Fresh from two podium debuts at Unbound Gravel, Challenge Tires has launched its latest gravel tire at Eurobike. I dropped in to the Challenge stand to meet the family founders of the brand, brother and sister Alex and Simona Brauns, and the UK Brand Manager, Andy McAteer, who showed me the latest tire in the Challenge range.
The Getaway XP is designed to be one of the best gravel bike tires on the market, and it's claimed to deliver control and straight-line speed with its tightly packed open transition knobs. It also has more aggressive shoulder knobs for controlled cornering and confident stability when things get loose.
Challenge already has some of the best gravel tires with its Gravel Grinder, Strada Bianca and Almanzo range with the new Getaway XP complimenting the range which Andy tells me is aimed at more endurance riding on rougher terrain. With the growing demand for more robust gravel tires, Challenge has developed a new technology which is applied to all its handmade construction gravel tires, and the Getaway comes with the brand‘s new Xtra Protection (XP) System.
The XP System comes in the form of Corazza Armor Silver and Corazza Armor Gold which delivers protection to different parts of this tire, and the rest of the Challenge Gravel range. Corazza Armor Silver greatly improves side wall protection, with the casing extended around the bead and up to the tread, which they say gives a construction with additional protection to the most exposed part of the tire. Corazza Armor Gold is a special layer of a tightly woven material placed on the tire, which again reinforces protection further for more aggressive conditions, and combined gives a tire maximum protection all over the casing.
The Getaway XP also features the gravel-specific natural rubber Smartplus compound that they say reduces wear and enhances durability, the Smartplus rubber still retains all the natural rubber properties like better grip, shock absorption, better control and reduced rolling resistance.
Like all the Challenge Tire range, the Getaway XP includes its bead protection strip that enhances longevity by reducing the effects of chafing or rubbing against a wheel rim’s bead hooks. The black chafer also acts as a precise line around the rim to confirm that the tire has obtained uniform bead seating all-around.
The Getaway XP is available now in sizes 700x40, and 700x45, and for the first time in the gravel range it comes with black walls. The Getaway XP retails at $94.99 / £TBC / €67.95 with more information available at Challengetires.com.
