Great all around tire. They came stock and for wet/dry surfaces they rock.

I have tried them in heavy mud and they get sketchy with the 2.0s

Great tire for the bike. I used this tire in my first race and with the exception of a 30 degree offset tree root on the jungle portion of the track it was great.

Similar Products Used:

Going through all the Kenda's

Light, surprising rolling resistance considering knobby profile, casing seems fairly stiff which helps when running low pressures

A bit weak in the corners for a knobby tire- it hooks up fairly well but when it breaks loose it does so unpredictably, unlike many of the other tires I have raced and trained on.

My gripe with these tires is that they are a knobby that just doesn't hook up in the corners like I expect from something with the profile that these have. They do roll quite a bit faster than a lot of knobby tires out there, and are definitely something I'll keep around for races on looser courses, but I've spent a lot of time on tires that roll faster and hook up as well in the corners. When these tires break loose in hard turns, they tend to slide almost uncontrolably. There are a lot of options out there that drift more predictably and roll faster. While other options might not corner as well, they are very close and offer similar or lighter weight with less rolling resistance. Overall I'd say these are great all-around tires but for racing I want either something slick and fast for dry courses or knobby and aggressive for muddy, loose courses. These tires are a compromise that are very good at both but aren't great at either.

Similar Products Used:

Hutchinson, Michelin, Geax, Specialized, Continental

Light weight, low rolling resistance, traction on wet roots and rocks.

Subject to flats when run tubeless at pressures below 30 psi.

These tires grip like velcro in both wet and dry conditions. I continue to be amazed on how well they hold on steep technical climbs and decents. I even run them on hard packed snow and they do really well on it too.
Anyone who races or rides where trails can be slick will love these tires. larger riders will probably want to run the 2.2 version.

Similar Products Used:

Specialized Eduro, Captains, WTB Weirwolfs

These are light tires. They grip very well too; traction is consistent and never a problem. I got them cheap, but for their weight and reliability, I think they're a good deal.

None to speak of.

I got these tires lightly used, and they've performed marvelously. They are good at a number of different surfaces with their only real weakness being small loose gravel (at high speed). These are definitely xc tires. They can take speed and rough stuff but not so much together. They like rocks, but at slow speeds and they love flying up and own singletrack. I would definitely not be cheap and buy this tire new again when the current set wears out.

Similar Products Used:

Crap

grips very well in new england, even the the wet. very light and fast.

side wall kinda thin but its where u save some of your weight.

very good race tire, light, low rolling resistance, good grip in dry or wet conditions.

Similar Products Used:

kenda nevegel

Really good traction in dry terrains, in mud very good too.
low rolling resisnace, and very light.

spent quickly.

Rides very well on all terrains types. When you go fast on road sound really cool.

Light weight.

Very unstable (squirrelly).

I'm a causal racer, 150/5'9 riding full suspension XC. My friend gave a pair of Karma's to me because he said the were "a little squirrelly" for him. I thought my standards for tire handling were low enough to easily tolerate squirrelly. I was wrong. In all but some very specific conditions these tires should be considered hazardous for people who turn.

I've never ridden a mtb tire so unstable. I have no idea what's going on but I'll take some guesses. As people have mentioned in other reviews of this tire, there is a seemingly very thin sidewall, this might affect turning stability. There is also a large gap between the center tread blocks and the outer tread blocks, this might also be causing problems. Finally, the shape of the outer blocks is a little strange, sloping to the outside, I wonder if this also contributes to instability in turns.

Anyhow, I'm giving a rating of 2 because I've only ridden these tires a couple of times so I can't make the rating a definitive 1. No, I'm not giving them a second chance, they're being passed on to some other "friend".

pretty good traction on dry tracks

super weak sidewalls

Not a bad tire minus blowin through the sidewalls after only three months of riding. good traction but the sidewall weakness is a major concern. 4 for value 3 for the overall rating

Similar Products Used:

kenda komodos

Light (425g,2.0),Grips great when dry on all but roots and loose gravel. Reasonable price for a race tire. Surprised me in mud and wet sand/soil.

Very poor on wet roots. OK on wet rocks.

Newbie to Racing. 5'4", 150 lbs. Bought this tire end of season last year and been racing it all this year.
This tire is a great racing tire. When its dry I am really surprised how well it hooks up. It gets pretty dicey when on wet roots. Packed forest soil corners are very grippy.
Local race is Canadian Shield on a ski hill. Lots of rocks/roots. Technical Climbs on rocks/roots.
I find this tires get AWSOME grip when I run them at around 25 psi but due to the nature of our local XC course I am finding I need to run around 35 psi for pinch flat protection when racing. At higher pressure when racing I have to concentrate on my line/momentum and keeping my butt on the seat on technical climbs.
I am a slow climber but I make a ton of time up on the downhills. I let it all hang out so they can handle it a bit rough. I am riding FS though with a decent front fork.
Raced Summer Solstice 24 hr race. Had rain at night and managed not to fall. Other riders going down all over the place, some with mud tires, so the Karmas surprised me. Also made wet STEEP sandy power climbs.
Wear has been good. I expect to get the whole season out of these tires plus two 24 hr solo rides. Knobs only showing very little wear, no lost knobs for over half a season racing/riding(say 50-60 hrs hard riding)
Bottom Line. I love this tire as a racing tire. Altho sometimes a bit squirly, if you have the confidence to keep pedaling they seemed to eventually hook up. Only time I am a bit cautious is on angled wet roots. I have ordered a second set so I have spares :)

Similar Products Used:

Kenda Nevegals, Panaracer XC Fire Pro, Nokian NBX.

Low rolling resistance - when ran tubeless with stans.
Pretty good grip - when ran tubeless with stans with low pressure.

Super light - 450g for 2.0.

Grip is nonexistent if you run with tubes with 30+ PSI.

When putting stans in, it will take a while for the tire to seal, due to thin sidewalls. But that's the tradeoff to a lighter weight.

This is an XC tire. Run this with stans with lightweight rims. Put tubes on it, and the grip is nonexistent.

I thought about ditching this tire before I decided to stan it. Before stans, I was running 30psi. Grip sucks, bad tire, outright dangerous.

After stans, 23psi, grip is great, low rolling resistance. A really great tire.

If you're putting stans in, do it when it is new. Thin sidewalls will take a while for the stans to seal it up, and it will take quite some time for it to stop leaking air.

Rating is with tubeless stans setup. I would give this tire 1 chili if I was running with tubges.

Similar Products Used:

Exiwolf