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The new Specialized Terra Pro tread design, the same for tubular and clincher versions, is truly magic in the mud!

Review: Specialized Terra Pro Clincher Cyclocross Tires

We Liked

The Specialized Terra Pro Competitive CX Tires are an absolute hoot in the mud! And, the mud barely sticks to the tires. It stays on the ground where it belongs, not on your bike glomming up your wheels and brakes. Traction through the sloppy stuff--flat, slopes or off-cambers--is positive and confidence inspiring. And the light weight, from both the tire itself as well as the lack of collected mud makes you feel a lot faster, especially shooting out of corners or in sprints.

Wet, slippery, slimy, slip-n-slide, sloppy, sticky, soupy, peanut butter... here in Portland, Oregon, we have almost as many words to describe mud as the Eskimos have to describe snow. Ironically, this year's cyclocross season has been amazingly mud free. We received our aggressive-looking Specialized Terra Pro tubular and clincher cyclocross tires at Crossbikereview.com World Headquarters in plenty of time for the rains to start, but except for one suprise early season race day rainstorm, we had a fairly dry season.

I was thinking I'd need to borrow a fire truck to create a muddy mess to get some good testing done with the Terra Pro tires, but finally the skies opened up. I gleefully pulled out the Terra Pro clinchers, and they mounted very easily. The tread is directional, so I checked the little rotation/arrows on the sidewalls several times to make sure.

During the course of two muddy races and several training rides, I rode through sections of wet grass over soft power-sucking mud, greasy mud over hardpack, slick slopes, switchbacks and off cambers, wet roots and rocks, deep sloppy mud, sticky mud, gravel and pavement. Even though the UCI-legal Terra Pro tires are just 33 mm wide, the tires' compliance over bumps, during braking and handling through corners and off-cambers is excellent.

We Didn't Like

While the Specialized Terra Pro tires perform impressively in the slop, they feel slow on hardpack, hard gravel and pavement, especially at lower air pressures such as 35-45 psi. The flexible sidewalls and tall knobs seemed to roll around a lot, giving the impression of less traction. Higher pressures help the tires roll just a little faster over hard surfaces but improved the cornering stability and grip substantially on hard stuff as well as in the mud. I ended up happy with a lot more air than I usually run, around 45 psi on the front tire and 50 in the back, even in the mud.

The Final Say

If your races and rides are mostly mud, you will love the Specialized Terra Pro Competitive CX clincher tires. If you don't have a lot of confidence in sloppy conditions, straight or twisty, these tires will make you feel a lot more comfortable. Anyone will enjoy how well these tires clear the mud, the best I've seen thus far on a cyclocross tire. If you're a strong rider in all conditions, including long straights and sprints, the Terra Pro tires may give you a big advantage in races with mixed conditions, especially if your competition isn't strong in the mud. Specialized riders Todd Wells and Ned Overend seemed to do just fine in the 2010 Cyclocross National Championships in Bend, Oregon, Wells with the win over muddy, snowy, slippery conditions.

But if your races are less than half slop, and your power isn't your strength on the flat sections, the slow rolling over the hard surfaces may drive you nuts.

The Specialized Terra Pro Competitive CX clincher tires are a worthwhile addition to your tire wardrobe to pull out when needed. If you can easily think of a race or ride where these tires would come in handy, they probably will. However the Terra Pros are not my top choice for an all-around, everyday tire. As brilliant as these tires are in the mud, the slowness over pavement and hard surfaces earn the Specialized Terra Pro clincher tires four cowbells rather than five.

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