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Continental
Top Touring 2000
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Submitted by
Ed Schum
a
from Courtenay, B.C. Canada
Date Reviewed: February 16, 2008 | | Favoriate Trail: | The World | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | Wenting's Cycle | | Strengths: | High puncture resistance - Low rolling resistance. | | Weaknesses: | None that I found. | | Similar Products Used: | You name them, I've used them. | | Bike Setup: | Devinci Caribou Touring bike, most of the time fully loaded. Bike, gear and I weighing about 245 pounds. | | Bottom Line: | I purchased the tires with the bike about 16 months ago. Since then I rode across Canada on it (7500 km) plus several short tours for a total of nearly 11000 km.
You can find my journal of the Cross Canada tour at:
www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/crosscanada2007
I did have one flat tire in almost 11000 km's of use and the tires, including the side walls, look like I could ride another several thousand kilometers on them. I will, however replace them for my tour of Europe this summer. I hope I will be able to get the very same model of tire again.
You can see the journal of my Europe Tour at:
www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/europe2008
The difficulties with placing the tire others have mentioned must have something to do with the rim they are using. I had no difficulties whatsoever mounting the tire on my MAVIC A-310 rim. It is a snug fit, but I was able to mount the tire without using levers. For some people who might not know, the secret when mounting a tire by hand is taking very small 'bites' at the time when rolling the tire onto the rim.
I wish tire manufacturers and rim manufacturers could get together and work on eliminating these compatibility problems. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
travis Konda
a Weekend Warrior
from Kansas City, MO USA
Date Reviewed: January 11, 2008 | | Favoriate Trail: | the one home | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$50.00 | | Purchased At: | Came with bike | | Strengths: | Tough tire, I have over 5 k from commuting to work on them and they have finally gave up the ghost. I agree with those who have noted the tires are highly puncture resistant. I have rode over glass, gravel, and all the other road hazards that come with city commuting and have had only one flat. The tires came with the Cannondale T800 touring bike when I bought it in 2005. I am hoping to get another set to replace the worn ones.
They have performed well in all sorts of conditions including rain, ice and snow.
| | Weaknesses: | None that I can think of, they have met my needs and then some. | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale T800 touring bike set up for city commuting. I am often hauling 20 plus pounds with me for work. | | Bottom Line: | Really good tire for the commuting environment. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
KenS
a Weekend Warrior
from NC
Date Reviewed: August 28, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Puncture resistant. | | Weaknesses: | None (maybe heavy if you are a weight weenie). | | Similar Products Used: | Avocet cross (tread goes fast on pavement). | | Bike Setup: | Touring setup with 700C wheels. | | Bottom Line: | I ride mainly on pavement but go over roads that sometimes become dirt and have lots of runoff after a rain. I had two punctures on my Avocet cross tires and the center tread on wore out after a season. I was looking for something tougher. The Conti TT2000s have filled the bill completely. I have ridden them for 2 years without a puncture and the tread is just starting to show a tiny amount of wear. They look like they are going to hold up for a long time. It looks like Conti is going to drop this model but I bet they will be back because they are that good. If you are into light touring or urban commuting then give these tires a look. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jon
a
from Maryland
Date Reviewed: December 12, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$40.00 | | Purchased At: | City Bikes, DC | | Strengths: | Super strong - I've gone about 10k miles and not a single flat - on city streets over glass, etc. I see the other folks have had problems. I just retired them as they were just too crusty now and felt they deserved retirement. I bought Bontragers and would be happy if they're half the tire of the Conti. | | Weaknesses: | Hard to seat? Maybe, but just a little difficult. | | Bike Setup: | Mountain bike, rigid, Contis used for commuting | | Bottom Line: | Super strong tires! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jay
a
from Nelson
Date Reviewed: October 28, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$50.00 | | Strengths: | I used these tires while touring in New Zealand for a year, they performed wonderful under a fully loaded bike on both gravel and their rough surfaced sealed roads. They are extremely puncture resistant, I only had three flats due to small bits of glass compared to about eight suffered by my partner on IRC city slickers. | | Weaknesses: | These tires are a real pain to bead properly, if you don't have a pump that will over inflate them to seat the bead you better hope a service station is close by.... | | Bike Setup: | Fully loaded rigid mountian bike. | | Bottom Line: | Once I find tires that perform as well as these do but are easy to mount as well, I'll be happy... | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tony
a Cross Country Rider
from Chattanooga
Date Reviewed: October 14, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Please disregard the last (which is the next) review I left on these tires. Evidentally, they are pretty good. After changing to the Chen Shings I have already had about 4 flats in about a month. With the Conti top touring 2000 I had 2 or 3 flats in 11 months.
