Road Tires

Picked these up on sale to try since I love their CX tire lineup and the ride quality of their tires, both handmade and vulcanized lineups. Wanted something for grippy for single-track and chunky gravel that still rolled adequately fast on the smooth stuff. These tires are very similar in tread as the CX Grifo tire they make, with the center knobs being the exact same.

Now my assessment, these things absolutely blew away my expectations. Have put them through their paces from fast XC style single-track with some rocky technical terrain to smooth road and gravel. Had a blast keeping up with our fast XC MTB group on my Niner RLT 9 gravel bike. They run well on the smooth gravel with just slightly more rolling resistance than the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H I run for the smoother stuff, but cornering confidence and chunky washboard, these really do behave way better, something to be said about Challenge's Handmade casings I guess.

The only real downside is the mounting process. If you're not familiar with mounting handmade Challenge tires, well, they can be a real Challenge (pun intended). It's worth it in the end though. These are definitely great tires and will be my go to all around mix-terrain that leans more into trail and single-track for sure!

I got 700x32 Urbanos last year as a winter tire and just put them on the bike again for this winter. The trouble is, I really don�t like how heavy they are and they make me feel like a weak old guy when I go out for a spin. They are really sturdy, have pretty good tread for rainy conditions, and the reflective stripe is attention-getting. They are pretty well puncture proof, but so is a tank track and these feel like they weigh about that much. My ride pace is about 3-4 mph less on average riding these and trying to get uphill causes shame and embarrassment.

Did I mention they are heavy?

You can't help but notice the quality of these tires when you first unbox them, very tight production tolerances with no discernable irregularities - even the excess rubber in the center of the tread is very

consistent. They do feel, stiff but it doesn't translate to a harsh ride. I think it is just a very dense compound. I just gave them a 40 mile maiden voyage on a typical late-Fall New England day with a mix of good, bad and truly horrendous wet roads and came away extremely impressed, such a great ride quality with loads of grip. The active comfort technology must be legit, these might be the best tubeless tires I've ridden to date as far as road feel goes - it's really like riding on clouds compared to many other race tires I've tried. They also feel very fast, honestly I could not detect the rolling resistance from these tires even on inclines and even though they are heavy-ish I didn't notice the weight. I didn't do any categorized climbs of course but a few steep ones anyway. Hopefully they will last me at least a few thousand miles, judging by all the 5 star reviews here and on other websites there appears to be a good chance they will.

I used these in 45mm version for Unbound 200 in 2024 and they rolled noticeably faster than the 40mm version I have used previously. I switched to the 45s to improve the ride and they did, although the North course at Unbound is rough and kicks my butt every time. (I've done it 3X and no DNFs) I did get a puncture on my front tire, but the sealant kept the tire from loosing pressure. Of course getting a puncture at Unbound is pretty much part of the game. I'll use them again in 2025 for the 200. I've finished DK/Unbound 200 6 times now and Terra Speeds are my favorite tire for that course and general gravel riding.