Submitted by
Tim Blabbing
a Weekend Warrior
from Ottawa, Ontario Canada Date Reviewed: October 11, 2009
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Strengths:
Fastest, smoothest tire I've ever used. Traction in varying conditions is surprisingly good.
Weaknesses:
Ridiculous manufacturing discrepancies. Heavy.
Similar Products Used:
Continental Diesel Pro (kevlar bead) 2.5: 788 grams, good tire for volume, rolls good.
Continental Petrol Pro (kevlar bead) 2.5: 760 grams, good tire for volume, rolls good. Probably a rear-specific tire.
IRC Trailbear (kevlar bead) 2.5: 970 grams, 190 grams heavier than IRC claims, does not roll good.
IRC Backcountry 2.25: Worst front tire I've ever owned. Rolls poorly. Width is not impressive.
Ritchey Z-Max 2.35: Best cornering front tire I've ever owned. 788 grams for wire bead.
Kenda Kinetics (steel bead) 2.35: around 1,200 grams. Very cheap, confused tire (downhill weight and sidewall stiffness with XC width) that rolls horribly.
Kenda K-Rad 2.3 (steel bead): 876 grams. Fast and smooth.
Maxxis Harddrive (kevlar bead) 2.1: Very impressive tire. Fastest tire I've ever owned. 522 grams. O.K. volume. Not a wet conditions tire.
WTB Motoraptor (kevlar bead) 2.4: Around 850 grams. Much faster and lighter than the IRC Trailbear, but not a fast tire. More burly than the Continental Diesel Pro 2.5, but slower.
Vredstein Black Panther 2.35 (kevlar bead): Good volume, very light at 688 grams, quite fast rolling. Better than the above Continentals for the riding I do.
Bike Setup:
Giant STP with Sun MTX rims (34 mm wide)
Bottom Line:
In my opinion, this is a seriously underrated tire that few people seem to know about. I cannot think of any situation where a K-Rad would be better. I've not ridden Holy Rollers, but they are slightly heavier, I've heard Maxxis tires run narrower than spec'd, and I don't see how they'd run any faster than Kiniptions with their more open tread pattern.
I've run these tires for over 6 months. I got them used on a junk bike I bought, and they were not new, then. These tires have been very durable, incredibly fast, and have worked perfectly well even for the trail riding in Gatineau Park that I do. I suspect that most people do not take corners hard enough to need "knobbier" tires than these. With good riding technique (proper weighting and smoothness) these tires perform well-enough on trails that the resultant speed from the lack of knobs cannot be ignored. Off road, I run these at 25 psi; on road I've never used them above 32 psi. I weight 195 - 200 lbs. with all my gear. Further, in the rain they have surprisingly good traction. They have lots of traction, and when they break they do so predictably. Definitely, these tires are not suited to mud or sand or wet, offroad conditions. In dry, reasonably hardpacked conditions, they work very well. They do not do well in gravel. In all urban conditions they are awesome.
My peeves: these tires have a bit of a pointy profile. I like wide and flat. At 30 psi they have a width of 2.150". Further the weights are ridiculously spread out. Kenda claims 840 grams, +- 47. One of my tires is 758 grams, the other 840. That's a discrepancy of almost 10%. While I'm glad that I lucked out on a light tire, why can't Kenda just make all their Kiniptions be 758 grams? At 840 grams they are heavy, but urban tires generally are, and the uniformity of tread (less open spaces means more rubber) is what makes them roll so beautifully. These would be perfect if they were lighter (I doubt very few people use more than 90 deg. of the tread, although it wraps around 180 deg. of the tire, so just remove some of the tread), actually measured 2.3" and/or had a flatter or rounder/less pointy profile, and actually met manufacturer specifications.
Despite all my peeves, these are outstanding tires and I do highly recommend them.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Goldvice
a Cross Country Rider
from Seattle, WA, USA Date Reviewed: May 29, 2009
Favorite Trail:
N/A
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$20.00
Purchased At:
Amazon
Strengths:
Excellent grip on dry pavement, good cornering on pavement, good grip on wet pavement. Good stopping distance. Reasonably good roll resistance. Long wear. Reasonably good on grass and wet grass.
Weaknesses:
Slightly stiff ride compared to knobby tires. Downhill or areas with lots of loose dirt.
Bike Setup:
2008 GF Pirahna, X-O Grip Shifters
Bottom Line:
This tire is hands down one of the best choices for riders who like to be able to cross a patch of grass or gravel without having the ground slip out from beneath themselves. Gravel and hard packed dirt are no problem for the sticky rubber on these tires. If you plan on leaving the pavement better your tires in the dirt than your face in the dirt. I've ridden these plenty in heavy downpours on slick pavement and they're plenty stable. I had no slipping even while cornering.
Stopping distance is great also. They're slicker than a knobby, and they'll go into a skid on pavement if you break hard, but even in a skid on dry pavement stopping distance is probably about four feet when traveling around 12 miles per hour.
They're slightly heavy but not enough to make them feel heavy. The price is also reasonable.
BTW, whoever posted this section spelled the model wrong, it's Kenda Kiniption, not Kinption.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Ville
a
from Finland Date Reviewed: March 27, 2008
Favorite Trail:
Flowy trails
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Price Paid:
$33.00
Purchased At:
Local shop
Strengths:
VERY good grip when its dry. Rolls great. Looks great. trend tire in streetbikes. Looks fantastic. Enough light compared to other street tyres.
Weaknesses:
Durability, you may need two pairs of them for 1 season if you are riding more than once a week. Glass and sharp little stones are like mines for this tire.
Similar Products Used:
Nokian XXX, hookworms, panaracers similar tyre...
Bike Setup:
Cannondale Chase
Bottom Line:
Very good street tyre for smooth riders and weight weenies. Some say they will get snakebites easily, but thats only half true! If you use proper tyre pressures and try not to break it by purpose it will last as long as tyre should. I have tried multiple tyres for this kind of riding and only 1 i think could be better is tioga fs100.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Martin
a Downhiller
from berlin, germany Date Reviewed: November 25, 2006
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Price Paid:
$15.00
Strengths:
cheap, look like snakeskin when wet, good sidewall protection (rim to rim profile)
Weaknesses:
accelleration (heavy), puncture resistance, grip when wet (feels like soap), snakebites every week
Similar Products Used:
Ritchey tomslicks (less flat Tires though 1.0 !), many others
Bike Setup:
daBomb Cherry Bomb, sherman, hayes ...
Bottom Line:
one of my bigger disappointments in ten years of mountainbiking, this Tire is labeled "street", weights nearly as much as other real street tires and offers the protection of a road tire. My tubes now nearly consist of patches. Don't waste your money.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
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