I have ordered spin skins kevlar liners and will try them with the Chen Shings. If I get a flat anytime soon I will buy a pair of flat resistant tires, but probably not the conti top touring. I will probably get something around a 26x1.5 and maybe slicker. The schwalbe marathon looks good. May also try walmart. But will definately look for punture resistant tires. | | Weaknesses: | Cost | | Similar Products Used: | Chen Shing, fast but puncture easily. | | Bike Setup: | stock giant vt3 | | Bottom Line: | Yeah, they are good but pricey. I am going to give 5 chilis to try to off set my last review.
One other note is that the tires are alarming looking with all the gashes in them and chunks missing. They must be pretty good to still keep going looking like that. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tony
a
from Chattanooga
Date Reviewed: September 24, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$20.00 | | Strengths: | see below | | Weaknesses: | see below | | Similar Products Used: | Chen shing or whatever | | Bike Setup: | mtn bike | | Bottom Line: | I researched these tires and chose them over all the others. I road them for 7 months to work and back on the street. I did not really like them but road them anyway; they were better than mtn bike tires on the road. I did get a couple of flats so they are not as tough as they say. In fact, I would say that these tires are mostly hype.
I am using Chen Shing road tires now and they seem to be the same thickness, toughness, and everything plus they are ALOT faster and hold better on the road it seems. Do not know how long they will last but have been riding them for 2 months now and they still have the rubber nipples on them! I ride 30 mins. to and from work 5 days a week. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeremy
a Weekend Warrior
from Reno, Nevada
Date Reviewed: June 19, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$25.00 | | Purchased At: | REI | | Strengths: | Long lasting
Smooth ride | | Weaknesses: | None that I know of | | Bottom Line: | I rode a pair of these tires on a fully-loaded, 4700+ mile tour and they performed as well as anyone could ask for. All I did was rotate them about halfway through. They're over 5000 miles now and look like they have another 2000-3000 left to go.
They're not hard to mount...at least I didn't have any problem, and I'm a pretty skinny guy.
I haven't had any sidewall or cracking problems like others have reported.
Puncture resistance is about average. I've had four flats in 5000 miles.
They perform well on wet pavement. I got caught in a few rain storms, and although I wasn't trying to break any speed records, I never had any traction problems. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Adam
a
from Fort Collins, CO
Date Reviewed: January 24, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$35.00 | | Strengths: | longevity | | Weaknesses: | A little tight to mount | | Bike Setup: | Novara Randonee | | Bottom Line: | These tires are more puncture resistant than most to begin with. I've never had a flat since adding a protective strip except after running over a board with a nail that punctured the sidewall. I had left my spare tube in another pack that night so I rode home on the flat, another 2 miles. I thought the sidewalls would've been trashed on this well used tire but they weren't. I had over 10,000 miles on these tires commuting over pavement, snow, and gravel. The tread was warn to a square-like profile but I just couldn't kill them. Finally, I did buy some new ones. If you're a die hard commuter, get some, but don't expect to casually hang with your road buddies who ride the skinney tires. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Stephen Cope
a
from Munich
Date Reviewed: October 1, 2004 | | Favoriate Trail: | Karokorum highway Pakistan | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$25.00 | | Purchased At: | fahrah store | | Strengths: | They look good. | | Weaknesses: | Sidewall Sidewall Sidewall! | | Similar Products Used: | Schwalbe Marathon have lasted 10 years | | Bike Setup: | Raliegh Randoneur touring bike | | Bottom Line: | I cycled from Germany to Australia and on average each one of my Continental Top Tourers got me between 500-1000km's (that's all) before the side wall would blow out. I was carrying heavy loads but it was very frustrating. I started off taking as many as 3 spares but the problem was so acute I switched to cheap Turkish tyres half way. I was cycling with a friend who had the exact same tyres but not the Mavic rims I was using. Contis and some Mavics are incompatable but neither company would admit to that both being leaders in their field. Continental gave me about 8 new tyres when I complained but I ended up giving them away to a bike shop!
