Anyone out there have experience with these tires? How do they roll and how is their puncture resistance?
Dave in VA
bump
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Is that about a $30+ dollar clincher? I had a punture from some road debris that results in a large gash and had to stop at a LBS on the training route to pruchase a new tire. I ride Hutchinson and was hoping for a similar tire but the only Hutchinson tires the LBS had was the Fusion Long Distance and Air Lights and since both of my tires where pretty worn, I think I purchased 2 Kenda Kalientes which were less expensive. I installed the tires and rode off to meet the wife for the third hour of my training ride and the new tires saw only ~22 miles of use on reasonably good road surfaces. When we got home I noticed that one tire was losing small chunks (2-3mm) of the tread from the center tread line of the tire which exposed the inner chords. That tire got returned for a refund, the other Kenda is hanging in the garage having been replaced by Hutchinson Carbon Comp Gold Elite tires (on sale at Performance).
Not sure about Kaliente, but I’ve used Kenda Koncept tires in the past, which I found to be a sort of poor man’s Continental GP 3000 in that the road feel and puncture resistence is very good at first. However, once they start to show visible signs of wear they go real fast and are pretty scary in wet conditions. But then again, so are the Contis once the tread wears through a bit.
For the US$12 I paid for them they were good.
I use the Iron Cloak (puncture-resistant) Kenda Kalientes for race rubber and when I want to use the race wheels for a speedy training ride. Love 'em. Huge difference in wear and especially nicks/cuts resistance compared to the Hutchinson tires I used as race rubber 2&3 yrs ago. Those were horrible. I don’t remember exactly which Hutch model that was, except to say I usually don’t go with the absolute top of anyone’s line (for price reasons) and I don’t do funky “team replica” things either. Maybe that narrows it down some, maybe not. I might still have one at home (relegated to windtrainer duty) and I’ll repost with an update on model if I do.
Had really poor experience with the Kenda Koncepts as trainers, also.
Anyone else?
I have them and I love them so far. They ride great but I only have about 150 miles on them. They seem to be holding up but it’s really too soon to tell. You gotta love the price though.
i went through a rash of flats last year so my lbs recommended the kendra kaliente. i have to say after almost a year of riding on them, they’re no better than what i was using before. i’m still getting flats at the same rate.
I put nearly 3,000 miles on a set before I had to replace them. That included quite a bit of trainer riding over the winter.
followup on Hutch model as promised: Carbon Comps are what I hated. The CC Elite/Elite Gold may have been better, but I didn’t want to spend that kind of $ back then.