Bontrager GR2 Team Issue TLR Gravel Tyre

The Bontrager GR2 Team Issue TLR Gravel Tyre is lightly treaded yet fast and light, and still robust enough to cope with pretty much anything you can throw under it. A great fit-and-forget tyre, as long as it's not too muddy.

The GR2 Team Issue is designed for fast-rolling performance and biting traction on even the most rugged gravel roads, and this test pair has been ridden over every single road and off-road surface you could imagine and come out smiling.

As you can see from the photos, the tread comprises some closely spaced wedge-shaped blocks that run down the centre of the tyre, almost a solid line but not quite; shouldering that are some angled, long-sided hexagon knobs that are spaced slightly further apart; and outside of this are two lines of tread with even larger gaps between them.

The pattern looks very much like a micro version of a fast cross-country mountain bike tread – you can see the family resemblance to the Bontrager XR1 mountain bike tyre if you squint (and are familiar with the XR1...).

The central tread pattern means the GR2 is a swift tyre on tarmac, with those closely spaced centre knobs helping to keep the speed up, and it's a tyre that really gets it on with a satisfying high pitched road hum when it hits high revs. The only time the GR2s struggled on road was on really steep uphill pitches when they felt pretty sticky.

The profile of the GR2 is well rounded with no square edges or sudden tread transitions, which means you can lean it over with confidence knowing that nothing weird is going to happen suddenly. It can be cranked over on and off road, remaining reassuringly surefooted on both, although the shallow tread means it tends to wash out on looser terrain if pushed.

Setting them up tubeless, one tyre went up instantly and the other was a bit of a pain and benefited from having an inner tube inside and pumped up and left overnight to help shape the tyre and set the bead. Since then there hasn't been any issue.

Fitted on 26mm-wide rims, the GR2s puffed up exactly to their stated 40mm girth. they only come in this 700 x 40mm, size but you do get the choice between full black or tan walls. Some might prefer a selection of 700C widths and 650B sizes to suit their bike and gravel preferences, but I think that for its intended purpose this size is absolutely spot on. That said a 650B x 50mm version would be an absolute hoot.

Both tyres on test came in well under the claimed weight of 435g at 414g, which makes them light for this size gravel tyre, and it certainly helps towards their nippy character: there was no noticeable lag in rotating them up to speed. Yet they still seem to be quite robust, too.

There are downsides to the tread pattern, though. The tightly packed central tread means you can get rear tyre slip off-road on steep or loose climbs, although that can be mitigated somewhat by playing with tyre pressure and running them as soft as you dare.

And it really isn't designed for mud as the shallow tread packs up and becomes a gravel donut incredibly quickly; the wider spaced outer lugs don't seem to make much difference to clag clearance either, as they're not particularly proud of the carcass.

The GR2 is an okay tyre if it's just a bit puddly or it only has to deal with patches of tacky terrain, but it's not great at all for anything properly muddy over prolonged periods. But to be fair, that's not its designed operational arena.

Sidewall strength

The tyres come with Bontrager's Inner Strength casing that promises lightweight sidewall protection and it appears to work. While punctures to the treaded part of a tyre can easily be dealt with by tubeless sealant most of the time, and a plug for more serious issues, it's sidewall rips and gashes that can be a real Achilles' heel of tubeless tyres. I've had to annoyingly internally patch up a few in my time, but there haven't been any issues with the GR2s – no sidewall fraying or scuffs even, and they've done enough travelling to show some scars.

That sidewall protection doesn't seem to affect suppleness either – the 120tpi casing is light and flexible, and it took some experimenting to find the perfect pressure between too harsh and clunking out on the odd sharp edge.

Where the GR2s shine is being a gravel tyre that can be taken pretty much anywhere; it has impeccable manners in a large variety of situations, without being a liability at any point. I took them on every off-road surface you could imagine, from high grade hardpacked gravel via wooded singletrack to rock-spiked dirt trails that would have been far better navigated on a mountain bike; my gravel bike goes everywhere, and is sometimes the victim of online routing quirks and over-zealous riding, but the only thing that has held them back has been tyre volume, nothing else.

Value

At £52.99, the GR2 Team Issue is a similar price to many rivals – though a lot less than some.

The similar one-size-only mode WTB Vulpine TCS, in this case a skinny 36mm, straddles the Bontrager, costing £55 with SG2 puncture protection and £49.99 without. While it's a more treaded tyre overall, it comes with a central tread that's a closely spaced strip. The side tread is still tightly spaced but chunkier than the Bontrager, and in his review Matt was surprised and impressed by the grip it gave off-road and the speed it offered on tarmac, but pondered how much nicer a larger size would be if your bike could accommodate it.

The Vittoria Terreno Dry is also £49.99 and, again according to Matt, it's grippier than the hexagonal scales that form the bulk of the tread might indicate, and the more pronounced side lugs help with traction on turns and off-camber stuff. Though he found the puncture protection was effective but compromised suppleness.

> Buyer’s Guide: 10 of the best gravel bike tyres

Another one to consider is Panaracer's GravelKing SK TLC. Rachel tested an earlier version on off-road.cc back in 2017 and was impressed; it's now £49.99, so still a fiver less than the Bonty. The tougher GravelKing SK+ with greater puncture protection is a bit pricier at £54.99.

The GR2 Team Issue is a lot cheaper than the Schwalbe G-One R, though, which is sitting somewhere north of £70 at rrp, but if you want speedy and supple but a bit fatter then according to Matt's review on off-road.cc it might be worth a look in its 45mm guise. He loved both its speed and grip.

Conclusion

In dry conditions these are very much a fit-and-forget tyre that will roll you over anything you might put underneath them. They wear well too: these have done a lot of general mucking about rides and long days and have also been overladen with bikepacking bags for over two weeks and ridden across the full smorgasbord of road and off-road surfaces. The rear tyre is showing some wear, as you might expect given what it's had to put up with, but the only issue they've had has been a 3mm gash that would only intermittently seal with sealant, so I shoved a tubeless plug in and it's been fine since. New favourite tyre.

Verdict

Nippy on road and copes with most things off, light and yet sturdy too, a lovely thing