Challenge Strada Biance V-TLR unboxing
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- čas přidán 9. 11. 2021
- Challenge spend a lot of energy saying how poor conventional vulcanised tyres are compared to their traditional handmade tubular and open tubular tyres. But now they've made a vulcanised version of their iconic super fast Tuscan gravel rubber. Here's the low down on their least favourite tyre child before I start riding.
Thanks again for all your support and if you want to talk tyres let me know in the comments as I can't get enough of them.
Kes - Sport
I have these tires in 700 x 36c on my Trek Domane. I run them tubeless on Bontrager wheels with Bontrager rim strips. I loved these tires when I first got them, look fantastic mounted. They rode smooth and had decent grip and pretty good speed. At about 400-500 miles my rear had almost lost its center tread. At 1000 miles the center tread on the rear is gone and it has flattened. The compound has stiffened considerably and once the tread was worn the tire has horrible traction on wet roads. I never experienced any flats. The tires did take about 2 months and about 5 ounces of sealant in each to prevent air loss overnight. Once settled they eventually did hold inflation pretty good. The tires were a pain to mount with the Bontrager TLR rim strips. I can’t fault Challenege for that because without the strips and with a tube they mounted pretty easy. I weigh 200lbs and I found I need to run the tires at 55 psi rear and 50 psi at the front. On wet roads I did lower them to 50 and 45. I did try them on some light gravel and they did good, I think the tires would be better suited for hard pack dirt and light gravel roads. I road them pretty much on asphalt and It definitely seemed to speed up the tread wear. I recently ordered new tires, I didn’t feel confident ordering another set of them for my needs. If the rubber compound would have stayed subtle and if the tread had lasted about 1500 miles I’d have punched a new rear tire and continued riding them. I’d be curious how durable they are when only used as a dirt/light gravel tire, I’m pretty sure the tread would last longer. I was surprised they did not have any extra protection for punctures being advertised as a gravel / cobblestone tire. Anyway my new tire is a Pirelli Centurato in 35C and I feel it is a far superior tire for my uses on a endurance bike running tubeless.
So happy to hear that even you, with your strength, tools, experience and determination, gave up trying to fit one once. Made me feel much better! Still hoping to run into you one day! JB
Haha, yep I was furious as I pride myself on having thumbs like crow bars. Niche I know but if that’s all you’ve got then I say own it 🤣 Would be great to meet up chap, make sure you shout if you’re ever up this way 👍🏻
Great. Any update on how these ride vs the handmade ones please?
Well Mr G i think you will be suprised at just how good these are once the initial shine is scrubbed off [as with most quality tyres] I gave up with tubs once i discovered latex tubes with a drop of sealant are as good as any tub i have raced with. 50plus years riding and building bikes and challenge tyres have no equal in the road riding department !Quality content as usual presented by a consumate pro. PS you mountain bikers are mad ,just watching the trails you ride makes me wince.
Thanks for the feedback Kevin. Latex tubes are a real booster for sure.
I use the HTLR 30mm versions. And compared to a conti Gp 5000 sure there a little slower but compared to a similar tier the panaracer gk slick the strada fly fly. These are a nice half way house for me between speed and comfort . They seem to have updated the mould on the newer version for wider rims as mine come up undersized on a 18mm ID rim. My old ones came up oversized on the same rim and the newer CX tiers have all been retooled for wider rims also. These new htlr 30 weigh 280g a piece. Oh and the htlr don’t not stretch over time.
Been using the handmade tubeless, 36mm ones in the gravel bike.
Used mainly for commuting but did take them down a lovely bridalway one summers evening.
Surprisingly I felt they were a tad sluggish on the road and occasionally got a bit of slippage to.
Was running about 40psi in them.
Once I took them off road they were fantastic they just glid along!
I am guessing a rough/mixed surface road and bridalway ride in the summer they would be perfect!
Maybe even Roubaix and Flanders?
Yeah, I’m always apprehensive about wet grip on Italian compounds but it’s been dry here recently. Going leaf hunting this afternoon.
