I do mostly trail riding, from gravel to asphalt with occasional dirt single track and State Park mountain bike trails. I have over 3000 miles on my current set of Top Contacts and have had no problems. When riding on asphalt roads or trails, I pump the tires up to 65 psi where they ride wonderfully on the closed center strip, and when going off road, I lower the pressure down to 30-35 psi, and the edge tread works great on the gravel and hard mud of softer trails. Have never had a flat, and the tread still looks near new. I have done 2 Michigander tours the last 2 years of 350 miles each over varying terrain and they have performed flawlessly. The little bit of extra weight is absolutely worth the durability built into this tire.
We used this tire (700 x 32) on our road tandem for a 2 week cycling tour through Vietnam and Cambodia. Most of the roads were uneven and pot holed pavement, some coarse gravel and a lot of compacted clay and dirt. While many other tandems and single bikes experience multiple flats on the tour, we had none! The tire provided good traction on the loose gravel, sand and dirt we encountered in many areas, yet rolled well on the smooth pavement where we could ride at speeds approaching our standard road tires. While the tires are a bit heavier than your more standard performance road tires, the extra rubber and material in the tread and sidewalls added durability that is desired when touring on rough roads in foreign countries where support may be limited. When you take into account the extra weight of a second rider plus bags with supplies and tools on the tandem, we were impressed by the durability under the heavier load.
These tires are the ones to purchase if you have an e bike. The ride is better and quieter than my original tires on my specialized turbo Vado. I have no compromise in my e- power distance. These tires perform well on both light packed gravel, dirt trails and pavement. Also have the added benefit that these tires have a very high puncture proof resistance. Definitely purchase these again but likely will have to wait 15,000 km or more.
I bike to work 100-150 miles a week on a Specialized Turbo e-bike. I'm running these in 42. They're wonderful. Light, comfortable, and sure footed. Had for a month or two and nothing but good things going on. Great on grass, gravel, dirt, good in the rain. Much faster and less harsh than the OEM Armadillos. And those were pretty nice tires, not knocking them at all.
I received these tires in 47-700c and put them on my Cannondale Quick CX2...larger tire than the '40's (Kenda's) that came on it but there is plenty of clearance. i am a heavier/older rider who emphasizes time on a bike not distance/speed and appreciate the comfort that these tires provide. my average speed is only .4 mph slower on my normal hour loop and i am putting out more watts. all good (need the exercise) as i live in New Orleans where it's flat and has really poor roads.
i must admit i have been a lifelong Conti fan since riding motorcycles from the mid '70's.
the tire is up to Conti standards in quality and look to be a long lasting tire. great profile for city streets but anxious to do some gravel/light trail use with them to see if they live up to Conti's claims!
Only have a few hundred miles on the two sets I purchased this past fall but so far so good, I purchased a 32c for my Trek Domane for dirt road rides and a 42c set for my Salsa Fargo for gravel grinders My last set of Top Contact 1's gave me 8000 flat free miles so I have high hopes for the new versions. They mounted up well and are perfectly round and ride great as did my old set. I had a ride last week that had a lot of ice and crusty snow and they did better then expected. Hopefully I get as many miles out of these as I did the last set. Well worth the money for a quality tire. BTW I paid $140 for the last set in 2010 so I hope the drop in price doesn't translate into less quality
I decided to switch from 23mm road tires to this option in 28mm to get a softer ride and to be able to ride on compacted gravel trails. These tires did not disappoint me and met those goals nicely. Another plus is that I did not notice an increase in rolling resistance. I have about 500 miles on them now and I am very pleased with them.
There are many miles of city trails where I live that I ride on. This tire is just what I was looking for, it is wide enough to withstand the trails that are not perfect but still thin enough that I get a smooth ride. As long as I own this bike, these tires will be on it!
According to my GPS, they are faster than they look or feel. They are also secure on many surfaces. But the ride is harsh for a tire of this size. They seem true to size, perhaps even wider than listed. Still, I dislike the ride quality enough that I'll probably go back to Continental Contact Travel Reflective 700c Tire. The latter aren't going to hold up as well, but they are so much more pleasant to ride.
It's a big cushy tire with good grip, long life, and good puncture resistance. I would say it has a good ride... except... after just a month and a few hundred miles, it's so out of round the wobble is surprising and really annoying except at pretty low speeds. It's also hard to get it to seat evenly on the rim.
I'd have expected better quality. At this price, forget it. I've had other Continental tires before and never had this problem to such a degree with any of them. I tried the tires on several different rims that are all very round, with which I've never had any trouble getting other tires to sit right and run true. Now they're on my commuter bike that never sees high speeds or long rides.
Where I bought 'em, they said they'd have warrantied them except I didn't bring them back quite within 30 days. Instead they sold me a set of Panaracers at a discount. They said they'd seen this problem a lot with the larger Continental touring tires.
These are tough tires with low rolling resistance. If you have a touring or utility bike that you load down and don't want to have flats these are a good choice. They are a bit heavy but that is the tradeoff. I would rather ride my bike than fix flats. Given the toughness of these tires they have very low rolling resistance. Would I buy them again ... Well yes, these are replacemnts for the set I wore out.
I ride about 50 miles per week through Seattle on a combination of bike lanes, paved trails, and gravel on my way to and from work. These tires are amazing, they are so grippy that I can actually hear them gripping wet pavement as I bike. They've also kept me from taking a few falls on black ice this winter. Not a single flat since biking with them the past three months!
First off, easy to install. German specs, no 3rd world off-spec issues. Excellent rubber compound leads to good grip wet or dry and a nice ride. Tread pattern works great both on tarmac & light off road. However, this tire sucks up small BB sized pebbles till the cows come home. I can not comment on durability , but suspect that it would be up to standard Continental snuff...
Tire package arrived on time in in good order. The product appears to be very good quality and have already experienced winter conditions and holding up well after a month or so. I cannot award five stars yet since I haven't experienced a whole season yet, but all good for now.
I'm running these on my older 29'er that is used almost entirely on roads and they're great. We have really horribly roads in New Orleans and they have a perfect tread pattern and have proven to be very reliable (no flats yet).
