Teravail Coronado 26 x 4.0 final thoughts – By Seth Bell

Howdy campers. You may remember that back in May (holy smokes, how is it already almost October?!) we received a pair of Teravail’s Light and Supple Coronado tires for testing. If you missed the initial review, check the link here: https://fat-bike.com/2018/06/teravail-coronado-26-x-4-0-review-by-seth-bell/ After riding the Coronados over the Summer, we’re here with a final review and score. During initial testing, the Coronados were swapped between three different bikes over the course of four weeks to explore different rim widths and terrain, and after that first whirlwind of testing and musical tires, the Coronados settled happily into full-time gravel travel duty on the Moots.

Teravail states on their website that “the 26 x 4.0 Coronado is designed specifically for summer riding in loose terrain”. North Central Iowa is no desert or beach, but you better believe that we have plenty of loose terrain here in the form of gravel… big, chunky, deep quarry gravel; precisely why I prefer to ride a fat-bike when I gravel ride.

After logging over 1500 miles on the Coronados, it was time for their biggest test – the DAMn (aka the Day Across Minnesota), a 240-mile gravel race from South Dakota to Wisconsin. The DAMn was to be the longest single effort I’ve made on a bike, but putting my trust in my equipment never kept me up at night; the Moots would be the rig, and it would be rolling on the Coronados.

I had no idea how good of a final test for the Coronados the DAMn would be, but if the course conditions didn’t match Teravail’s intended use description for these tires, I don’t know what else would. The first 30 something miles took us down many minimum maintenance roads (in the dark) that might as well have been beaches. Dry, fluffy, sand-like road surfaces that were rim deep at times had riders stalling out in their tracks and falling down everywhere; I’ve never seen anything like it. The Coronados cruised right through the nastiest of it without flinching. The front tire never pushed out on me as we had to make sudden corrections to dodge a stalled or crashed rider and the rear never spun out or wandered on me.

As the day dawned and the miles ticked by, the roads made of sand were gone, but the gravels continued to be extremely dry and powdery; the carved in tracks of skinny tires were everywhere. The couple rockier minimum maintenance sections were no problem for the Coronados, and they hummed down the handful of paved sections without excessive drag. During a couple of good descents as we got close to the Mississippi, the Coronados let me bomb downhill with confidence; no speed wobbles or loss of grip taking corners at higher speeds. After 18 hours of riding (19.5 hours total time on course), we made it to Wisconsin, done and dusted, but with zero mechanical issues.

As I write this post I’ve logged several hundred more miles on the Coronados since DAMn, and they’re still going strong. Not once during my time with the Coronados have I had a flat (and I’m running tubes!). For being the ‘Light and Supple’ version of this tire I figured they might possibly be a bit more puncture prone and wear out faster, but they have by far exceeded those expectations.

The only little nit that I can find to pick about the Coronados is that there’s a very fine line in dialing in that perfect air pressure; a touch too little in the front tire does create an Endomorph-like tendency to auto steer. My ideal gravel pressures ended up being 7psi front, 8psi rear. I drop each tire a psi each for rougher, mixed terrain rides. Keep in mind, this was on a 60mm rim while using standard fat-bike inner tubes, so your ideal pressure will surely vary. Never underestimate how much difference even a half of a psi can make! The Coronados aren’t a great choice for wet, greasy or muddy terrain, but they’re not supposed to be either.

Using these tires as a dry season gravel and mixed terrain tire over the Summer has been very enjoyable. I can say with confidence that these are the best gravel tires I’ve ever used on my fat-bike, and when I finish wearing out my test pair I will definitely be purchasing another set.

I give the Teravail Coronado 26×4.0 Light and Supple 4.75 out of 5 corndogs.

Corn Dogs… because, you know… Iowa.