Continental Travel Contact
 

These look ideal for me, good straight line roll and knobbies on the side for soft stuff for my '26 tourer. I've had very good luck with Conti's duraskin sidewalls and overall quality.

Anyone had direct experience with these tires, good or bad?

http://www.conti-online.com/generato...ontact_en.html

Good .. I rode my 26" ones for quite a few years,
only put the Schwalbe Marathon Plus ones on,
to reduce the number of people asking me
if I had worn out my Knobbies down to be bald in the center ..

I just would not try to corner like a motorcycle racer on them.
[I don't, anyhow]

Funny, Schwalbe Supremes are my take-offs. I won't mind the questions.

So, good straight line roll, like maintaining a 15mph pace? They look like they ought to roll like Gatorskins (of the same size).

How about clearance for fenders, any problems?

I have a shade over 6,700 miles on a 26" set. Several thousand miles were loaded, on crushed stone paths, or or gravel roads. They have been pretty reliable with only 3 flats from punctures. This pair still has some miles left in them and will be replaced by another pair when they finally give out.

When teaching the LAB Smart Cycling courses, I routinely demonstrate quick turns ... an aggressive right angle turn in 4 feet at about 15 mph ... The tire noise and vibration is disconcerting, but they have never broken loose under me. I do not know how they'd behave if you had to really lean it over at 40 mph.

If you're asking,"Are they slow?", I don't think so. Some of that depends on how hard you pump 'em up.

I briefly had fenders on my 50cm LHT, and they seemed to work ok with the Travel Contacts. But I never rode any real miles with the fenders on because I didn't like the way they fit with my front rack.

Good input, thanks for posting.

for unloaded riding they're slower than others and I found the unloaded rear tire slipping easily on wet roads but for a tire that's going to be used for heavy loads and broken up pavement or gravel it's a more affordable choice than Schwalbe's heavy tires. I usually ride on 1.75 Panaracer T-servs for around town riding and found the Travel Contact unnecessarily hard on pavement, until I loaded it down or road on gravel/dirt roads and then it became obvious that's what they're for. If I road the T-servs from pavement to dirt/gravel it was somewhat skittish on dirt when inflated for fast riding. With the Travel Contact it was more surefooted transitioning from road to gravel.

It's definitely in the good category.

In case this thread gets searched, I have all of two days on these tires but I am liking them so far. Very much like gatorskins but with mini knobbies on the side. At first the 1.75 width looks a little odd on a MTB but the knobbies save it from having that hybrid look. I think they roll well for me, I can keep my hardtail MTB at 17mph on the flats with an even cadence, modest effort. I've thrown them into a corner with some loose gravel and dirt, and they just powered through. The brown thatched sidewalls my not be to everyone's liking, and the tire label is very overdone...you can read it from twenty feet away.

That is all.

My GF has them on her 26" Surly LHT. Over the last year plus she has ridden them loaded (B.O.B. trailer) and unloaded on the banged up, glass infested streets of Philly and on unpaved roads and paths ranging from smooth limestone to bare rock, including some pretty rough sections in Montana. No flats to date and no handling problems on sifter surfaces. The one disclaimer: She's only about 100lbs, so she is easy on tires.

at 100lbs those tires will crack apart before they wear out!

Just (literally) finished a four day tour with these (i've got 700x37s) on the Bicentennial National Trail south of Killarney, Queensland. Got to say they were the perfect tyres for roads like these.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-i...0/P1010440.JPG

Mostly wet gravel with some mud and a bit of on road as well. They're wide enough to float over some of the crappy stuff but not wide enough to pick up too much mud. Pump them up to 75-80 PSI and they perform well on the road. The grip was good enough to get up most hills with them only slipping when I was ready to get off and push anyway. They get a bit sketchy in deeper, slippery mud but that's usually when I get off and push anyway.

All in all, a good tyre for off road and off/on road touring. I'd still go back to my 28mm Marathon Plus' for on road touring.

I rode them touring one season or two, (700c) and felt they were very nice tires, great for mixed conditions riding, but thought the knobs resulted in some squirm in the corners.

The only crash I had in the last ten years was on my single-speed with Travel Contacts when I took a curve a bit too hot on a limestone & dirt MUP. I had and have taken that same curve at the same speed or faster on TT2000s, Contacts and Top Contacts with no problems. I can't blame the tire, just saying.

I have Travel Contacts on my tourer with about 600 miles on them fully loaded and another 500 unloaded. I've had zero problems and zero flats. They've handled wet/dry pavement and some moderately rough trails well. Below is a link to pictures of my tourer with some of the trails I rode in Scotland.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=#post12949859

I give Travel Contacts a good recommendation.