KendaK838 Slick 26" x 1.95" Slick Tire

My mountain bike needed new tires, the old ones were dry and cracked, and one had blown out through the sidewall. I decided that since I seldom ride in mud or on very loose surfaces, a smoother tread would allow me to ride along with lower effort and/or greater speed. Smooth tires on urban bicycles are nothing new, the Tioga City Slicker has been around for years, and probably serves as an inspiration for many other similar tires. I ordered the Kenda K838 based on the favorable reviews, and am very pleased. I ordered four tires, to upgrade two bicycles. They came in a box which was probably twice as large as it needed to be. As everyone else has mentioned, they are blackwall, not gumwalls as illustrated. Mounting the tires was no problem at all. I used a plastic tire lever to remove the old tires from the rims, and just popped the Kenda's on with my fingers, no tools needed. I inflated them and went for a ride. Note that while the tires can hold 60 psi, because of the larger volume of air contained, they work well at lower pressures, 35 to 40 psi for me, and provide a superior ride.The tread design and profile are based on combined features from successful motorcycle tires. The tread pattern is very similar to that seen on the Bridgestone Spitfire, with directional grooves to channel water to the outside edge of the tread surface. This gives low rolling resistance and complete silence....no humming or howling knobs on pavement. Constant pedaling is not necessary, as the low rolling resistance means one can pedal a bit, then coast or glide a long distance.They don't accelerate quite as easily as some narrower, lighter tires, say 700 x 28, but they do very well for a tire nearly 2 inches wide, and offer vastly better load capability, rim protection, flat resistance and a superior ride over irregularities. Bumps feel considerably "dampened", and the tires "float" undeflected over gravel patches instead of knifing in or skating around as a narrow tire might.Their triangular profile is based on designs used on Dunlop TT100 motorcycle tires and others. This means that when viewed from the front, the tire doesn't look "circular" round, but has a "rounded triangle" shape. When riding straight, the narrow "point" of the triangle contacts the road, giving a lower resistance. As the bike banks over for turns, the broad "flank" of the triangle gradually spreads across the road, giving a broader contact area and better grip.Owners of mountain bikes which are used more often on pavement and hard-packed dirt or gravel will probably enjoy these. They seem to be very well made and a good choice for their intended purpose.

I've got about 250 miles on these tires so far, and I've been extremely pleased with them. The original tires on my Jamis Explorer were hybrids, but since I really only ride on paved trails, when it came time to replace them, I decided to get a road tire, although staying with the original 1.95 size for comfort, and the possibility of riding on grass or packed earth at times. A skinnier tire would no doubt be faster, but these are quiet, smooth riding, and they handle wet pavement extremely well. The cross section is reminiscent of a bell curve, and that recurve on the edges of the tread sheds water cleanly, at about a 30 degree angle, so puddles splash you much less than most tires. They seem very durable, even though they are extremely thin, and after the 250 miles I've put on them, about 80 percent of the little molding 'hairs' are still on the tires. I should note that my bike is a steel framed model, I weigh about 250, and I carry panniers with about 5 lbs of gear and lunch in them, so I am loading these tires pretty highly. I maintain air pressure right at 65, which still rides very smoothly, although for one ride in Tampa I cut it down to 50 in the front and 55 rear due to a lot of cobblestone streets, which made the ride very smooth over the rough bumps. In combination with the heavy duty Slime-filled innertubes I'm running, I think I've got a pretty nearly indestructible set of tires at a great price, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for a good, durable, general purpose street tire, which can handle the occasional, gentle off road excursion (the one surface I have found they DO NOT like is wet, packed dirt... there isn't enough tread depth to get a grip, so you slip!). Plus, the tread looks just like one of the patterns Kenda uses on their motorcycle tires, which certainly gives my bike a bit of a unique look (for those gearheads who care about these things...)

I turned my wife's old Raleigh 3.0 mountain bike into an e-Bike. This upgrade was one of the best things I did. The original tires were too narrow and "knobby" This tire is wider and REALLY grips the road. I also think it looks cool with the tread design. I mostly ride street, but have gone on trails and it's fine there too. But I did notice about 2-3 mph increase on road after installing. these things are tough. I think the odds of a puncture are very low. Just in case, I used "slime" tubes, but so far they haven't picked up any nails or other debris. I think they are going to last many years, based on the lack of wear after about 300 miles. Can't say enough good things about them. One thing- I didn't realize 2 were in the package. They are compressed so much it's hard to tell when you open it. So I bought another one, and then realized my mistake. Easy return, of course. Just be aware it's going to LOOK like 1 tire when you open the box!!

