Continental Gravel Terra Speed / Trail

The spirit of Grav-lo-cross. No but seriously, cyclocross and gravel go here!

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Evaso
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 9:51 am

by Evaso

I am interested in these, any experience of them yet? Seems like a good weight for a 40c tyre

FuelForThought
Posts: 27
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:01 pm

by FuelForThought

I too would love to hear first hand experience with the Terra Speed

by Weenie


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NoMütze
Posts: 100
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 7:39 am
Location: austria

by NoMütze

Hi,

i have mounted them on my Mason Bokeh to replace some older WTB Nano40.
Set up on WTB KOM rims tubeless is easy and they hold air pretty well. in fact, the tire is kind of better in keeping the seal inside...as my Nanos always
tend to bleed all around. (but i never had a single failure on the WTBs...)
So Trail for front and Speed at rear...
They roll nicely and silent on tarmac...
Mounted them for CX-race to get better Grip compared to the Nanos and imo they offer better cornering grip in such conditions...grass/gravel/sand..varying surfaces.
Also riding them now for some autumn adventures...some steep gravel uphill alpine climbs and they deliver.
maybe better grip uphill with the Trail tyre also on the rear...but well.
Not sure how long the knobs will last on the rear...but up until now none lost or cut away...
So will see, as the Nanos really last long...but still happy with the Contis...
and yes, 40mm, me some 85kg/192cm, 1,6bar/1,8bar v/r

cheers

jfranci3
Posts: 1572
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:21 pm

by jfranci3

Heads up, these are 38c tires marked as 40c. They measure 38mm across on my Stans Grail 20mm int rim. Unless you are a 25mm interior wheel, you're not getting 40mm.

Gk SK 43c measure 43mm on these tires, so the sizes was quite visibly different than what I was expecting.

ducman
Posts: 187
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:49 pm

by ducman

Compared to maxxis Ramblers?

jfranci3
Posts: 1572
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:21 pm

by jfranci3

Just got a ride on them- relative the gk sk
Seem to roll a degree better, just short of a proper tire. (I didn’t have any sealant in there though)
Ride very very nice.
Unlike the GK SK, you don’t instantly start falling when you touch mud/snow.

Marin
Posts: 4035
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:48 am
Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

Conti should make a slick / file tread version of these for a proper allroad tire. They are lacking a fast fat slick tire in their lineup.

FuelForThought
Posts: 27
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:01 pm

by FuelForThought

Final notes on Conti Terra Speed 38 after running the tires for 2.5 months January-March 2020.

PRO:
• Extremely low rolling resistance (truly stunning).
• Phenomenal climbing traction when new.
• Supple (clear improvement of Panaracer GK SK).
• Light (420g).
• Very progressive transition from center to cornering knobs. 
• Measured 40mm wide on Nox Skyline wheels after stretching.101mm B2B
CON:
• Prone to pinch flatting. May benefit from a tire insert?
• Slightly limited volume (rides like a 38c rather than a 40c).
• Sensitive to pressure. 28-30 psi should be considered the minimum.
• Tendency to drift in corners on harpack at high speed.
• Center strip of knobs tends to wear down very quickly. After 500km, performance dropped.

Steve Curtis
Posts: 1314
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:20 pm
Location: Hampshire UK, Dublin Ireland and Geneva Switzerland.

by Steve Curtis

I have a very different list to that posted above.
I have them on my Reynolds ATRs and they're 40mm wide.

They replaced my other favourite the g-ones but these are just as fast on road but don't have the annoying habit of feeling vague when you lean into the corners and washing out.

It depends on your priorities but for me, they're the best on/ off road tyre I've used.
For far around 1500k covered and they look fresh with only slight rounding to the knobs.

jacobeh
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2016 12:56 pm

by jacobeh

FuelForThought wrote:
Mon May 11, 2020 10:15 pm
Final notes on Conti Terra Speed 38 after running the tires for 2.5 months January-March 2020.

