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Terrene Tires Elwood: Checkpoint #2- by Guitar Ted
In a previous post our tester MG has given his thoughts so far with the Terrene Tires Elwood 700 X 40mm tire. In this post, I am going to follow up with my thoughts on the 650B X 47mm version of the Elwood. The previous post which touches on my earliest thoughts regarding the 650B Elwood is found here. Now let’s take a look at how the 650B X 47mm Elwoods are doing so far.
The Elwoods in the 650B size are nice and wide at almost 48mm, and on the Velocity Ailerons, this allows for lowered pressures to be run. In my previous post, I mentioned I was running these at around 40psi. I have gone lower than this now. I am currently running them closer to 30psi, a full ten psi lower than where I started. This hasn’t seemed to affect how nice the Elwood rolls at all, but the increase in comfort is noticeable. This despite the fact that I have the “Tough” version with 60TPI casing.
The Elwood is so smooth that much of the gravel road chatter is muted at the lower pressures I am using now. Paved riding is amazingly smooth. I found much the same with the WTB Horizon tires when I tested them. However; where the Elwood rises above is on looser gravel, loose dirt, sand, and even on single track. The tire has better grip properties in those situations. In terms of the 650B offerings for gravel use, the Terrene Tires Elwood is alone when it comes to capabilities that neither their smoother, nontreaded competition has, nor that their mountain bike tire derived competition has.
The Elwood follows the same style for tread design which we have seen many other successful gravel tires pave the way with- a smoother, faster center tread with lugged tread rows near the outer edges of the tire. The Elwood also introduces something I have not seen yet- A multi-tiered tread height. The center is raised slightly, or is it that the middle two rows flanking the center are lowered? Well, however you see it, the effect is that the central row of interlocking tread blocks is what hits the ground first and foremost, which lends to that sensation of speed and easy roll up.
Those side lugs sure help with lateral stability, which was noticeably better than with the Horizon 47’s I tried earlier this year. I will also add that I am not as an aggressive a rider as MG is. He experienced a sudden loss of traction in corners. I cannot say if this tire will do the same thing, as I don’t have that riding style. I do have one place I use to test lateral grip with tires I get in for review and I can say that the Elwood falls in the average category when it comes to that test. This would be somewhat less in terms of grip than I experienced with the 45mm Riddler, so perhaps MG and I are on the same page with that.
I have had the chance to do a sloppy, wet gravel ride with the Elwood tires. I was impressed by how the Elwood shrugs off the mud and grime quickly after the initial building up of mud. Almost every tire I’ve ever ridden here does get glopped up with mud right away, and The Elwood was no exception. However; as I say, it released that very quickly. So, for short patches of sticky goo, the Elwood should pull through well and get cleared off more quickly than most tires.
So Far……. Leaving any “Blues Brothers” references aside, the Elwoods seem to be a great tread pattern for smooth to dry dirt tracks and may even be good for buff single track. (Unless you are an aggressive styled rider, then watch out for a sudden loss of traction in hard cornering) The weights are very good, and the rubber Terrene uses is the finest feeling we’ve yet handled. Tubeless set up was average on our Velocity Aileron rims and on other rims. Ride feel is excellent. Gravel performance is very good. Stay tuned for our combined “At The Finish” post soon.
Note: The Terrene Tires Elwood models were sent to Riding Gravel by Terrene tires for test/review at no charge. We are not being bribed, nor paid, for this review and we will strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.
Great review! Love your site!
I’m currently using Schwalbe Thunder Burts in 27.5x 2.1.The clearance is a little close both front and rear on my bike but acceptable. I like riding gravel and the occasional cyclocross event and have been looking for a good do it all tire. These Terrene Elwoods look to be exactly what I have been looking for. Do you think they would work ok on a cyclocross course? Also, some of the rides I do encounter sand pits. How do they fair in loose sand or even snow?
@Heath- Thanks for checking in! As far as the Elwood goes for CX, I suppose it doesn’t have to be said that this tire would only be acceptable in non-sanctioned events, but maybe that needs to be pointed out up front just for clarity.
Then you have courses and conditions which can, as you are probably well aware, change a lot. So I feel that you probably will find that mud is not the Elwood’s territory. A grassy course, or a dry course should prove to be good with the Elwood. Sand will probably be fine with the Elwood, but air pressure and rim width will have a great effect upon your results there.
I think snow brings a great challenge here as well since if you are riding the corners aggressively then the lack of lugs in the Elwood”s tread design could mean a big lack of grip.
Hopefully that helps.
The races I usually do are the local get togethers and aren’t sanctioned or anything. Thanks for the info! Think I’ll get a pair of these and hope they come out with a skinnier 650b mtb tire suitable for muddy cross courses for next winter. If not I’ll be fine getting by with Elwoods anyway. I only ride 2 or 3 cross races a year anyway.The increasing use of the 650b wheel for various uses is a big help lately when it comes to tire selection but still has a bit to be desired.
Thanks for the advice!!
Elwood 35 on Terrene site. Waiting for the review !