Challenge Goes Big: The Getaway Pro Lands in 50c

What’s Actually New

Outside of the big tire size and what’s been dubbed Easy-Fit, the rest is the same. It’s still a handmade tubeless ready (H-TLR), with the same 260 TPI SuperPolyester casing construction that’s made the Getaway feel the way it feels, and that same SMARTplus compound.

Easy-Fit changes the actual shape of the tire coming out of the mould. Instead of the classic flat construction, the casing is pre-formed with a gently rounded profile that already resembles the shape the tire will take once it’s seated, closer to how a vulcanized tire behaves right out of the box. Because that rounded shape stays clear of the rim channel, the second bead has somewhere to drop into as you work it on. In practice that should mean less forcing, less risk of bead damage, and a tire that seats and inflates with noticeably less drama than the classic flat casing.

My Beef With the Tire

The frustrating thing so far is also the one thing that I love about this new update: while this new size has Easy-Fit, the smaller tires do not yet. So people need to keep that in mind when purchasing, as itreally does make a difference and people will notice it if they are switching back and forth on sizedepending on what terrain they are riding on.

The other thing is that while this tire rides very well in wet conditions, it is not a mud shedder so when in doubt for grip on a muddy course you will want to downsize or ride something like the Gravine. Though it’s not as fast it will spit out the mud faster when you trying to get through the worst of it.

A Quick Word on Handmade

Challenge has been building handmade tires for decades, going back to the family taking over the old Clément factory in the late nineties under the Pirelli umbrella before eventually forming Challenge Tires outright.

The tradeoff historically has been durability. Vulcanized tires use lower TPI nylon casings impregnated with butyl rubber, which makes them stiffer and less comfortable, but also more resistant to sidewall cuts and longer wearing. Handmade casings are also built flat rather than in the U shape most riders are used to, which is part of why they’ve had a reputation for being a pain to mount. Which I can verify — I have personally had to walkaway from a tire mount for an hour or two to let my hands rest a bit and my frustration level reset.

Well, that’s what Easy-Fit solves for — you get the benefits of handmade tires without the install frustration.

I bring this up because it’s easy to look at a spec sheet and see “handmade” as a checkbox feature. It isn’t. It’s the entire reason these tires ride the way they do, conforming to terrain and staying planted on their edges in a way a vulcanized casing just can’t match. It really is something you can feel when you’re riding. It’s also the reason they’ve historically demanded a little more care and patience getting them onto a rim in the first place.

If you need a refresher, our own Ryan Rish put the Getaway HTLR through a proper review and landed on it as the go-to recommendation in Challenge’s gravel lineup for exactly the reason most of us keep coming back to it: it’s the tire that does everything reasonably well without demanding you think about it. And a few years before that I wrote about the Getaway XP series launch, which was Challenge’s answer to riders who wanted more sidewall protection without giving up the ride feel of a handmade casing. The 50c is the next logical step which took some time but as gravel bikes keep getting more tire clearance, riders keep sizing up, and Challenge is finally following where the market and the terrain have gone.

Challenge tires can be purchased through the Slowtwitch retail shop.

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