Kenda’s been working on some new tires at the top end of their road range, borrowing mountain bike treads for their cyclocross offerings and built up their first ever urban track / fixie tire.
At left, the top three tires are their new Kaliente Pro. It’s been in development for about two years, tested under the Kenda Pro Cycling Team, and features their new R2C (Road 2 Compound), which is a road-going version of their dual tread compounds found on their MTB tires. This is the first time they’ve developed a dual compound design for the road.
It has their Iron Cloak puncture protection from bead to bead, protecting both the tread and sidewall from pokes and cuts, and a diamond-pattern tread on the edges for a little extra grip when cornering. The clincher design has a 120tpi casing and works up to 125psi. It’ll be available in April 2011. Weight is TBD, but should be around 210g. MSRP $49.99. (click image to enlarge for detail)
On the bottom is the all-new, top-of-the-line Kountach clincher. It’ll be available in a 700x23c only, also with 125psi limit and 120tpi casing, and will come in the all black version shown and black/white, black/red and black/green. The main difference between this tire and their other top end slick road tires is the introduction of the ICB (Iron Cloak Belt). Rather than run the puncture protection from bead to bead, the Kountach only has it under the tread block, which reduces weight and makes the sidewall more supple. Estimated weight is about 180 – 190g, and it’ll be available late spring/early summer 2011. Pricing not set.
What? No Road Tubeless yet? Well, read on past the break for the “why” and to see the new ‘cross and urban tires…
So, if you’ve had a chance to ride Road Tubeless, you’ll understand why we’re pretty excited about it. It’s supple, it’s lighter (20g of sealant versus 100g of tube) and you can run slightly lower pressures. Read this post if you want to know why you should try running lower pressure even on the road. Anyway…
Stefano Lumbuca, Kenda’s road marketing and product development guy, said they’re working on a tubeless road tire that’ll use their new SCT rubber compound (Sealant Compatible Tire) so you can run it either way. It’s been in development for a while, and like the other brands, one of the hurdles is mass producing it while keeping the bead tolerances super tight. With tubeless, the goal is a bead that doesn’t stretch…as in 0%…which means getting it right is super important if you want it to also fit the tire and stay on. He said they will likely have it ready to show at Taipei in March, which means it’ll probably be available to you sometime later that year or early next if we had to guess.
On the left is Kenda’s Karvs, their first tire made just for the urban track bike / fixed gear rider and commuters that like to get a little rowdy pedaling to and fro. Its rubber compound and flat protection are designed specifically for those that like to (or have to) skid a lot. It’ll be available in 700×23, 25 and 28 widths in black, white, green and red. Pricing not set.
In the middle, which we’ve shown briefly in the past, is the John Tomac Slant Six tire in cyclocross form. Kenda says it’s “fast and versatile for intermediate terrain” and will come in 700×32 and 700×35 sizes. They’ll have an SCT version for those that want to run tubeless, which should be awesome for ‘cross.
On the right is the Eric Carter Happy Medium cyclocross tire. Like the Slant Six, it mimics the mountain bike version’s tread pattern, making this the choice for dry conditions. It’ll be available in 700×32, 35 and 40c widths with DTC and SCT options.
Both of the ‘cross tires will be available by the start of the 2011 cyclocross season, MSRP will be $47.99.
