Continental Terra Hardpack 700x50mm Review

ljsmith wrote:I got some Terra hardpacks in last month and I was finally able to test one of them out so I thought I would give a review.  The Terra hardpack is basically a 700x50mm Speedking made for gravel, specifically bikepacking.  The main differences to the Speedking are it is made in Asia, uses Puregrip instead of Black Chili and it uses a bead to bead puncture layer called Shieldwall.  The tires I received weighed in at 540g, which is not bad for a tire this size with bead to bead puncture protection.  For comparison a 700x50 Gravel King SK is 575g, a 700x50 G-One bite is 600g.  The bike is a Moots Routt YBB, I use two wheelsets one with 700x44 Vredestein Aventuras and the other with 29x2.1 Thunderburt Pacestar tires.  I decided to swap out the rear Thunderburt and swap on a Terra Hardpack and see how it felt. For the testing I rode it a few different places to get a feel for it on different terrain.  I did 85 miles, 11000 ft of climbing in the Green Ridge State Forest on a mix of gravel, Jeep roads and doubletrack which was a good test for how worthy it is for bikepacking.  I did 30 miles on the C&O canal, which is basically a straight flat towpath with a mix of dirt and gravel surfaces.  I also did 50 miles on the Western Maryland Rail Trail which is a paved rails to trails.
 

The Good
These tires are cheap, about $28 each from Germany, I'm not sure if they are available in the US yet.  The tire is fast.  It felt at least as fast as the Thunderburt that it replaced.  On pavement it is very smooth and can be leaned into turns better than the Thunderburt it replaced.  The weight was reasonable and it did not feel sluggish at all when climbing.  Supposedly the Pure Grip compound is more durable and lasts longer than Black Chili, so while that isn't something I can confirm, I suspect it is a positive for anyone logging a lot of miles.  I didn't have any punctures so I can't comment on its puncture resistance.  I have ridden Shieldwall Race Kings and can confirm that the Shiledwall protection is amazing.  I got a nail stuck in a Race King but it was unable to fully puncture the tire.  So I suspect that puncture protection is very good with this tire as well.

The Bad
High speed braking is scary on this tire.  I was coming down a gravel descent at 30mph that I have done many times that has a very tight switchback at the bottom.  When I braked hard to slow down for the switchback the tire broke loose and I went fishtailing off the road.  I have had many tires lose traction on me, but I have never had one violently fishtail like this tire.  High speed cornering is also poor, you really have to slow down because this tire just breaks loose and doesn't like to regain traction once it breaks loose.  Out of the saddle climbing is pretty bad too, it spins on even the smallest amount of gravel.  It doesn't handle mud well at all, but I can't blame the tire too much for that, no semi-slick tire can deal with mud.  I have never ridden a Speedking, but I wonder if these issues are the Speedking tread pattern or the Pure Grip compound not really having any grip.  Most of my ride in the Green Ridge State forest was a story of the front Thunderburt writing checks that the Terra Hardpack couldn't cash.  

The Verdict
The Terra Hardpack makes for a really terrible bikepacking tire.  I can only suspect that no one at Continental has ever gone bikepacking.  The Terra Hardpack really does poorly on the type of terrain that makes up most bikepacking routes.  Where it really shines is on terrain like the C&O canal and on pavement.  On the C&O there are no tight turns and you can't really reach any speeds where the tires lack of traction would be an issue.  Its handling and speed on pavement are very good as well.  So I think this is a great high volume tire for towpaths and rail trails.  For now, the Terra Hardpack has been removed and the rear Thunderburt has gone back on the bike.  I'm not sure if I will use them again or not.  In my opinion a 700x50 is a little oversized and overweight for the type of riding these tires excel at.  

Thank you for the input. Having tried a few 50-56 mm tires your description might just be why I also did not like slicks or near slicks that big, and why the Rene Hearse knobby I have in 48 and 55 mm are so good on the bikepacking/commuter setup. If you don't like the RH knobby tires consider the Donneley MSO that comes in large diameter as a good bikepacking type. I really liked that on my now departed bikepacking rig as better than a fast MTB tire, versatile and extremely reliable.

ccand51997 wrote:I too, recently swapped a Speedking for a Thunder Burt so I'll offer up a little western desert perspective.  Mine was the regular Speedking though, so not quite the same.  For my mixed surface rides, I definitely prefer the Speedking.  It feels like it rolls a lot better (totally subjective) and on the typical surfaces I see (hard-packed dirt, soft sand, or soft over hard) I can't tell a bit of difference in cornering because nothing really grips in those conditions.  Where the Speedking is better, as you mentioned, is on the road it corners more smoothly than the TB.  
The Thunder Burt on the other hand, has proven to be a lot more durable tire, even in the Liteskin Version.  

I hope that BRR will test this soon.  I'm intrigued to see how much of a RR hit it takes and if the durability improves.  

ccand51997 wrote:Wow.  So we can call a tire gravel if it is 35-47 mm and we call it mtb if it is 53 to 60+mm but if you make a 50mm it gets relegated to tire classification hell.  
When I started 'mountain biking' in 1984 on a Schwinn Sierra, the places I rode would be considered 'gravel' today; there was no singletrack for me.  And the 1.9 tires were pretty good for that.