Continental’s newest addition to their gravel race tire family – the Terra Adventure – leans on mountain bike tire tech to take on ever-tougher racing. Not only is the new Conti Terra Adventure tread design clearly influenced by fast-rolling but capable XC tires, and even offered in XC widths. Continental also directly applies the exact same MTB construction to build a tough and grippy gravel tire for all-around riding and racing.
Plus, Conti even adapts their recent, simple MTB tire labeling that makes it super easy to pick the perfect tire at a glance. And now this even hints at new faster gravel tires that will be coming very soon…
Continental Terra Adventure technical gravel bike racing tires
This new Continental Terra Adventure gravel bike tire is meant to fill in the gap between gravel and mountain bike racing. And frankly, it even blurs the lines a bit with an open tread design that’s happy in soft or wet conditions, and sizes up to 700c x 55mm which is effectively a 29×2.1″ MTB tire.
Continental describes the new Terra Adventure as a shift to supporting gravel riders heading into more diverse off-road terrain, while maintaining road-like efficiency for those unavoidable stretches of tarmac.
What’s new?
The tread is the most obvious shift for the Continental Terra gravel family. While it looks pretty aggressive for a gravel tire in renderings, the new Terra Adventure is still a low-profile gravel racing tire design with knobs that are only a few mm tall. It features a 3+3+4 center block layout with a mostly continuous centerline for fast rolling, but enough space between the lugs for self-cleaning.
Take a closer look at those knobs though, and the MTB inspiration is clear.
The tread pattern uses similarly blocky-shaped lugs like their MTB tires. The lugs all feature stepped designs with extra edges for more grip. And those bigger shoulder knobs get both sipes up top for extra grip and buttressed sides for cornering support. It’s all done at a small scale compared to a trail tire, but much of the same mountain bike tire design concepts are there.
Then, the new Terra Adventure directly copies the latest Conti MTB sidewall labeling, filling in up to 4 dots & up to 3 hexagons to note rubber compound and casing reinforcement, respectively. In fact, the construction of the Terra Adventure is not actually new at all.
The solid center dot plus one solid outer dot means the same Grip compound as on the mountain bike. A rubber that’s quite soft for a gravel tire, yet still delivering fast, efficient rolling mixed with wet conditions grip.
The single solid hexagon means Trail casing, which is a wide textile breaker material for puncture protection under the tread, plus an extra sidewall reinforcement layer that extends all the way from the bead up to the breaker.
So, how does it ride?
Off-Road Gravel Riding Review
I’ve only had the new 45mm Terra Adventure tires for about a week, but have still managed to give them a solid shakedown – both on gravel roads and a mix of mountain bike trails. I’m riding the 45s that Conti envisions for light & fast gravel riding (claimed 540g), but are plenty wide for almost any unladen rides.
If you are venturing into bikepacking, that’s where the 50mm is probably best suited (claimed 620g). And leave the huge 55mm version (claimed 730g) for serious off-road trips or ultra-distance backcountry racing.
My general feeling so far is that the center tread does roll well, even with the sticky Grip rubber that comes directly from MTB. And I’ve already smashed some poor carbon rims on rocks, and come away without any trouble thanks to the Trail casing.
The tire offers great grip on hardback and soft loamy trails, and predictable cornering in loose gravel or even mud. And while it packs up at first with mud as any small knobby will do, a moment on hard surface again and it sheds mud really well.
Can I also just say, I am psyched that Continental now gives the gravel tires the simple logical sidewall labels that we already known from their trail & gravity tires. This makes it so easy to spot at a glance what technologies are in a given tire, without reading tons of long text on the sidewall. I can even see it in this complete ebike photo.
There’s even the helpful note that this was designed for a 23mm internal, tubeless hooked (crotchet) rim and you can use it from 17-27mm internal rims. And now, Continental even writes the tire size in big, easy-to-read numbers, as well.
Sneak Peek of a faster Terra Competition tire!
That universal labeling also gives us a solid sneak peek at the next tire that will join the Conti Terra gravel family. The packaging for my Terra Adventure tires clearly lists a new Terra Competition tire at the opposite end of the road-MTB spectrum – available in 35mm, 40mm & 45mm.
Plus, it probably gets a newer, lighter Race casing (no colored-in hexes) and a faster Rapid rubber compound (only the solid center dot) since both of those are new too. No official word on what this most likely semi-slick gravel tire will look like or when exactly it will come. But clearly, it’s not far off since it’s already on this new Terra Adventure’s packaging!
Continental Terra Adventure – Pricing, options & availability
The new Continental Terra Adventure comes in three hookless tubeless-ready sizes: 45mm, 50mm & 55mm. Conti figures alone looking for narrower tires will want something faster, and anything wider would be happier with a real MTB tire. It also comes in three colors – pick from classic transparent Conti brown-wall, the lighter-colored retro tanwall, or good old all-black.
All versions share the same construction & rubber and are e25 ebike-rated. So, they each sell for the same 62€ price. Get them now from your local Continental tire dealers, worldwide.
