Challenge Elite XP tyres review

Supple and resilient, this tyre is really pretty hard to beat

Challenge Elite XP tyres Editors Choice
(Image credit: Future)
Cycling Weekly Verdict

The Challenge Elite XP is, quite possibly, my new favourite winter tyre: mostly because it doesn't ride like a winter tyre at all. Fitting was a little tricky, but not torturous. It's not tubeless ready, and that will take it out of contention for many 'modern' riders, but if you're still on board with tubes then this one is highly recommended.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Supple

  • +

    Handmade

  • +

    Resilient

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    Not more expensive than the competition

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Searching through the archives of Cycling Weekly tech history, it would seem that we last reviewed a Challenge Elite (Open Road, in this case) tyre in 2014. Evidently, we were short on space at the time, because it's a 100-word assessment - but the overall impression was supple, fast and comfortable but not very durable.

Fast forward to 2021 and we don't have to squeeze our thoughts into a 100-word verdict to appease the demands of print anymore. And Challenge has come on leaps and bounds, too, it seems - addressing our criticism right on the nose with the new Challenge Elite XP clincher.

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