I'd love to try them. I'm looking for relatively supple 30mm tan wall slicks for my road bike. The handmade versions would probably be too much faff but these might just be perfect.
Tbh everyone says there difficult but I really didn’t have much problem. Sure there a little more of a pain and require a little more patients but I got them on in about 20mins. Things to note is because of the flat nature you have to fill with sealant through the valve core because the tyer is flat it will go everywhere if you fill before you get the bead on. Don’t let bad reviews put you off give it ago they really are a step above.
Hello. Just wondering if the review video of them in use is coming any time soon? Thanks.
I think Challenge did a good effort for this vulcanized tire. I agree their product lineup is very messy. I sell them at my shop and the H TLR version of this tire is very, very nice.. The 40mm Getaway is also a star.. So smooth but a pain to mount.
I don't know why you'd use Peaty/Mucoff/milkit/oko sealant (which I suspect to be the same with different dyes added) It basically doesn't seal beads and sidewalls.
Yep I love the H - TLR tyres so really keen to see how the V - TLR performs. Hopefully better than Challenge suggest. This is a developmental version of Peaty's sealant not the current commercial mix but having tested all of those options extensively they're definitely not the same.
Looking forward to hearing how they ride. I’ve Open Corsa 2.0 at the moment and I think these could be next. The vulcanised could be good for winter and handmade in the summer. Or doesn’t it work like that?!
It works like that in terms of durability. Not so much in terms of grip 😬
I have these tires and I road them for about 1000 miles at which point the rear tire had worn and lost its tread and it had flattened in the center. The tire lost noticeable grip once this had happened unfortunately and the tires became significantly more stiff at this point due to the rubber compound getting harder and less subtle. Challenege could have a winner with this tire if they changed a few things and improved them. As it stands you’ll only get one winter season out of them and once they wear I think you will be disappointed if your have wet roads most of the winter.
@@jmounce50 thanks for the feedback, I’ve not been confident on wet winter roads either TBH
Hi Guy. When are you posting the tandem ride review ...? Loving the channel buddy. Gary
I'm still tweaking bits and pieces. Hopefully get it close enough to first draught to be worth filming very soon though.
I do like a posh tyre, but for gravel and cross it seems the prices are now often on a par with mtb tyres. I still find myself wondering how bike tyres cost as much as car tyres, certainly my van. I get the tech in them, but they have far less force to deal with so I always feel a bit fleeced by top end tyres.
I know exactly what you mean. But if people pay those prices there’s not much incentive for manufacturers to drop them.
Law of averages. Car tiers made by the millions, bike tiers made by the thousands. Handmade a your probably looking 100s. Prices pasted on the consumer.
How do they compare to £30 32mm Panaracer Gravelking tubeless slicks? also about 290g. 👍🏿
The ride is similar and so far they’ve not flatted but Panaracer win on wet grip, sealing and definitely on price
Sensible man with mudguards on.....this time of year in the UK can get a bit sloppy even on our terrible roads....
Used to avoid guards like the plague as they always rattled and fell off. They've got a lot better though. The really nice flush fit custom ones were probably my favourite thing about the Whyte Wessex TBH. Review of those Fend Offs you can see in the background OTW very soon but just about to fit the latest Crud ones too.
@@GuyKesTV I've been using a Zefal swan neck rear mudguard on drop bar bikes for 7 years....I cannot fault it (and it's removable in seconds for those winter rides where it's very dry and there's no sloppy mud) and it's cheap and just works well.
Even tried it on an old 26er with 2" tyres and it worked....
I'm not keen on mudguards (apart from those Enduro type front ones on my MTB's) but I hate having a wet arse, bumbag or rucksack and I like having kit that doesn't ruin your washing machine....
With those ones you must stay completely Skunk stripe free ???
Where's the fun in a Challenge Strada Bianca that doesn't have me swearing and sweating for half a day just to get them on the first time? I'll stick with htlr, thank you very much. 😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