When I got back to Germany I purchased Schwalbe marathons and they were an excellent replacement and I have had them on for about 20,000km's - no kidding. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
biketouringdude
a
from Earth
Date Reviewed: January 11, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$100000000000.00 | | Strengths: | Durable | | Weaknesses: | None | | Similar Products Used: | Lots | | Bike Setup: | Trek 520 | | Bottom Line: | I don't know what people are complaining about with this tire being hard to mount. Seems to work fine for me. Guess they are weenies. I have almost 5,000 miles on this set, and with proper care (like any bike stuff), rotation, etc, they are great. C'mon people! It's a touring tire! Rides great, and with a little care, it'll last a long time! No flats in over a year on these tires!
Hey, if you want to mountain bike, get mountain bike tires, and if you wanna go fast on the road, get skinny Contis!
Well worth the expense.
Peace, and happy trails!
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Nick Wood
a Downhiller
from flagstaff
Date Reviewed: June 27, 2003 | | Favoriate Trail: | Bootleg Canyon | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$35.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Long lasting, comes in wide sizes | | Weaknesses: | ? | | Similar Products Used: | Other road tires | | Bike Setup: | '96 Cannondale t600 touring | | Bottom Line: | Used these last summer on a Northwest/West coast tour. 2200 miles and only 2 flats. They would be cool when my BOB trailer tire was getting ripped into. The sidewall thing didn't affect me, I still throw them on my heavy-duty wheels when I don't have cyclocross tires on 'em.
Did I mention they last forever? Also, I used them for about 60 miles of some fireroad/heinous 2-track riding, and they held well enough down a long (10 mile, steep grade) descent on gravel to make me confident in braking. I pushed them around 20mph turns at 40 and railed down steep hills in Oregon with my brakes off. Very confidence inspiring. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tony
a Weekend Warrior
from Earth
Date Reviewed: January 19, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | Low rolling resistance
The brown sidewall/black rubber color combination. Is that really a strength? | | Weaknesses: | Crap sidewalls | | Similar Products Used: | Specialized Nimbus | | Bike Setup: | Yeti A.R.C. | | Bottom Line: | I know these tires are super popular among tourers in Europe. They have a rabid following like Ortlieb panniers (which I have and think are awesome). But these tires blow. As many of you may know, Conti's are well known for their treads and super-low rolling resistance. BUT, like the other models, Conti has a history of making great tire rubber but horrible sidewalls. That is their achilles heel: the sidewalls. Just check out the reviews at roadbikereview.com if you don't believe me. And sure enough, when I used these on my tour, the sidewalls started to crack. The same damn thing happened on my other road bike's contis. The last thing you want is your tires blowing on a tour in the middle of freakin' nowhere. Sorry folks, but you'll never catch me riding Contis again, no matter how many positive reviews there are here. Peace. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John
a
from Pittsburgh
Date Reviewed: October 25, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Longevity
700x32 or 700x35 | | Weaknesses: | Not great for hanging with serious roadies. This may be a social advantage. | | Similar Products Used: | Vittoria Tigre Cross - lasted about 6 months | | Bike Setup: | SS 700c wheels | | Bottom Line: | Great for touring, commuting, pavement of any sort - potholes, broken glass. Great rubber compound - has a dry and soft feel, not hard and slippery like synthetic rubbers. I changed the rear after 18 months at about 80 km/week - no flats.
The front finally got its first flat after 4000km. The last 500km it was looking a bit worn, but with plenty of tread. I just thought - lets push this baby.
