Continental has released its new Terra Adventure gravel tyre, the first model in the brand's re-launch of the Terra range, blurring the line between gravel and cross-country mountain bike tyres.
The Terra Adventure has been designed to prioritise puncture protection, durability and grip rather than low rolling resistance and weight. Continental tells us “riders want to escape to the unknown, but seek reliability in tires”.
The tread pattern is reminiscent of those found on XC mountain bike tyres, albeit with lower-profile knobs.
I flew out to Italy to test the new tyre ahead of the official launch in Tuscany, where I got the chance to ride with professional gravel athletes Paige Onweller and Rosa Klöser.
There is no central slick section, with an alternating pattern of ramped and edged studs in a '3-3-4' sequence making up the middle part of the tyre. This is said to increase braking performance, while maintaining rolling resistance.
Sightly wider-spaced outer knobs are angled and designed to improve cornering and off-camber grip.
The Adventure is not only visually similar to some mountain bike tyres, though. It comes in the brand’s Grip compound and uses its Trail casing. Continental says it is “the first model being partly integrated in the technology nomenclature of our new MTB Line-Up”.
Continental’s Trail-casing tyre construction sees a reinforced two-ply sidewall and three layers of carcass material under the tread pattern for better puncture protection.
The Terra Adventure is available in widths from 45 to 55mm.
The latter size is equivalent to 29x2.2in for those who like to work in mountain bike tyre dimensions.
Continental Terra Adventure first ride impressions
The two riders alongside me in Tuscany are right at the top of the sport, with Onweller finishing third in both Unbound and the Lifetime Grand Prix overall in 2024. Klöser became Unbound 200 champion and finished second overall in the UCI Gravel World Series in the same year.
The region had suffered extreme rainfall in the weeks before our visit, which made for plenty of loose, wet and muddy surfaces – a vital element of testing gravel tyres, particularly for use in the UK.
The guided route took in a huge variety of trail and surface types, from sandy beaches to beautiful Strade Bianche-esque trails and steep off-camber tracks.
My Cube Nuroad was equipped with the Terra Adventure in a 700X45 size. I started the ride with around 22psi in the front tyre and 26psi in the rear. I lost a small amount of pressure in the front tyre early in the ride, so had the opportunity to increase the pressure slightly to a more reasonable level in the front.
After around 20 minutes of warming up and remembering my slightly rusty mountain biking skills, I started to push the tyres into corners and deliberately take rougher lines.
I was rewarded with impressive levels of grip, helping me stay with the group. This was more noticeable after higher-speed turns on loose terrain – the kind of corners where I’d normally back off a touch.
On a couple of occasions, the rear lost traction under heavy braking, but each time the deceleration was excellent and I was able to stay in control.
All too quickly, and after a memorable lunch in the seaside town of Follonica (salad, pizza, gelato and espresso if you were wondering), the group split, with Onweller and Klöser unsurprisingly leading the way.
While at this point I was barely three hours into riding the new tyres, the performance on wet, loose terrain clearly made up for the slightly slower speeds on road and hardpack trails.
Riding with these two was immense fun as we climbed up and into several forested areas with steep pitches, deep gullies and large rocks to negotiate. Some of the rocks were slippery, which required careful body positioning and speed to get the most from the tyres.
I slipped a couple of times, so don’t expect the Terra Adventure to completely cover up your lack of off-road skills.
If I was planning a particularly long gravel route with minimal loose surfaces, I’d consider opting for a tyre with less rolling resistance. For those rides, the lower risk of puncturing and need to cover ground faster wouldn’t warrant the need for such a robust tyre.
I've since weighed a single 45mm Terra Adventure tyre at 527g.
Given its beefed-up Trail casing and Grip compound, the Continental tyre is not going to be the choice for gravel racers looking to go fast. If that's your preferred type of gravel riding, you'll be better served by tyres such as the Terra Speed, WTB Vulpine S TCS, Hutchinson Caracal Race or even the Continental Race King, an XC mountain bike tyre, if it can fit in your frame.
Many gravel riders just want to get outside and explore new areas rather than pushing their limits, while gravel events such as Grinduro are more about pure fun than pure speed. More grip and better puncture protection will likely be welcomed by many riders.
So, if you ride on mostly tarmac and hardpack surfaces and don’t mind it taking a little longer to get to technical, natural trails, my initial impressions suggest this could still be a good option.
With the boundaries between XC mountain biking and gravel cycling becoming ever more blurred, the launch of the Terra Adventure feels like another step in that direction. Are we going to see a major tyre brand merging its XC and gravel tyres into a single line-up soon?
Gravel bike frame clearances seem to be half a step behind and, in a similar vein, it feels like a matter of time before drop handlebars could be the only distinguishing feature of gravel bikes.
