Kenda small block 8

bike husband

hi I am in need of replacing my Racing Ralaphs 2.1, which overal I have been pleased with, except they do seam to wash out at the front a little.however I have been reading good stuff about the kenda small block 8 what do you guys think? [My riding is mainly XC fast fire track some single track no real rocks or roots [20miles plus most weekdays]plus about 15 miles road use each day, then thetford most weekends.Not worried about the mud for when its wet I swap to my Nobby nics ]

BlackSpur

They are very very good. Absolutely fly on hardpack or tarmac, especially if you put some pressure in. Grip is outstanding apart from in thick claggy mud and even then they clear faster than you'd expect. Good value and pretty good against punctures.
They do come up wide though, the 2.1 ias a nice all round size.

drumon

I like them, great for roads, tarmac, stoney gravel roads.
Predictable if they slide on mud. Good cornering on tarmac, not squirmy.
Very fun to ride because they roll and roll on dry ground and tarmac!

Wet mud is the only not so good bit, but its Summer now! 8)

Northwind

They are ace, as's been said they're not great at deep mud or loose surface mud, but they're also not terrible, because of the speed they clear. I imagine on really claggy, sticky mud they'd be a disaster, mind.

But they're so good at everything else, fantastic really. I've used the 2.1 and 2.35, they're both quick and the 2.35 is stupidly grippy, but the downside is it's quite heavy- the 2.1 is a sensible weight bearing in mind how tough it is, it's no race tyre (which to me is good news!) and still very good grip.

Only thing I'd say is that I 've ended up with slightly less pressure than I run my nevegals at, to get them to hook up better on roots and rock steps etc, otherwise they can be a wee bit spinny on the power (though even with 5psi less they're still far faster than the nevegals) and their side grip (ie for traversing, or climbing out of ruts) isn't anything like as good as their general grip which can catch you out- you get used to them sticking to everything like glue. They're not bad at it, just that it's weak compared to everything else they do.

All in all, top tyres. I think they just won the WMB test as well, there was a comment "Everyone who's tried these has bought a set of their own". I had mountain king 2.2 supersonics before, and those were slower and less grippy (not to mention narrower than the Kenda 2.1s, and more expensive, and I'm sure more fragile and faster wearing)

But, I'm a Kenda fanboy so, take that into account

Naveed

I second Northwind on the lower pressure advice - I run them a lot lower than my nevegals and now they stick to pretty much anything.

bike husband

Thanks guys for the feed back, think Iam going to give them a try