I've never had a tire last this long or take this much commuting punishment. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mike
a Weekend Warrior
from Washington State
Date Reviewed: September 30, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Conti Top Touring tires were original equipment on my Cannondale road tandem. My wife and I ride on the weekends, mostly roads but some packed gravel trails. Initially, I really liked these tires - they seem to roll well, are quiet and I've experienced little tread wear. Big problems showed up after a couple of years. | | Weaknesses: | The sidewalls on the tires began to deteriorate after 2 years (1700 miles). I talked to one of the maintenance guys at the bike store and he told me that Continental is notorious for weak sidewalls. The sidewall begins to separate and threads begin to stick out - although the tread is still in good shape, the tire begins to deform under pressure everywhere the sidewall is separating. Once I saw what was happening I lost confidence in these tires for long rides. For the price, these tires ought to last a lot longer - as far as I'm concerned, Continental has a big problem. | | Bottom Line: | Nice tires initially but weak sidewalls give the tires a limited lifetime. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ben
a
from Winnipeg, Canada
Date Reviewed: July 22, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$20.00 | | Purchased At: | Mountain Equipment Coop | | Strengths: | Good slick tires for daily commute to work. Quiet ride. Keep the knobbies for the weekend.Stay on pavement with this tire. | | Weaknesses: | Contrary to most reviews below, 4 punctures in 3 months on streets not particularly cruddy. On wet streets, don`t expect to stay glued to pavement...on the other hand don`t expect otherwise after looking a the thread.
Heck of a fight to get these tires off/on rims. | | Similar Products Used: | Specialized Crossroads EX | | Bike Setup: | TREK 8000 stock | | Bottom Line: | Recommend buying it for street/pavement rides, commutes. Forget it if anything different, even light off road stuff. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jerry
a Cross Country Rider
from St Paul, MN
Date Reviewed: July 3, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Strengths: | Extremely durable, very few flats | | Weaknesses: | Hard to put on wheel. | | Similar Products Used: | Avocet Cross | | Bike Setup: | Touring | | Bottom Line: | Lasts over 5,000 miles for a set with front to rear swap midway. Very high resistance to puncture. They're the best value in bike tires for touring. In my experience, These tires are far more durable and puncture resistant than Avocet cross tires and sidewalls are more durable. Yes, the bead is tight, but they are changeable along a road when necessary. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott
a
from Fort Collins, Colorado
Date Reviewed: January 14, 2000 | | Favoriate Trail: | my daily commute | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Virtually bombproof, cannot flat these tires | | Weaknesses: | Very very heavy
Not pretty to look at | | Similar Products Used: | Continential Goliaths, Michelin city tires | | Bike Setup: | Trek 820 frame, XT-9 speed with grip shift. Mavic 517 wheels...good commuter bike | | Bottom Line: | I average over 6000 miles a year commuting over 30 miles a day to and from work. As you can imagine, I've tried a lot of different components, wheels, and tires. I bought these 26" Continential Top Touring 2000 tires in July 1999 and after 2600 miles later (as I'm writing this), I haven't had a flat. This is incredible considering the amount of pure miles I rack on my commuter bike. I live in Northern Colorado, and ride through all types of junk and road debris and these tires keep on trekking. If you're looking for an all around commuting, all-purpose road tire for your mountain or road/touring bike, you will not go wrong with these. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
stephen
a Cross-Country Rider
from ulan bator, mongolia
Date Reviewed: December 23, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
2 Years | | Strengths: |
no punctures, good traction on dirt (for a 700x32C tyre), no tread wear after 2 years. (I still have a pair of 700x23C Conti GPs after 20,000+ km...) | | Weaknesses: |
Heavy, hard ride due to stifff casing, high rolling resistance -- feels flat at any pressure | | Similar Products Used: |
lots! | | Bike Setup: |
lightweigtht steel touring bike | | Bottom Line: | A very durable and puncture resistant tyre, but disappointing for me as I bought it in the hopes of a softer ride due to the greater air volume. I will use something more supple when they wear out -- should be in about 10 years/30,000 km or so... (sigh) | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Marvin
a Cross-Country Rider
from Boston
Date Reviewed: November 16, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
2 Years | | Strengths: |
Virtually flatproof, low rolling resistance, good traction on wet and snowy (<3) roads. | | Weaknesses: |
A bitch to change- have broken nylon and alloy tire irons, now using a pair of small screwdrivers! | | Similar Products Used: |
Specialized Fat Boy | | Bike Setup: |