PRO:
• Extremely low rolling resistance (truly stunning).
• Phenomenal climbing traction when new.
• Supple (clear improvement of Panaracer GK SK).
• Light (420g).
• Very progressive transition from center to cornering knobs. 
• Measured 40mm wide on Nox Skyline wheels after stretching.101mm B2B
CON:
• Prone to pinch flatting. May benefit from a tire insert?
• Slightly limited volume (rides like a 38c rather than a 40c).
• Sensitive to pressure. 28-30 psi should be considered the minimum.
• Tendency to drift in corners on harpack at high speed.
• Center strip of knobs tends to wear down very quickly. After 500km, performance dropped.
Same experience for me also coming from the GK SK, mine originally measured 38mm but is closer to 39mm after some use.

Regarding wear, then after 1250km of aprox. 50/50 of tarmac & hardpack gravel riding, the front is almost like new but the rear has almost no middle thread left - milage may wary but with that high wear I'm not sure I'll continue using them

As to puncture protection then I'm running tubeless at about 2-2.2 bars and haven't had an actual flat while riding, I can however see multiple holes where sealant is slowly seeping through (Mucoff) when it's been standing overnight - not enough that it goes flat but I do have to pump it a bit once in a while to keep pressure.

Big plus with them is also the ease of installation (tubeless) - I don't recall a tire that was this easy to install. I could use my hands to mount and a normal floor pump to get them seated without any soap / tube / etc. tricks
Last edited by jacobeh on Fri May 15, 2020 6:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

rides4beer
Posts: 690
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:27 am
Location: VA

by rides4beer

FuelForThought wrote:
Mon May 11, 2020 10:15 pm
Final notes on Conti Terra Speed 38 after running the tires for 2.5 months January-March 2020.

PRO:
• Extremely low rolling resistance (truly stunning).
• Phenomenal climbing traction when new.
• Supple (clear improvement of Panaracer GK SK).
• Light (420g).
• Very progressive transition from center to cornering knobs. 
• Measured 40mm wide on Nox Skyline wheels after stretching.101mm B2B
CON:
• Prone to pinch flatting. May benefit from a tire insert?
• Slightly limited volume (rides like a 38c rather than a 40c).
• Sensitive to pressure. 28-30 psi should be considered the minimum.
• Tendency to drift in corners on harpack at high speed.
• Center strip of knobs tends to wear down very quickly. After 500km, performance dropped.
Tubeless is the way to go for gravel, I'd never mess with a tube at these pressures.

Only con I have is the wear, they do wear fast, but that's the tradeoff for a truly fantastic tire, off and on road. The Trails are lasting longer, but they have bigger knobs, so that makes sense.

rides4beer
Posts: 690
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:27 am
Location: VA

by rides4beer

Marin wrote:
Mon Feb 17, 2020 2:41 pm
Conti should make a slick / file tread version of these for a proper allroad tire. They are lacking a fast fat slick tire in their lineup.
Not sure it would be worth it, the Speed is so fast, you'd gain maybe 1w and lose traction. The only tires that have tested faster than the Speed are smaller slicks.

jfranci3
Posts: 1572
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:21 pm

by jfranci3

Any tire that rides well and has good rolling resistance is going to fall under your pinchflatting complaint. Complaint sidewalls are flexible. If you’re going to run these with tubes, you probably need 60psi, not 30.

fourfa
Posts: 107
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:04 am

by fourfa

Seems like @FuelForThought is talking about inserts, not tubes. Tire insert is a tough foam donut that goes inside the tubeless tire to absorb bottoming hits, very common in MTBs (especially downhill) as tires have gotten wider and pressures lower. Examples:

https://www.worldwidecyclery.com/blogs/ ... ike-wheels

What effect do inserts have on rolling resistance; don't know but it can't help. Certainly it's extra rotating mass.

by Weenie


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kafreeman
Posts: 170
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2015 8:46 pm

by kafreeman

Just mounted a pair of these on Kinlin XR31T. They were a pain to get on with two layers of Stans 21mm wide tape. No sealant they were flat and the bead came off the hook after 2 days. Going to add sealant and air up again and see how they hold up. Might get a ride in on Sunday.

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