For cyclocross, Kenda wanted a knobby in between the regular Kommando and the Kwicker, which are for dry and muddy conditions respectively.
The new Kommando X Pro version is made to excel in everything from pretty dry to pretty wet. The knobs are taller and more widely spaced.
It’s designed to be run in different directions in the rear depending on conditions. The front edges have a slight ramp and “V” patterns to roll and corner quick in the dry. The trailing edges are flatter to provide better bite in the wet.
It’s available in SCT (Sealant Compatible Tire), so it can be run tubeless. It has a layer of proprietary woven material on the sidewalls from the bead to just under the first side knobs. This adds structural strength and adds another boundary layer to keep air in, letting the sealant focus its energy more under the tread.
Check that and some new road and mountain bike wheels below…
Sizing is a 700×33 that’s supposedly an actual UCI-friendly 33 as tested on lots of popular rims, including Stan’s Iron Cross. Weight is 415g, retail is $45.
We spotted the Nevegal X Pro mountain bike tire at Eurobike and, while we still don’t have the exact weights, we’re getting closer.
They dropped from 60 to 160 grams off the original Nevegal thanks to a 120tpi casing across the range and modified knob heights based on wheel size. The 29er has lower knob heights since it has a larger contact patch. Weights are still not 100% final, but they’ll be significantly lighter. All will be SCT initially, they may offer a lightweight tube type version later, but the SCT casing is tougher.
Sizes are: 26 x 2.1/2.35 – 27.5 x 2.1/2.35 – 29 x 2.20
The Kountach Endurance is their new high performance training tire that’s basically race ready with a bit of extra puncture protection. They looked at competitors’ flat protection tires to see what was good and what they could improve on. They found that most were really decent at protecting from flats but suffered from less than race-level ride quality.
It starts out with a 120tpi casing with bead to bead Kevlar, but that’ll only do so much. Kevlar can still be cut, but it’s light, so they had a choice.
With the Kriterium Endurance, they embedded K-Shield. It’s a green rubber elastomer (left) with ceramic and Kevlar embedded in it. That’s placed under the tread and prevented punctures but was a bit heavy and hurt ride feel a bit.
Since the Kountach is their higher performance tire, they simply went with a dual layer, biased ply of Kevlar, with the second layer only under the center tread. That saved about 25-30 grams on the 700×23, and about 40g for a 700×25. Tire weights are about 235g (23c) and 260g (25c). Retail is $70, about $5 more than the standard Kountach.
They have a Kevlar bead, too, not carbon, so they don’t recommend running them tubeless. That said, they are working on a road tubeless tire.
The last one is the new Kwick Tendril Endurance city tire (pictured in background in group pic). It has their Iron Cap protection that is a bit cheaper than their Iron Cloak since it’s a blend of Kevlar and synthetic fabric. It puts the K-Shield under the tread for dual protection.
