Can a piece of rubber, nylon mesh and a bit of aramid fibers bring you happiness?
We did over 36000 kilometers using Schwalbe’s discontinued “XRs”, “Duremes” and “Mondials” on our rigid steel bikes. As we progressed across Asia towards Australia, we started to find more joy on all those little paths and tracks and did more adventures than we planned when we set off. When we have learnt about the release of the new off-road touring tires from Surly, the ExtraTerrestrials, we knew that they will change the way we travel. As soon as they were available on the US market we bought a set of 4 and had them shipped to New Zealand.
What a joy!
As we opened the box, we discovered, that the quality of the tires was matching the one of the tires of a German producer. The sidewalls were pleasantly thick, the knobs well spread out, with a distinctive arrow pattern in the middle of the thread. You can check the diagram of the tire here. Most importantly (for touring cyclists) they have a puncture protection, a kevlar belt making them “real” touring tires. We decided to run them with tubes, as we used to with all our previous tires. They are perfectly fine tubeless as well.
When mounted on our wheels and pumped to 3 bars, the tires looked huge in comparison with the Mondials!
It was fairly easy to put them on the Andra 30 rim from Rigida (now Ryde). It is a fairly narrow rim, but a classic for long distance tourers. The tire mounted on a rim like that has a rather round profile. There was much more air in the tires, luckily we had a compressor at hand!
Surly claims, that you can pump them rock hard – to 4,1 bars, but check your rim allowance before doing so! We have pumped it to 3 bars and found it super hard – a quick ride on dry pavement with wet tires left a mark of only the middle section of the tire. That means – low rolling resistance on tarmac!
The tires, when mounted on 26′ rims were slightly higher (26,5′) and much wider, of course, than our previous ones.
We have measured our frame space before the purchase and both bikes could fit the tires just fine (Patria “Terra” and Thorn “Nomad Mk2”). We highly recommend doing so to avoid disappointment.
Our only concern was the space between the Tubus “Carry” rack – only a millimeter of a gap was not enough and we had to do some gentle bending to have a bit more space. The “Logo” was fine.
We started the test on paved roads, with tires pumped to 3 bars. We felt no increase in the rolling resistance on asphalt. On the downhills, due to the weight of the tires (almost 200g of a weight increase per tire!) we could feel a bit of a gyroscopic effect – the tires were more stable but also a bit less nimble (but not very noticeable). On the uphills we could feel a bit of an increase in the rolling weight, but to be honest, those things matter slightly less when you ride a fully loaded, touring bike.
A true test for the tires was our first beach ride. We tried that before, with our previous tires, but with little success.
To our surprise, ExtraTerrestrials, when we lowered the pressure to less than 1 bar, allowed us to ride on packed beach with ease, and on loose, deep sand we were able to ride the bikes downhill without digging into it. They are far from being as agile on sand as proper fat tires, but to call them semi-fat is spot on – they allow a fully loaded, heavy bike to be at least pushed over loose sand, and that in the world of adventure touring, means a lot!
As a matter of fact, we covered over 150 kilometers on various beaches of the northern part of New Zealand, including the famous Ninety Mile Beach. During the low tide we were doing a steady 19km/h.
ExtraTerrestrials wide profile allowed us to explore areas, where we would never be able to ride with the standard 2.0 inches wide tires.
But where the tires really shine is gravel. We love gravel. If possible, we choose unpaved, bumpy roads over bitumen. They always guarantee fun and adventure. The new rubbers gave us something that we missed quite a lot when travelling on dirt roads – comfort! With the pressure lowered to around 1,5 bars, the tires were squishy enough to absorb the vibration of the road; they also made small corrugations and even egg-sized stones disappear!
With the right pressure, due to their volume, the tires provide a significant level of suspension. We both use suspension seatposts, but nothing isolates the rider better from the rocks and bumps than a decent amount of air in the tires.
We realized how much it changed the way we ride one day, when we were going downhill on a slightly corrugated, gravel road. Not only we could fully seat on our saddles without the need of standing on our pedals (important when you ride a heavy bicycle), but when we checked the speedometer we discovered, that we were rolling 52km/h on a treacherous road without a slight of fear. The tires literally stick to the surface, we never skidded on curves (unless we wanted to), never felt insecure.
We tested the tires thoroughly, doing over 1000 kilometers on the roads and paths of the very North of New Zealand. Without doubt they are perfect tires for us and the other adventurous cyclists, who travel long distances on rough surface roads. We wish we had them in Australia during our recent crossing of the Center; they will also shine in the Himalayas.
