I rarely stick with a tyre for long, and almost never use them long enough to wear them out, which is par for the course for someone in my position. However, something about the Hutchinson Touareg HardSkin kept me interested over the last couple of years.
I found it to be a fit-and-forget tyre in its HardSkin casing; you can run it at super-low pressures and really push it into corners; there is always some grip, even when it is clogged with mud; and it is incredibly durable, arguably one of the best gravel bike tyres. It had one major flaw, though: it was incredibly slow.
So, has Hutchinson revitalised this great tyre by giving it a ‘racy’ upgrade? Or has it lost its identity amid the bicycle industry’s unrelenting pursuit of ‘speed’?
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Design details
The Touareg Race shares much of its DNA with the Hutchinson Caracal Race I tested last year, and is also made in France. It uses the well-proven SwiftEasy casing, which is considerably more supple and reduces rolling resistance. Alongside the brand’s Mach Tread 3.0 rubber, Hutchinson claims that the changes have increased the Touareg’s efficiency by 35%.
Not much made here these days, even Renault only make vans in France now
(Image credit: Matt Ischt-Barnard)
That’s a hefty number, even when compared to a tyre as slow as the Touareg. A quick fact-check on BicycleRollingResistance.com makes this abundantly clear: The HardSkin costs you nearly 30 watts in the 40mm version, let alone the 45mm I ran. According to BRR, that number is now just 16 watts for the 40mm, which is only 2 watts slower than the Caracal Race, a considerably less knobby tyre.
Available in 40, 45 and 50mm, my 45mm test set weighed 554g/1.2lbs, which is surprisingly 30 grams lighter than the Caracal Race 45mm. The Touareg Race is also offered with Hutchinson’s GridSkin casing. This added protection, found on the brand’s road tyres, is said to offer increased ‘bead-to-bead’ protection, at the cost of around 30-40 g per tyre.
A very respectable weight of just 554 grams/2.1oz
(Image credit: Matt Ischt-Barnard)
Performance
Hutchinson typically makes easy-to-fit tyres, as was the case here. You can thumb them on, and they still feel reassuringly sturdy and well-fitted.
Inflation was just as easy, and I did it with just a floor pump. I found I had to hold the tyre flat at the valve to force the casing against the rim wall, and I needed an additional 4-5 pumps to get it going. This isn’t unusual, and a good reminder to replace my rim tape and valves.
Once inflated to 40psi/2.7 bar, my calipers measured the tyres at 47mm on 25mm internal hookless rims.
As expected, the Touareg Race is considerably faster than the HardSkin version. However, the biggest gains come on fine, hardpack gravel surfaces, where it overlaps considerably with the Caracal Race. Where I’d hoped to see improvement was on much chunkier, looser surfaces. While it is faster than its predecessor, it just doesn’t feel as spritely as the Caracal despite sharing much of the same DNA.
Despite the HardSkin version being a tyre I ran pretty low, I’d settled on the high 30s, around 37/38 psi for the Caracal, which struck a nice balance between speed, grip, and suppleness – and where I decided to start with the Touareg. Like its sibling, I didn’t find the Touareg’s sweet spot until I dropped well below 35, closer to 30psi.
They may be small, but rather mighty
(Image credit: Matt Ischt-Barnard)
Dropping pressure, as expected, increased compliance and, thankfully, speed on looser surfaces. It’s always a tread I felt I could really rail, mainly because I knew the HardSkin version wouldn’t fold or puncture; this feeling thankfully returned at lower pressures. It’s clear the Touareg just needs to deform more, which I always put down to the HardSkin’s tough casing, but it’s more about how the tread interacts with the casing.
It’s those micro-knobbles that make me believe the Touareg is much more of an intermediate tyre than Hutchinson markets it as, and its crossover with the Caracal is only really in the ‘Race’ branding. I have always believed the Touareg to be a great wet- and mud-tyre. Because the knobs are so small, they rarely pick up much, but what they do pick up clears very quickly, meaning there is always ‘some’ grip.
The directional tread doesn’t hinder performance at all
(Image credit: Matt Ischt-Barnard)
It’s when you point the Touareg uphill and bank it hard into corners that the difference between the two becomes more like night and day, especially on the slimy chalk we have in abundance here on the South Downs , located in South East England. The Touareg rarely lets go, turning hard efforts and big loads into excellent forward momentum regardless of how hard you push it.
During my testing for the Caracal, I got a big tyre slash on a long, hard-packed gravel fire-road section; I put it down to bad luck.
Just as I was penning my thoughts on the Touareg, it happened again. Fairly tame trail, admittedly, with some flint around, but totally flat, fast, and well-trodden, the kind of trail and road you might see in a gravel race. Massive gash in the tyre. So, that’s two tyres written off in under 1,000km.
In the past, Hutchinson has offered almost too much durability at the expense of speed; with the Race tyres, they seem to have gone too far the other way. While they do offer the newer Grid Skin version, given I have had maybe one puncture in the last 5 years or more, and two on similar tyres in quick succession, I have to pin it on Hutchinson.
Tyre mismatching is very common in mountain biking, but is there a case for it in Gravel?
(Image credit: Matt Ischt-Barnard)
Value
Of course, the Touareg is now much faster; while the Caracal is still the faster, more spritely tyre, the Touareg is more consistent and, in my opinion, still one of the best all-round gravel tyres. It also thankfully retains its ability to be pushed hard and ridden more like a mountain-bike tyre than a gravel one.
My big takeaway comes from Hutchinson marketing, which says, “The Touareg Race is the cornerstone of the ‘Ultimate Combo’, when paired with a Caracal Race at the rear.” Tyre mismatching is very common in mountain biking, and I discussed it briefly in my Caracal review after getting that near-ride-ending puncture.
That was more about optimising protection versus speed, but my time on the Caracal and now the Touareg Race is really starting to make me think, and something I’m going to dedicate some time to testing over the winter.
Cost-wise, Hutchinson continues to undercut its competitors and the big players in the market by maintaining its £55/€60 price point across its Race-branded tyres. US pricing is unconfirmed at the time of writing, but direct currency conversions suggest it will remain a bargain across the pond, if you can get hold of some.
However, a tyre is only good value if it’s durable and can outlast or last as long as the more expensive options. Unfortunately, Hutchinson’s Race format tyre doesn’t seem to be cutting the mustard. I was ready to give the Touareg a 4.5-star rating, but I had to reduce it for this reason.
Tech specs
- Price: £55
- Size: 700 x 45mm
- Weight: 554g/2.1oz (on my scales)
- TPI: 127
- Compound: Mach Tread 3.0
- Sidewall: Tan, Black
