New Kenda Tires!

[strykerAKAmack]

Well got 9600 miles on oem rear rubber running em hard
Put the new Kanine on .
Night and day difference in grip, went from sliding the rear to pushing the front .
the fronts needed to go
Ordered two new Kanine fronts next day . Now all is balanced and running great
fronts took no weights ,down from 5 and 7 squares originally .
To balance rear got 4 squares , down from like 12 the oem was running .
Ride is much smoother and they soak up the bumps better even while running Elka stage 4s all around .

[bikerbillone]

Stryker, thanks for that report 'cause that's what I'll probably be using if for no other reason than simplicity.

[acdcking12]

What PSI you guys running in front on these Kanines?

[RazzleH]

16psi front and 21psi rear.

Rear changed at 20k km and close to the wear depth markers with winter weather coming on. Rear wore pretty flat and a long way from some of the photos I've seen posted with bald centre tread.

Fronts are soon to be changed at 30k km as part of prep for a 3 week tour with a friend on his Triumph. Fronts are clearly not down to the depth markers but I'm not confident that they will last for the trip before hitting the depth markers and needing legal replacement. Performance from these Kenda tyres has been excellent for a mixture of some 'speed limit' freeway cruising with mostly mountain twisties with vigour and big smiles.

[Little Blue]

I Iooked at Moto Sport site for the tires and they are saying,
All of 'New Kenda' for our Spyders are now Back Ordered/Out of Stock. (08/03/2021)
They said don't know when they will be available.

Just have to wait and see what happens. ....

[Little Blue]

Kenda KR20 Kanine rear tire 225/50R-15 is not available from the manufacturer. I was told that maybe a new Kenda may be coming. No time frame is being said.

A wait and see deal. .....

[bikerbillone]

Well that sucks for us guys that are getting to freaking old to pull the rear wheel. I have some time before I reach a rear tire tire replacement, so we shall see.

[Peteoz]

16psi front and 21psi rear.

You are running 16 and 21 on Kenda Kanines, Razzle?

[Papa103]

This is my experience with Kanines. I just put 3 Kanines on my 21 RTL. Dealer mounted and balanced the rear and I did the front. I found static balance worked best on front 1/4 oz on 1, 1/2 oz on the other and they run smooth at all speeds. I have about 1500 miles on them and so far they are good. I started with 18 PSI in front and I thought they tried to follow cracks in the road. So I upped the fronts to 20 PSI and it feels much better to me. We have some pretty used roads in Maine. I have been in the rain a couple times and the only problem I had was visibility. The stock tires would hydro plane in any solid rain. If I can get 10000 miles out of the rear I will be very happy. At this point I will stay with the Kanines until a better option comes along.

[Pooch]

What psi did you put in the rear tire?
Thanks.

[Papa103]

I put 26PSI in rear. I'm keeping a close eye on it hoping the center won't wear out as bad as the last tire. I don't think you can stop the center from wearing out first, it's just the dynamics of it.

[RazzleH]

You are running 16 and 21 on Kenda Kanines, Razzle?

Yes Peteoz. I've read lots of other ryders experiences and played around significently with pressures suited to vigerous ryding in the mountains. 16/21 works well fo me and has given great grip and wear results. Wheel alignment is critical as well as preload setting to go with the Rabit sway bar. Keep smiling while you adjust your Spyder to suit your desires, lol.

Also, I've not looked for the 'best/top tyres on the market', rather I've chosen to go with the engineers etc who have made Spyders and their like into very desirable cycles.

[Peteoz]

Yes Peteoz. I've read lots of other ryders experiences and played around significently with pressures suited to vigerous ryding in the mountains. 16/21 works well fo me and has given great grip and wear results. Wheel alignment is critical as well as preload setting to go with the Rabit sway bar. Keep smiling while you adjust your Spyder to suit your desires, lol.

Also, I've not looked for the 'best/top tyres on the market', rather I've chosen to go with the engineers etc who have made Spyders and their like into very desirable cycles.

Thanks Razzle……I have just had Kanines fitted to the front and had them balanced (they were very close, unlike my previous Kendas on my F3), running at the recommended 18 (28 in the Kenda Radial rear) and they are going well. I’ll have a bit of a fiddle with the pressures, and get a Kanine on the back if they ever get any more in Aus .

Unlike many, I am far less interested in getting max mileage out of the tyres, and more interested in grip in all conditions. Liking the Kanines so far

Pete

[Peteoz]

Just resurrecting an older thread, as there are quite a few contributors in this thread who had just switched to Kanines. I would love to know how you are finding them, particularly the rears. I ask as I am going to struggle to get the rear wheel off, and my nearest good mech is 5 hours away and won’t put aftermarkets on (very small shop, doesn’t want to go anywhere near liability, which is fair enough). If riders are finding them good, I might have to bite the bullet and get him to put a Kanine on the back. I am more interested in their performance than longevity, although longevity is of interest, of course.