We had zero flats so far. The ExtraTerrestrials have a kevlar belt embedded in the carcass and so far we can say that it works. Will they last as long as the Mondials (12 – 15 thousands km)? Time will tell.
Are the ExtraTerrestrials worth a swap over more standard, Mondial tires? Definitely yes, if you are planning to do at least 20% of gravel roads. We highly recommend them for the Silk Route (especially for the Pamirs). We wish we had them with us when we did the Himalayas as well as in Australia, during our recent adventures.
We have been thinking more and more about getting new bikes, so that we could do some crazy stuff in the most remote locations. If Surly decides to release the ExtraTerrestrials in 29 3.0 we would sell our bikes straight away and build new machines.
We simply love our new set of rubber! We had a lot of fun using them and there was one moment, when after a long day spend on gravel roads we entered tarmac, and instead of being happy and relieved, we felt sad, cause we could no longer hear our favorite sound – the gravel being ground under the tires.
17 Responses to “Review: SURLY ExtraTerrestrial tires”
Nice review. Wish i could have some of those tyres but i think you are saying they aren’t made to fit 29inch wheels. Oh well!
There are roumours that Surly is working on 29 inches version. Considering the build of the tires it is worth waiting, I think. The question is, how wide will they make it. 3.0 would be perfect for Krampus and ECR, as well as Salsa Deadwood…
Ich denke auch Reifen für Reisen dieser Art solten auf jeden Fall breiter sein als 2″ . Ich bin erfreut daß Ihr jetzt so gut besohlt seit. Ich habe jedenfalls euren gesamten Reisebericht gelesen und nicht nur euren, einfach wunderschön.
Übrigens so wie eure Reifen den Geist aufgegeben hatten ist es bei Florian, den ihr in Australien getroffen habt, auch so gewesen. Meine Vermutung dazu ist: Die Felgen sind zu heiss geworden und das nicht nur einmal und es kann zusätzlich die Einwirkung der Sonne eine Rolle spielen. Der Draht(eure Schwalbe waren wohl Drahtreifen) hat die Wärme gut verteilt und das angrenzende Gewebe konnte das nicht mehr. Natürlich kommen noch weitere Stressfaktoren dazu wie Antriebskräfte, Stauchung und Zug (Federung) und Druckspannug (Reifendruck) hinzu.
Ich hoffe es euch weiterhin gut in Down Under und wünsche Euch alles Gute für Eure weitere Reise. Falls Ihr es plant den Donauradweg zurück zu kommen, wir wohnen ganz in der Nähe zu Donaueschingen schaut vorbei oder herein.
Liebe Grüße
Otto
Thanks guys, great review!
Nice review of the ETS. I suggest sticking with the 26″ tires. I have a Fargo and it was tough finding decent 29 ers in South America when I needed new tires. I’m in the process of finding a small steel frame to tour on. I want to really get off pavement. And I definately want to stick to 26″. I’m thinking about a Troll. I’m just not as comfortable on trails on the 29ers. Gravel and 2 tracks are fine but it feels unwieldy on single track.
Have fun and keep the rubber side down.
F
Good points! Finding replacement parts is always tricky, no matter the size of the wheel. In the middle of nowhere you would be limited to low-quality components anyway. Our friend had his rim shipped to him in Kyrgyzstan because there were no decent rims available in the entire region at that time. We were stuck in Leh in Ladakh, cause one of our Schwalbe tires failed and we did not want to continue cycling without a good spare tire.
26+ is definitely the perfect option for offroad cycling – relatively low spinning mass (closer to the axle as well), low center of gravity and the availability of most of the replacement parts in dodgy parts of the world is a plus. There is a growing hype for 27,5+, there will be more an more products available on the market in the future. I wish there was the same demand for 26+. There is one more interesting touring frame out there for 26′ 3.0 – https://www.crustbikes.com/products/the-frame-formerly-known-as-the-evasion?variant=11690564289 Crust Bikes Evasion. Check it out!
where your home-made front rack end up ? :) I think it didn’t proved itself as well as you wrote in ‘about’ section (which is way outdated, btw) ;]
And, excuse me, but I think you shouldn’t talk about gyro-forces while traveling with only one side-pannier in front (back).
As for the tires, I believe they are great, but if you planning to change your bikes to something like ECR, I would say some more offroad directed tires would be wise choice. ET tire is build for the bikes like LHT and yours, it doesn’t make sense to build a new off-road machine and stay with optimized on/off road tire. Just a waste of money. Try knard, chupacabra or dirty wizard if you building something new. I’m sure they are not so bad on asphalt too.
