Kenda's new Big Block Tires

[GapRunr]

Originally Posted by SirSparkz

That's commendable, considering you have to cover your store/staff overhead. If I were closer, I'd pick them up from you all day long at $190 a set. Maybe I need to schedule another long weekend down to the Gap...hrmmm.

Thanks for noticing. We've always been pretty competitive on tires. We usually drop ship from the warehouse closest to the customer to save on shipping costs as well.

[BordenBmw]

Originally Posted by xcflyn

My biggest concern is wrestling with mounting. I have a hard enough time getting tires mounted without scratching my rims. Never mounted a TKC but sure struggle with the metz, or maybe Im just getting old

http://www.malcopro.com/index.php?pa...art&Itemid=758

I hate wrestlling when installing tires also (but I always do ). I tried soapy water and Windex but now I’m using Tire Mounting Lubricant (Made by Malco) mix with 50% water. Once you use this stuff, you don’t want to use anything else. When I mount the tire, I also lube the tire irons so the bead can slide easily from the iron and into the rim. Don’t know if this would make a difference when mounting the K784 as it sound like a tough tire to mount.

Slowoldguy and GapRuns, what are you using to mount the tire?

[Quassi]

Originally Posted by xcflyn

never heard of these. I assume they work well-sure be nice to get away from stick on weight goo on my rims. Dont mean to get off the thread on that just wondering if and where to get these.

Can get airsoft pellets lots of places, Walmart, Sears, etc.

[GapRunr]

Originally Posted by BordenBmw

... GapRunr, what are you using to mount the tire?

I used Motion Pro lightweight tire irons that I carry in the bike. They are a little over 9 inches long. It was cold, and I used Windex. I'm pretty sure warmer weather and better lube would have worked a lot better.

What no one knows yet is how difficult these will be to remove when the time comes. I can't imagine how much force will be need to break the bead.

[slowoldguy]

Slowoldguy and GapRuns, what are you using to mount the tire?

I'm using 13 feet of nephews (that's two of them ;)), some shitty tire irons, and windex. And then a pneumatic machine at the local motorcycle shop. ;)

[slowoldguy]

And the shop guys were working it, too. But, again, the tire was not warm. At all.

[G-Funk]

Originally Posted by caljw

$182.22 for a set on Amazon!!!

180.00 to 190.00 for a set is awesome .......

I've been a TKC person for all my big bikes ...... and the cost of them, well, you know ......

I'm really interested in how these will hold up ......

G.

[G-Funk]

Originally Posted by WTF-OVER

got my big blocks mounted last night and hope to get some mileage on them by next weekend.

Defintely keep posting up on how they feel, and hold up.

G.

[Mugwest]

BB rear installed today, '96 GS. No camera, and frankly my hands were full anyway

I have used a HF changer stand for several years now through dozens of tires (tube and tubeless) for my own bikes and other local FF's. Do it enough, use good lube, learn to put some 'English' on it, and one gets quite good/fast at it.

To say: this was the most difficult tire i've ever encountered in my wrenching career

I'm in Florida. Today was nice, sunny, prolly low 60's tops. I put the BB on top of a van around midday and it soaked up some heat from the steel roof and the sweet sweet sun. Felt pleasantly warm as i pulled it down to approach the stand.

I lube it up with the peerless Ru-Glyde (i get it from NAPA, never seen it anywhere else but never really looked either)-- smear the rim edges and both edges of the lower bead.

I push the lower bead on by hand, just as with any TKC, Anakee, or Tourance. "Well...this is gonna be cake!"

The upper bead is of course a different story. Cut to the chase: it was hard, and i know what i'm doing. But as with all stubborn tires, you just have to step back, lube, keep looking at the upper and lower beads, lube, select tools you've maybe never had to use before, lube, and proceed.

I'll post pix of the equipment i ended up using. I can usually change a tire in 10-15 minutes with dicking around. The BB took about 30.


Would it be worth 30$ etc to have a pro do it? Maybe. I don't roll thus.

Can it be done at a home garage? Sure. Patience and prolly don't drink till after

Can it be done on a milk-crate? Never. You'd shoot yourself in the head or ram a tire iron in your skull, whichever came first. The wheel's gonna have to be locked down for this one

Can in be done on a fantasy roadside in Bolivia with only Aerostich tools and air cartridges? Go for it.


