Challenge Elite Pro – Handmade TLR 700×30

The Challenge Elite Pro Handmade TLR tyres are a new release from the Italian brand, which is known best for its handmade cotton clincher, tubular, and – more recently – tubeless tyres that have dominated on the CX circuit for years. They’re pretty good value and boast supposedly category leading ride feel. However, as easy as they were to fit to my wheels (a welcome change for tyres from this brand), they were a total nightmare to set up tubeless.

These 30mm tyres come in at just under €50 per tyre (per Challenge’s own website, which doesn’t show pricing in GBP), and weigh 325g apiece. Where this tyre sits in Challenge’s range is however a little confusing, and the ‘Pro’ moniker perhaps belies the true nature of this rubber.

Challenge says the following: “The ELITE Pro breaks down barriers to handmade performance, unlocking value and artisan quality that are unmatched in this category. Great for year-round miles, ELITE is a terrific introduction to Handmade.

“This handmade PRO version combines a supple Super Polyester casing with our standard Smart Compound. Our new Easy-Fit Shape moulding process gently pre-forms the tire [sic] for easier mounting and inflation.”

It seems that, in Challenge’s range, ‘Elite’ and ‘Pro’ are not words that align with their absolute top of the range ‘RS’ models. With this in mind, I think the price makes a bit more sense and, whilst I still think it’s quite good value for a handmade tyre that feels this supple, it isn’t quite as outstanding value as it first appears.

Fitting these tyres onto my rims was an absolute breeze thanks to Challenge’s new Easy-Fit shape. Older Challenge tyres were made in a style described as ‘classic flat’ and had a reputation for being very, very tight to mount on rims. The newer tyres were easy as pie to fit, and I could slide them onto my test wheels without needing to use tyre levers.

However, this is where the ease of setup came to an end. These tyres were – to put it lightly – a total nightmare to set up tubeless.

A fit in the rim that was slightly too slack meant that air leaked out the whole way around the rim channel, and I couldn’t get these anywhere near seating.

I tried every trick in the book – soapy water, taking the valve core out, filling with sealant, using a shot-blast air tank, CO2, fitting first with an inner tube in the hope of seating half the bead first – all hopeless.

I could get one of the tyres up to about 30psi with the airshot fitted to the coreless valve. I could then try to remove the airshot and stuff the valve core back in as quickly as possible before the pressure dropped out, but as soon as I let out a small amount of air, the entire bead would snap back into the centre of the rim well channel and I’d be back to square one.

The wheels I tested them on were Mavic Cosmic SLs, which are UST Tubeless ready. The reason I use these wheels to test tyres is that they are absolutely brilliant for seating tyres. Up until these Challenge tyres, I’ve actually never failed to seat tubeless tyres before. If I can’t fit the tyres on these wheels, I’m not sure I can fit them on any.

We subsequently requested another set of tyres and two different members of staff attempted to seat them on Mavic Comete 50 wheels at the office. We watched Challenge’s video and followed the exact instructions, but to no avail.

After about a litre of sealant wasted, arms turned to noodles from pumping, and my patience tank running out, I gave up. I had to fit inner tubes to be able to ride these tyres outside – much to my disappointment.

One small silver lining is that I didn’t pinch my tubes when installing them, which was a common issue on the older style of Challenge tyres thanks to their excessively tight fit.

When they were seated properly on the rims, they didn’t look as voluminous as other 30mm tyres I’ve tested from brands like Continental or Vittoria.

With the tyres finally inflated, I could get to testing. At 220tpi, these are supple tyres. Even with a butyl inner tube installed, they felt noticeably soft and pliable at about 65psi. They felt more like a race tyre than the ‘workhorse’ Challenge bills them as.

Grip was okay in the dry, but hard to really feel with inner tubes and slightly higher pressures than I’ve been running for the past few years. In the wet, I’d say they noticeably struggled. I found a light shower that left the roads slightly damp really put these tyres into trouble, and I didn’t feel confident at all in the corners after a little back end slide at only moderate speed.

I would have liked to have tried these at a slightly lower pressure to see if this remedied things, but felt about 60psi was as low as I could go before really risking pinch punctures and getting a squirmy feel from a deforming tyre.

It’s hard to comment on durability over just a month of testing, but the tyres still have very few signs of wear, which is promising. One thing I would say is that tyres constructed like this – a cotton carcass with a rubber tread glued on – can start to delaminate over time, so this is something to keep an eye on as the tyres get more wear.

From a value perspective, I think the Elite Pros hold their own. Compared to other mid-level year-round options like Hutchinson’s Challenger TR, Vittoria’s Rubino V, or Continental’s new Grand Prix TR, this tyre is just a touch cheaper (although with no GBP pricing, this is based purely on current exchange rates).

You can spend more on ‘all-round’ tyres, with things like Pirelli’s Cinturato, but for a tyre to be used as a ‘workhorse’ I’m not sure why you’d necessarily want to.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed with the Challenge Elite Pro Handmade TLR. Of course, I would have liked to have seen how they felt set up tubeless, but moreover their performance in the wet left me wanting more.

They’re okay for a workhorse tyre that’s quite good value and has a good looking tan sidewall, and if you want tyres to use with inner tubes I’d take a look, but I’d consider looking elsewhere for something that works better tubeless.

> How to fit tubeless tyres — everything you need to know in this step-by-step guide