Crust frame looks like a nice one, Velo Orange Piolet is great too, but buying Crust you support small business and fellow traveler so I would say it one more + for crust ;]
Just my 2 cents, great trip, I wish more gear related posts in a future. Good luck!
We sent our self-made “platforms” home after Tubus sponsored us with their front and rear racks. Our racks (Swiss made) served us really well, we cycled all the way from Turkey to Thailand and crossed Indian and Nepali Himalayas with them. Our style of travelling had changed over the time and there were moments, where a slightly narrower front was needed.
The “about” section is indeed outdated. New one will be ready tomorrow!
When we start building new bikes, we will go for proper offroad tires, for sure! Maybe Schwalbes new Nobby Nick 3.0, together with Procore they would make a bombproof set! Dirt Wizards also look good!
More gear related posts coming soon!
I read this review twice when I was agonizing over running Surly Extra Terrestrials, switching from Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 26 x 2.15 Evolution. I made the switch (after also rebuilding my wheels with different rims) and have been riding locally testing them out.
I have a big trip coming up, and so far I’m pretty stoked with the tires.
I wrote a blog post about it: http://www.alwaysthewronggear.com/2016/08/more-about-extra-terrestrial-and-orange.html
Hey Brian, nice review! We only managed to ride on sand because it was packed, otherwise the tires are not wide enough to float on loose stuff. The ETs rock, the only issue is their durability. For light riding in cooler climate they are great, though.
Thanks!
Your blog is a damn fine adventure. I’d love to bike tour in Australia. It seems like everywhere I go from Banff, Canada, to Portland, Oregon, to Black Rock City, I run into Australians and they’re always a good time.
The URL for my travel blog changed a bit (oops) so here are the two posts related to the ETs:
http://www.alwaysthewronggear.com/blog/more-about-the
http://www.alwaysthewronggear.com/blog/surly-s-number-7-and-tubeless-extra-terrestrial
I was able to do some more riding on the tires, including more tarmac/bitumen/asphalt/pavement than I had wanted. I missed a turn from a paved highway to a parallel dirt road — there was a river between them. The tires held up well through all of the crap one finds on the side of the road, including seeing my first bald eagle, dead on the side of a highway.
First was 10 days at Burning Man, then 500 miles (805 km) of the Great Divide MTB Route, pausing for a few non-bike riding reasons.
As we both figured out, the ETs aren’t so good for soft and loose sand, including silt and fine dust. They slip a little on gravel over hard surfaces. Deeper, wet mud is problematic. Surly does say the ETs are meant for hard packed surfaces.
The good news is they’re spot-on rolling over gravel and dirt roads, broken pavement and small amounts of mud and compressed sand.
Yesterday I had my first puncture since installing the tires in August, but the tubeless sealant closed that up. I can only assume that’s the case since the tire was mysteriously at around 1 bar, instead of the normal 2.5-ish. Considering how much pointy debris I ride through around town and on the trips, that’s not bad. The rear tire is starting to show some wear, but it still has a long way to go.
In the US, Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 26 x 2.16 Evo are around $80 USD ($105 AUD) and the ETs are about $60 USD, so for the price, I’m still pretty happy.
I’m curious about snow …
We have now switched to Schwalbe Extreme 2.25 converted to ghetto tubeless, cause the ETs worn out while we were in the US. We miss the volume of the ETs! We loved them on gravel. Let us know how they perform on snow! Happy cycling!
I’ve been looking at the nearly-new pair of Mondial 2.15s sitting next to me in the “stuff to sell on eBay” area, and as irrational as it is, I wan to keep them.
Tomorrow I may try them tubeless (on DT Swiss FR570 rims).
Hey! 29 version is now available:
http://surlybikes.com/parts/tires/extraterrestrial_29_x_2.5
Are you going to sell your bikes now? Also what internal hubs are you running?
Hi Chris! Thanks a lot for that info, I had no idea about the 29′ version! Indeed, we are planning to get new bikes, but after 4,5 years on the road finding spare coins in our pockets is rather hard. Our next bikes will be for sure 29 3.0, so a bit chunkier than the new ETs. We both use Rohloff hubs, but for the new bikes we will probably go for Kindernay XIV (when it’s released).
I’ve been wondering about the wear. Mine seem to be holding up fine, but I’ve been sitting idle for a few weeks with only day rides around town (often through mud, thorns, wet sand … ) and commuting.
I still wish for a 2.5 version of the Marathon Mondial.