Kenda Small Block 8 first impressions/review.

Gwaredd

Thought I'd write a little review on these, as I keep seeing threads with people buying them, but no actual review as to how they perform.

First ride on my 2.35 Small Block 8's last night. First impressions after coming from my 2.2 mountain kings were how badly they roll in comparison. On a fire road haul, I felt I was working much harder. In fact, I was thinking of stopping & putting a bit more air in them, but persevered until we reach the trail entrance.

The trail soil was dry, loamy & crumbly last night. The MX bikes had been through there & left a load of feathery edges on the corners & left many many roots exposed, so it should have been a slippy dicey affair, but wow! The bumf in the reviews claims the SB8 is probably the grippiest tyre you will ride & I have to agree.

These things just dug in. period. I could place the front wheel anywhere & turn & it would just grip. low in the burm, high or anywhere in between. The rear just followed the front & refused to spin up despite how loose the soil was or if I stood up & applied power. Over the roots, the extra width was felt, with the tyre seemingly wrapping itself around them providing maximum purchase & cushioning. Always a good thing on a hardtail!

Onto some hardpack & they rolled much better, but a quick trip up onto the fire road proved that they don't like to roll on this type of surface as well as the contis did - but in every other aspect they have blown the mountain kings away.

Final test was a fast roll downhill in a rutted track. I made the rookie mistake of looking behind me to check where my mate was & veered off line. I was expecting a fairly heavy fall due to my body's balance being unprepared for a sudden lane change, but the SB8 squished & climbed the rut smoothly with no fuss, popping me down the other side. I'm positive had I had the conti's on, I'd have taken a tumble.

I need to have a play with the pressures & try to find a better balance between grip in the dirt & roll on the tracks, but so far I'm well chuffed with them & can't wait to try them at Afan.

abarth_1200

Hey thanks very much for that review, dont suppose you know what pressure you had in them.

Also how were they on road, Im looking for a fast rolling XC tyre that I can use at my local woods and cycling on the road to the woods.

Gwaredd

Had a play with the pressures last night. Pumped nice & hard (around 50psi) they were no better rolling on the gravel fire road. Slighter better on the tarmac, but absolutely terrible over bumps whilst on the trails.

I only rode about 5 minutes with them this hard, then let them down to what I had before, which was about 30 psi up front, 35-ish rear. Massive transformation in running them soft, & over hardpack they fly.

My mate has the 2.1's & has no issues with rolling on fire roads, so I'm guessing it's down to the extra width rather than any pressure issues. Once in the woods though, the extra effort needed on the fire roads is well worth it. I continue to be amazed at how well these grip.

flowpro

Intresting I've been thinking about buying these for a while.

Thanks for the review 8)

kona_matt

I've been running a 2.35 small block on the rear for about 6 weeks now and have been very impressed. fantastic on dry trails. i was a bit worried about how it would perform on a very wet day in afan but i needn't have been, it was awesome, really gripped the rock, better than the high roller i was running on the rear. was running about 40psi.

word of warning though, any sign of mud and the grip is gone in an instant. was out last night and really struggled to get the power down on the muddy patches. also had some very sketchy moments when i lost the back end but that kinda made things fun it's for this reason that i won't be putting one of these on the front, my local trail conditions usually involve at least a few patches of mud and i really don't fancy kissing a tree after losing the front end.

Pudseyp

Concur, a great tyre on a dry and dusty day...but in the wet they are terrible...especially on rooty rocky sections...I must for the summer (if we have one :? !!)

kona_matt

Pudseyp wrote:

...but in the wet they are terrible...especially on rooty rocky sections...

i disagree, i thought they were fantastic on the very wet rocks at afan. maybe try running them at a lower pressure?

Pudseyp

I got them on my Giant, and around Dellamere they were awful in the wet as it is very rooty...so switched to Nevegals...now it is all dry they are amazing..tried lowering the pressures and it did not help...they are designed more for dry use aswell

kona_matt

Pudseyp wrote:

I got them on my Giant, and around Dellamere they were awful in the wet as it is very rooty...so switched to Nevegals...now it is all dry they are amazing..tried lowering the pressures and it did not help...they are designed more for dry use aswell

fair enough.

this is why tyres are a minefield, everyone has a different opinion :?

Oxygen Thief

Not sure whether to get one for my front or not?! It is summer afterall, but I don't want buying one to mean I can't go out and enjoy myself if it rains!

Gazlar

Ive had mine on now a few weeks and I'm happy with them, I came from using Nevegal dtc 2.1s onto the sb8's dtc 2.1s and only noticed a minimal change in the grip, but they rolled much faster. I will in the slightly damper conditions experiment with a nevegal up front and an sb8 on back, but I'm happy

Northwind

Gwaredd wrote:

Had a play with the pressures last night. Pumped nice & hard (around 50psi) they were no better rolling on the gravel fire road. Slighter better on the tarmac, but absolutely terrible over bumps whilst on the trails.

That's too high, is why, the tyre will be having to go over every lump and bump instead of deforming round them, which slows you down.

Anyone who thinks they're bad in the wet has missed the point i'm afraid, they're extremely fast summer tyres, comparable in speed with racing ralphs, crossmarks etc. Comparing with nevegals is absurd really, that's like comparing a racecar with a tractor. But, for all that they're better in the wet than their direct competition. 10 Under The Ben was a nice test for mine, heavy rain and completely unsurfaced natural fall-line descents with 1000 people riding through them for 10 hours, total carnage but the SB kept on providing a minimal level of grip and kept me riding and pedalling where most people were pushing.

But, they're NOT all round tyres and will never do as well in the wet as a true allrounder like a Nevegal, that's just inescapable.

Gwaredd

Yes, I realised 50psi is too high (in fact, it's the tyre maximum limit) for going off road, but as explained, I was experimenting with the pressures to try & find the optimum limit for roll & grip.

By setting them at 50 psi, I would be able to determine on route to the trails if they rolled any better, as we start off on tarmac roads for about a mile, then onto smooth gravel fire road for about 2 miles. On the way, I would let some air out bit by bit until I noticed a distinct increase in drag & then I could judge how they performed in the woods at that pressure.

As it turned out, they rolled no better at 50psi than 30psi on the fire roads, so there was no need for the above to take place

Radioactiveman

Dont suppose anyone can compare these to 2.35 highrollers?

kona_matt

Radioactiveman wrote:

Dont suppose anyone can compare these to 2.35 highrollers?

i can indeed! only for a rear tyre. pretty much what i said above, ran a high roller on the rear for the winter mud. in dry conditions or wet rocky conditions i found the small block way better. faster rolling AND more grip.