Schwinn aluminum hardtail, Manitou fork | | Bottom Line: | Loads of tread left after 2+ years of using these as daily commuter tires. Rolls over glass, metal, whatever w/o flatting. Ended up getting another wheelset for my XC tires since it was so hard to change these out. Way better in the wet than Fat Boys (though substantially heavier!!) 5 chilis minus one for difficulty in getting them off & on. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Gary
a Weekend Warrior
from anywhere
Date Reviewed: September 15, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
1 Year | | Strengths: |
Low Rolling Resistance | | Weaknesses: |
Sidewalls are suspect | | Similar Products Used: |
Nimbus III
Avocet Cross | | Bike Setup: |
Stumpjumper | | Bottom Line: | For all the great things about this tire, there is one critical flaw which is common in almost all Continental tires: Weak sidewalls. I've toured on over 5 continents through 35 countries and have used Contis, and have shared experiences with others using Contis as well. We all come to the same conclusion: Great tire with crappy sidewalls. You don't want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with a blown sidewall with no way to fix it. Sorry, folks, but give these a pass and go with the Nimbus III. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Patrick
a Weekend Warrior
from Sydney, NSW
Date Reviewed: April 10, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
3 months | | Bottom Line: | I rode around on these for about 175 kms with some rather long splinters of glass deeply embedded in the tyre; no punctures! And I didn't find them too hard to get on and off my 700c wheels. An excellent tyre! | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John Mc
a Weekend Warrior
from Lancaster UK
Date Reviewed: March 20, 1999 | | Duration Product Used: |
3 months | | Strengths: |
They appear to have great puncture resistance. | | Weaknesses: |
They better have, because these tyres are so tight I doubt if they can be changed at the roadside. I had to use motorcycle tyre levers after breaking 2 normal levers.. | | Bottom Line: | Any benefits are totally outwieghed by the small size. Dont buy one of these. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tom
a weekend warrior
from Southern Maryland
Date Reviewed: August 25, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I have Top Touring 2000 for my commuting/off road touring bike. They are a little heavy, primarily a road tire. They are pretty good on the road, and ok off road. They don't have any problem with my weight (300 lbs) plus 50 lbs of touring/camping gear. So far, no flats. They seem pretty good in adverse weather. I am looking forward to trying them in snow. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dan Valleskey
a weekend warrior
from Indianapolis, IN
Date Reviewed: July 11, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
I bought them to mount on my Bridgestone, I found I've been using the bike more for pulling my son in his Burley. I had some Schwinn cross tires mounted for a while, I thought they gave no real improvement over the Ritchey knobs that came on the bike. But these Contis are great- I thought I needed a higher pressure tire, I figured 80 or a hundred psi would speed things up, but I was standing at the register at the shop, the guy said, you'll think you are running 100 pounds. He was right. Nice low rolling resistance. Yes, they went on hard, I hope I don't have to do any on-road repairs for a while. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
jay
a cross-country rider
from portland, OR
Date Reviewed: March 18, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
These tires are fantastic. I've been riding on them for 4 months now with only one puncture (from a staple!). Considering that I was getting ~2 flats/month before I bought the new tires, I'm pretty thrilled with that. The only problem is that they are so tight...I've broken tire levers every time I take the tires off (yeah, I've onlyhad one puncture but I started off with the wrong tube size and had to change that later.) | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jonathan Leigh
a
from Sheffield, Uk
Date Reviewed: March 15, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
Been using Cont. Top Touring 700*32 for about 15mths now. Rear tyre almost worn out now - its done about 3k miles which I'm quite happy with as most of thats touring or commuting plus I weigh in at about 15 st..
No punctures!
The tyres were fitted at the bike shop where I bought the wheels, this afternoon I've changed the rear tyre. I expected to do it in 10 minutes - it took 2hours and 2 men! These tyres redefine the word 'tight'.
I just hope I don't puncture in Spain next week.From a determined cyclist with sore hands. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Deric Licko
a weekend warrior
from San Fran, CA
Date Reviewed: January 21, 1997 | | Bottom Line: |
I love these tires! I've got over 6K miles on them and they're still going strong. Good puncture resistance. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Garry Lee
a weekend warrior
from Cork, Ireland
Date Reviewed: April 21, 1996 | | Bottom Line: |
I've used these tyres on touring bikes for about 5 years with not one
puncture due to something penetrating the tyre.
The MTB version is now available. It is an excellent road tyre with a light
pattern on it. Fast. Very durable.
| | Overall Rating: |
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