Picked these up on sale to try since I love their CX tire lineup and the ride quality of their tires, both handmade and vulcanized lineups. Wanted something for grippy for single-track and chunky gravel that still rolled adequately fast on the smooth stuff. These tires are very similar in tread as the CX Grifo tire they make, with the center knobs being the exact same.
Now my assessment, these things absolutely blew away my expectations. Have put them through their paces from fast XC style single-track with some rocky technical terrain to smooth road and gravel. Had a blast keeping up with our fast XC MTB group on my Niner RLT 9 gravel bike. They run well on the smooth gravel with just slightly more rolling resistance than the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H I run for the smoother stuff, but cornering confidence and chunky washboard, these really do behave way better, something to be said about Challenge's Handmade casings I guess.
The only real downside is the mounting process. If you're not familiar with mounting handmade Challenge tires, well, they can be a real Challenge (pun intended). It's worth it in the end though. These are definitely great tires and will be my go to all around mix-terrain that leans more into trail and single-track for sure!
Work great for almost all cyclocross conditions!