I was skeptical getting these wheels since I wanted to see if they made a difference. I love the linear, smooth feel of road bikes, but I hate the riding position and I have a soft spot for mountain bikes. But the knobby tires were wearing me out way to quick and all that effort led to little progress, even downhill. So I decided to take the dive and bought these tires since I was already replacing inner tubes.VERY surprised the difference it made. Friction is MUCH lower compared to knobby tires and it's like riding on a cloud. These tires have flared edges that I thought was interesting, but it lends itself to keep the tire in constant contact with the road through turns, keeping grip on the street at a max.I inflated both wheels to 40 ft.lbs. (I have no psi gauge yet...) and went about on my way. First thing I noticed, is that the extra air needed to firm up the tires leads to a heavier bike when carried, but this works to your advantage. Since the friction is considerably lower, pedal effort is reduced. And the extra air (weight) in a rotational mass (tires/inner tubes/air) keeps the wheel rolling longer. Sorry, just a little science to help explain the extra weight to other reviewers/potential buyers. It balances itself out so the weight doesn't weigh you down and the pedal effort is considerably easier compared to knobby tires. I would've expected to have paid at least $30-40 each tire for how good these are!NOTE: From what I saw, these tires, although not labelled directional or marked that way, might be more efficient when rain comes if one mounts it so the treads that go to the edge are pointing back and away. So it will look like |/ \|, with the slashes representing the grooves if you were to look down at the front tire from the bicyclist's point-of-view. Make sure the back is mounted the same way as the front! You'll be glad when the rain comes around that you did so!PROS:- SMOOTH ride.- Reduced pedal effort.- Fast rolling tire.- Perfectly capable for gravel, dirt, etc. Although don't push it too much.- EXCELLENT price, you will get your money's worth and then some.- Quiet. And I mean QUIET.CONS:- How quiet it is. I bike on a college campus, and the quiet ride might attribute to pedestrians not being aware of you coming behind then. But that's what a bell is for!- Uhhh... The wider contact patch and edge makes for a slightly more irritating install past the brake pads. (Actually, not really a con, I just can't think of any more with this tire! It's just THAT GOOD!)Do yourself a favor. If you ride more on pavement than gravel/dirt/etc. with your mountain bike, seriously invest in these tires! They will make everything so much easier and much more enjoyable... well except maybe the pedestrian(s) who wanders into your path. :)

6/23/13 - Got the tires 2 days ago and mounted them on my Giant Rainier Mountain Bike right away. Since 90% of my riding is on Greenway trails and rarely on highly technical single track trails, I thought these would be perfect tires for the type of riding I do. Based on other reviews, I had high expectations these tires would give me less rolling resistance and higher speeds than the stock knobbys that came on the Giant. A few initial observations:-I had no problem mounting them unlike some reviewers have reported.-I like the look of the blackwalls on my Giant.-Upon a quick ride around the Neighborhood the day I go the tires: The rolling resistance seemed a LOT less AND they are MUCH MUCH quieter than the stock knobbys that came on the Giant. So far so good!!This morning, I took them on a 48 mile ride to really give them a good test. I took the exact route at same time of day as another ride 1 week before with the stock tires so that I could do a direct comparison and see if there were any speed improvement. The only difference between the two rides was rain the day before today's ride meant some surfaces were still wet, muddy, and there was some standing water. This route has a wide variety of surfaces and here are my observations for each surface from today's ride:-Concrete - As expected they performed excellent on both wet and dry.-Asphalt - Good performance on dry, but noticed some slippage on wet, smooth asphalt compared to stock tires. Had to slow down more than usual for curves in trail when the surface was wet. On rougher asphalt (like street), performance was OK even wet.-Wood (bridges) - Most bridges were wet and these tires slipped a lot forcing much slower speed and caution than the stock tires.-Crushed Rock - Performed very well on sections where it was hard packed, less stable on loose sections as compared to stock tires.-Sand - As expected, very unstable requiring great caution as compared to stock tires.-Mud - As expected very unstable requiring great caution as compared to stock tires.-Standing Water - These tires did a better than expected job rolling through standing water and proved very stable. I was surprised how little water was flung onto the bike (and on me!). Seem to do a good job of directing water away from bike and rider.-Packed Dirt - Most was wet causing a lot of instability, but I do think these tires would do OK on dry packed dirt.Conclusions:-On 48 mile course, speed improvement was a mere .3 MPH (13.8 avg vs 13.5 avg) vs stock knobby tires that came on the bike. I was hoping for much more.-The wet surfaces and fatigue could have played a role, I hadn't ridden in nearly 2 weeks on 1st ride, but did short rides almost daily in between the 2 rides totaling about 60 miles.-I felt MUCH less stable than the stock tires, mostly due to the wet surfaces. So far, I do not think giving up stability on all but a few surfaces is worth it for just .3 MPH improvement.-I will continue riding on these tires and compare them on other routes and under drier conditions. I will report back those results and if I see significant speed improvements.Bottom line: Overall I like the tires, but do not like the reduced stability on wet surfaces for very small speed improvement. One thing I did not mention elsewhere in the review is that you cannot beat the price!! In this case 4 stars may be a little generous, but 3 stars is probably too low. Hopefully future rides will show more significant speed improvement and justify 4 or even 5 stars.7/21/13 update - With a month and over 150 miles on the tires, my conclusions are pretty similar to the initial review. I have seen a bit more of a speed bump than the first long ride and I'm averaging about 1/2-1 MPH increase over the stock knobbys on average...not bad but had hoped for a little more than that.