As an engineer, being tasked to create the perfect “all conditions’ gravel tyre must be somewhat of a difficult challenge. Each rider will expect something different from the tyre and conditions vary dramatically depending on where the rider is located. Does the perfect “do everything” gravel tyre exist? Vittoria think so and have just launched the new Terreno T50 Mixed Gravel Endurance Tyre. Not content with releasing one new product today though, they’ve also launched a new gravel tyre liner too. Read on to find out more about their new products.
Maybe at some point in the future, some incredibly clever scientist/engineer/boffin will create a gravel tyre which can change characteristics at the flick of a button, like something you might expect Q in a James Bond film to have come up with. Come across a patch of mud while riding? Bleep. Your tyres will grow mud shedding nobbles. Have a long stretch of strada bianche to traverse? Bleep. No problem. Your tyres are now smoother and faster rolling. Roots? Bleep. Off-camber greasy grass bank? Bleep. Etc etc. Unfortunately, until nano-technology engineering has progressed quite significantly, for most of us, selecting a tyre for a ride is based on a combination of financial constraints, practicalities (can you really stop and change your tyres every ten minutes?) and compromise.
Maybe the search for the goldilocks gravel tyre is an end though. With their new Terreno T50 Mixed Gravel Endurance tyre, Vittoria say they have created a tyre “engineered to provide unparalleled speed and capability across various terrains, from hardpack to mixed conditions.” Available in sizes from 700x40 up to 700x50 with both black and brown sidewall options available, there should be a Terreno T50 tyre suitable for even the choosiest gravel riders. The Terreno T50 features “a versatile tread design with new directional siping texture” and “an endurance casing, featuring reinforced nylon sidewall protection for increased puncture resistance and stability.”
Vittoria say that the Terreno T50 tyre is “able to withstand the rigors of long-distance gravel riding, delivering exceptional dependability, durability, and performance in any weather condition.” With summer having arrived pretty late for much of northern Europe, gravel trail conditions are currently extremely mixed – one minute you could be on dry, dusty hardpack and then come around a corner and find wall-to-wall slop – that’s how things are near Gravel Union Towers anyway, so a tyre which copes with everything we can throw at it sounds ideal.
Since we first tried fitting tyre liners on our gravel bikes back in 2022, the Gravel Union team are now fully signed-up converts to the cause. Adding a poultry 40g to the weight of your wheel/tyre combo, Vittoria’s upgraded Air-Liner Light Gravel tyre liner offers three main advantages – puncture prevention, run-flat capability and increased comfort/stability. Although only marginally lighter than the existing (incredibly light) gravel tyre liner, the new model takes technology used in Vittoria’s popular XC mountain bike liner, but the liners now come in appropriate sizes for smaller diameter gravel tyres.
Unless you’ve tried them, it’s quite hard to believe how much benefit a tyre liner can bring to your ride. The main benefit is that they allow you to run lower pressures in your tubeless tyres (which increases comfort and grip), but at the same time reduces the likelihood of pinch punctures and rim damage. Although our experience of this has been limited to one short unavoidable test, you can even continue to ride on a punctured tyre until you can find a suitable spot to pull over and fix the puncture. While tyre liners won’t prevent punctures from penetrating objects such as thorns or nails/tacks/screws etc, they dramatically reduce the likelihood of impact punctures from hitting an unseen rock/curb edge/pothole and for this reason alone we’re completely hooked!
Both the Terreno T50 Mixed Gravel Endurance tyre are and the Air-Liner Light Gravel tyre liner are available for sale now, with prices from €58.95 and €59.95 respectively.