, and serviceability on single track and rough two track. For a ride like this past weekend’s where there was sketchy single track, dozens of road miles, every type of gravel you can find in the region, and a fair deal of climbing this tire passed the test with flying colors. If you want a big road tire, get a big road tire, if you want a cross-bikes-as-mountain-bikes tire I have other ideas for you (stay tuned.) But if you want a gravel tire that can excel on the road and get you through single-track in confidence, this Speed tire might just be your ultimate Big Dumb Ride companion while easily living up to its name.

photo cred: @SSCHLADEN, Rad Baron’s other Quarentimes BDR companion.