Results: I have had a shit-eating grin on my face since i got the wheel back on the bike. Ran through some dirt, puddles, clay road etc nearby to work the last bit of release agent off the rubber. This is going to be a fun tire.

Hat's off to Kenda. Having wrestled with the BB today, it's looking to be a substantial tire

Will post mileage updates here.

Best,

MRP

[VEGASGSA]

Just ordered mine..Amazon/leather up..

[slowoldguy]

I hope to get my wheel back from the tech and on the Big Ugly in the next few days. If I do, I'm heading out Saturday for a 2 day explore on my Big Bites. Can't wait to see how they do.

[Marc - Australia]

hey guys,
after reading through this fred I can't wait for my wheels to be ready for a new set of tyres. I am so gonna get the Kendas (well, if you can get them in Oz).

Such a shame I just bought a set of Karoos from a friends brand new ADV...

keep your test-results coming...

All the best from Brisbane!
Marc


__________________________________

[Jud]

Copy and paste from a local forum I'm on, sorry for the long post-

Tires came in this week and I installed the front today. Bike had roughly 53330 miles on it. Gonna change out the rear tomorrow. It installed easy and it needed 1.75 ounces to balance but I think that's partially due to my front wheel as every tire I've mounted up has needed alot of weight. Otherwise, mounting was easy. Price wise, they are a bit higher than Shinko 705s but still alot cheaper than TKCs. Pretty much slotted in the middle of the 705s and the TKCs price wise.

Once mounted I took it out for a few miles, some dirt and most tarmac. Left Rider's Hill did the 19/129/60 loop but took a dirt detour at Suches and hit FS42. With 35psi in the front it was squirrely on 42 and 28 which was a bit muddier than normal and pretty rutted up in spots due to 4x4s playing in the muddy spots. Seeing the soft, rutted stuff I dropped the front to around 18psi and the rear to 15 and it felt alot better and much better traction in that stuff than the 705 it replaced.

Rear was put on today and buy was it a bugger, very stiff tire. Required 2 ounces to balance which is a good bit and unlike the front wheel, the rear generally doesn't need more than an ounce or so. But looking at this tire, it's understandable. Thing is huge, matter of fact, I'll get a 140 next time if available. Thing looks like a TW200 rear tire on steroids.

Put around 150 miles on them today and these tires are sorta quirky on the tarmac. Looking at these tires you would expect them to be very heavy steering tires but nope, the opposite. They literally fall into the corners and are super twitchy while in the corner with 36psi in the front and 38 in the rear. Dropped the pressures to 22F and 18R for some dirt road action and they did well. Even did well on the tarmac as the twitchy power assisted feel went away. Rode them at those pressures from the Wolf Creek Rd/180 intersect to the FS42/60 intersect where I dropped them some more to 18F and 15R just to see how they felt. Rode it like this from the beginning of FS42 to the Ranger Camp and then on the tarmac to Walmart where I aired them back up to 32F and 36R.

I was hoping that running the low pressures some on the tarmac would sorta break them in and get rid of the twitchy feel. Nope,,,, still hyper as hell. Anyone that has mounted up a set of Shinko 705s knows how fast steering those are during the first 50-100 miles or so. These are worse and it ain't going away. They also seem to weave a bit at hwy speeds {80-90mph}. Like I said, lowering the pressure cures the hyper feel but I know it would result in alot of heat and short mileage.

Gonna try to see if this quirk goes away or if I can get used to it. If not,,, I'm going to have to lower the rear of the bike or something to slow the steering down. They do work worlds better than the 705s on the dirt so I hope something works out.

BTW, this is on my very modified DL650. Some of the twitchiness might be attributable to my individual bike. But,,,, I can tell you these are nasty quick steering compared to 705s which I thought were worse than Tourances.

[slowoldguy]

They are quicker steering than a Tourance or Anakee or 705 but I could tell in my first 50 miles on a GS Adventure that they weren't gonna be a problem for me at speed. I ran them up through their rated range + 10% (as a safety test ;)) several times. Nary a twitch. Unfortunately, I did not get to test their cornering prowess.


I'll get the big bike back together as fast as I can and go thrash these big bastards. Inquiring minds want to know.

[mcstark]

Hey FF's...I'm assuming these are tubed tires. Am I correct?