Pete

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Just resurrecting an older thread, as there are quite a few contributors in this thread who had just switched to Kanines. I would love to know how you are finding them, particularly the rears. I ask as I am going to struggle to get the rear wheel off, and my nearest good mech is 5 hours away and won’t put aftermarkets on (very small shop, doesn’t want to go anywhere near liability, which is fair enough). If riders are finding them good, I might have to bite the bullet and get him to put a Kanine on the back. I am more interested in their performance than longevity, although longevity is of interest, of course.

Pete

Pete, some folks claim they are great .... some folks also claim the moon is made of cheese .... THs fact is the construction of the tire is almost the same as that of the OEM Kenda ..... Just tell the mechanic you have NO intention of Filming Him changing your tire and make this a Cash payment without any paperwork ..... Almost every car tire out there can get 30,000 + miles..... good luck .... Mike

[CopperSpyder]

Just resurrecting an older thread, as there are quite a few contributors in this thread who had just switched to Kanines. I would love to know how you are finding them, particularly the rears. I ask as I am going to struggle to get the rear wheel off, and my nearest good mech is 5 hours away and won’t put aftermarkets on (very small shop, doesn’t want to go anywhere near liability, which is fair enough). If riders are finding them good, I might have to bite the bullet and get him to put a Kanine on the back. I am more interested in their performance than longevity, although longevity is of interest, of course.

Pete

I have been running a Kanine KR20 on the rear of my RTL for the last 7000 miles or so @ 26psi. I also use Centramatic wheel balancers on all three wheels. The tire has been very good. The tire has very good grip much better than original Kendra tires. I'm not an aggressive rider, I ride two up a lot. I would guess that I will get about 15000 Miles or more on the tire. That is 2 to 3 years for me. I paid $89.00 for the tire. I don't know what I will go with for the next tire. Maybe another K-9 or try a Quatrac.

[Copperman]

Good luck on even finding one. They've been unavailable for well over a year now.

[Peteoz]

Good luck on even finding one. They've been unavailable for well over a year now.

Double check, just in case, Copperman. We here in Oz didn’t have any for quite some time, but we received a decent shipment a couple of months ago, and they are still showing as “in stock”.

Pete

[askitee]

So I want to take this as good news that will eliminate the hassle of getting a dealer to put on a car tire.

Questions I have, is Kenda known for making a decent tire of any type (if no it doesn't mean this one isn't good, just not a great indicator) and since it "looks" more car tire spec size does that meant dealers may be more forgiving about putting on a car tire that is rated for the rim than they are now?

Are Kenda's good. Its all ab out perspective. So long as you don't have a problem with:

• Poor Grip
• Poor Handling
• Constant Vibration
• odd shaped out of round tyres

then yes they are great.

The Spyder Dealership put a Non Kenda tyre on for me at one of my services (its 500km round trip) I could not believe how much better it was to ride.

[Peteoz]

Are Kenda's good. Its all ab out perspective. So long as you don't have a problem with:

• Poor Grip
• Poor Handling
• Constant Vibration
• odd shaped out of round tyres

then yes they are great.

The Spyder Dealership put a Non Kenda tyre on for me at one of my services (its 500km round trip) I could not believe how much better it was to ride.

Askitee, are you responding to my specific question about how the new Kanine is working out on your Spyder, or are you replying in general to the 2 year old, original post?

I know the OEM Kendas are pretty poor, as I have been on this forum for 6 years, but I am specifically after feedback on the new, supposedly improved Kanine, since it has now been around for a couple of years

I had zero issues with the Kanines on the front of my RT for 12 months until I replaced them with taller aspect aftermarket tyres to address road issues. They had good grip, good handling, no vibration, and they were definitely not out of round. I had no reason to replace them, other that needing a higher aspect.

p.s. which dealer put an aftermarket tyre on your Spyder? That may solve all my issues.

Pete

[Big F]

this is an interesting offer from Kendra.. i do hope anyone that tries these will post the results as I will be looking for tires this coming summer.
tks
BIG F

[Big F]

thanks HankD for sharing this info.. Please keep up all posted on your results.
tks
BIG F

[Peteoz]

this is an interesting offer from Kendra.. i do hope anyone that tries these will post the results as I will be looking for tires this coming summer.
tks
BIG F

BIG F, the posts you are referring to are 2 years old. Hank hasn’t posted since then. I resurrected the thread a week ago to see if anyone had further feed back on the Kanines……sorry for the confusion……..in hindsight, I wish I had started a new thread……actually, I might, and let this one fade into the night.

Pete