I had the Terreno XC Race 2.1 - it is a terrible tire. Very slow, side knobs for whatever reason make it stubborn to lean. I took it off after a hundred miles.
It has the same basic issue as the Terreno Dry gravel tire - the tread is very thick, probably twice as thick as a Mezcal. I have a picture somewhere of the two tires cut apart showing the difference I’ll see if I can find it.
Maybe consider the Rene Herse Extralight Oracle Ridge or Fleecer Ridge - 48mm/55mm but the RH sizing is inconsistent. I’ve head the 48mm is large and the 55mm is small. BRR has only tested the Endurance casing and based on it’s performance the EL casing should be around as fast as the E25 Race Kings.
I had the Terreno XC Race 2.1 - it is a terrible tire. Very slow, side knobs for whatever reason make it stubborn to lean. I took it off after a hundred miles.
It has the same basic issue as the Terreno Dry gravel tire - the tread is very thick, probably twice as thick as a Mezcal. I have a picture somewhere of the two tires cut apart showing the difference I’ll see if I can find it.
Thanks. That’s disappointing but not entirely surprising.
Maybe consider the Rene Herse Extralight Oracle Ridge or Fleecer Ridge - 48mm/55mm but the RH sizing is inconsistent. I’ve head the 48mm is large and the 55mm is small. BRR has only tested the Endurance casing and based on it’s performance the EL casing should be around as fast as the E25 Race Kings.
They indeed measure smaller than the Race Kings on BRR, so that’s a nice option. Interestingly, the 2.25" Thunder Burts and Racing Ralphs also measure smaller than the Race Kings.
Edit: For yet to be tested tires there’s also the G-One Speed, but confusingly the larger sizes only come in the Speedgrip compound, which probably means this one is slow.
Quick point RE Nathan Haas: his bike sponsor is Colnago, and his bike cannot fit MTB tires at all, probably cannot even fit 50 mm gravel tires… Consider that for a moment. Also, for elite riders at the front of the race, in the lead group, they must be able to go with attacks to not get dropped. For amateur gravel racers, the race is more akin to a group TT, where average speed over the entire course determines the result.
Oh yeah, I agree, perhaps my reply was not clear enough! I was pointing out that he has a slight point. But the testing done by Chad Haga was silly, and seems to be based on the worst possible case scenario for bigger, heavier, tires, a shortish steep climb! Hahaha… and they also did not use a “fast” MTB tire like Race King or ThunderBurt, they used Aspens… Dylan Johnson did some more testing recently, and he is going to put out a video soon on comparing various size gravel tires and Race Kings, although he used Pirellis?? Anyway, the upcoming video should be another interesting data point.
Yeah, Chad did only two runs and on different days. Then for Nathan to say he hates bad science but base his opinion on that as a test…I don’t know. It was not a compelling argument.
My Instagram has been linked a few times here re the tire testing (off road Chung Method) I am doing so have started collecting the posts in a Highlight section here:
I also went ahead and collected most of the testing links in a blog post linked below so they are easier to look at together. The questions on this thread have been pretty good so I am adding a Resource section… and leaving comments open if anyone has questions and/ or wants to roast me haha.
Let me know how they feel! I am on the old version and 45mm, fastest tyres I’ve ever ran! Insanely much faster than the Pathfinders.
Oddly enough they test close to the Pathfinders, but I am averaging 2-3km/h faster on all rides since I went from Pathfinders to the G-One R front and RS rear.
Weather is , so I won’t be outside anytime soon. On another note, I rechecked the tire width after having them inflated at 50psi for a week and now they measured closer to 50.5mm (at 26psi).
Installed the 2.1 thunder burt super ground on my 27mm internal width reserve wheels today. They measured 52mm at 50 psi and 51mm at 24 psi.
They fit without trimming knobs, but I trimmed them a bit more to be safe.
They are tightest in the chainstays where there’s 2.5mm clearance (with the pressure at 50 psi). Should be at 3mm at an psi I’ll run them with. Everywhere else has tons of clearance. Since I have a titanium frame, there’s no concern of any frame damage. I’m 100% good with the clearance in dry conditions. If it’s that muddy I still have my old diverge I would run instead. I may get a set of road wheels eventually that I could also mount a separate set of narrower gravel tries for races threatening rain/mid.
I only purchased one tire since I wasn’t sure if it’d fit on the rear and would’ve just moved it to the front otherwise. I just ordered a second thunder Burt for the front. My front Enve gravel fork has 50mm clearance so no concerns there.
Thank you for posting this. I think I am going to give it a go with the plain R in the rear (hopefully the more knobs doesn’t impact clearance too much) and run a TB up front. Similarly running a 2023 checkpoint SLR and have 25mm ID rims.
Agreed. Strategy for amateurs is to be sucked along by a faster group and would benefit from weighting bike performance towards the most critical areas (usually climbs) and get sucked along by the group on flatter sectors.
First ride with the thunder Burt super ground Addix speed 2.1 front and rear today. Can’t provide any scientific feedback other than they did seem to roll a little faster than my pathfinder pros in 47. I rode a different route than normal and also had winter gear on, so can’t compare the power to speed, but overall I’m definitely a fan.
Rear is very tight, so will keep an eye on it. Have a 60 mile gravel race in two weeks, so hopefully it’s not muddy and I have a chance to try them out off road.
To go for the Thunder Burt MTB tire over Continental’s fastest gravel tire (Terra Speed 45) on a 100 mile gravel course would save you around 26 minutes
Would anyone by chance be running a set of Thunder Burts on Roval Terra CL’s that could measure the width? Want to see if I can squeeze them on my Fezzari Shafer.
I’ve got an old Snakeskin TB that I test fit and is a little too big but I’m not convinced the size hasn’t changed a little in the 10 years since this tire was made. It measures right at 53mm on my Terra CL’s.
, so I won’t be outside anytime soon. On another note, I rechecked the tire width after having them inflated at 50psi for a week and now they measured closer to 50.5mm (at 26psi).