You probably shouldn't buy any fireworks then. :joke:
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Catastrophic failure
- Thread starter jegarh
- Start date
You probably shouldn't buy any fireworks then. :joke:
johnsimion
New member
Actually you and a couple of other people are the only ones I've heard refer to Kendas as "junk." Statistically you can say that "many, many Kenda users" have posted this here, but I remember hearing that there are about 500 members here. I doubt you counted the number of complaints on the forum, since you didn't give a number, but I'm willing to concede that "a lot" of people here, say 50, may have complaints. That's only 10% and when you consider the number of Spyders out there in the rest of the world, that's a really, really tiny fraction. I've heard that 20,000 Spyders have been built and if there are 50 complaints about Kendas, that less than one percent, i.e., 0.25% of all owners. Statistically, that is utterly insignificant and especially when you consider that people don't have any incentive to post, "Gee, I love my Kendas." Who's going to do that ... well, I did but nobody else is going to. Furthermore, it is simply fallacious reasoning to draw generalizations based on a few specific anecdotes. You can believe what you want but you guys need to stop with the blanket generalizations backed up by nothing but some people posting on the forum.
Actually I believe there are over 100,000 Spyders on the road and 20,000 or so members on this forum. All the complaints I've seen on here over the past 3+ years but two have been regarding longevity or lack thereof, not outright failure.
I've only seen 2 instances of catastrophic failures mentioned and this is one of them. I imagine that can be traced to persistent under-inflation (23# in the rear per the OP). I'm not surprised that BRP is not motivated to do anything different with their tires.
Incidentally, I have had exceptionally good performance from my Kenda radial trailer tires on my travel trailer. They have easily outperformed the previous two sets of non-radial trailer tires from Goodyear and another highly rated manufacturer in terms of ride quality, wet road performance and longevity.
Kendas are not junk. It diminishes in my mind the credibility of those 'experts' who dismiss this instance of catastrophic tire failure by airily blaming the manufacturer for poor quality control. SpyderLovers deserve thoughtful science based investigation of anomalies such as this one, I think.
BLUEKNIGHT911
Sadly Passed Oct 2024 - RIP
Dear Pete ….pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze put me on your IGNORE list ….Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze …. Mike
hyea:bikerbillone
Well-known member
The fact that the tire just 'delaminated' says something. The man is a 'senior' rider and by his own post he does not abuse the machine. So after the delaminate there tire just 'pops' like a baloon? If it only had 23 lbs of air, not a lot of psi to make it go 'pop'. I have read that Kenda's where specifically designed for the Spyder since day one, but this failure would certainly give me pause.
h0gr1der
New member
Mr. UtahPete,
I don't. As a matter of fact, when there is any other alternative to something manufactured in China, I buy that. When it is unavoidable, I am vary careful in using it, as I expect failure.
As some of the others have said, maybe I paint with a broad brush. But I have never personally experienced a tire (of any brand) so out of round that road force balance wouldn't at least make it usable. My Kenda experience was such.
Dear Pete ….pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze put me on your IGNORE list ….Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze …. Mike
Dear Mike,
You have way too much good information for me to do that. I've learned a lot from you.
Highwayman2013
New member
I’m no tire expert and don’t claim to be. I am not a big Kenda fan on Spyders and when they wear out or fail I will replace them with another brand tire. They cost way too much for what you get and don’t hold up as well as other brands on Spyders. I am going from personal experience on this. I have had Kenda front tires fail on a 2012 RT at 14,000 miles, not catastrophically but go out of round and wobble terribly they were always at recommended pressures and the front end was laser aligned. Sorry not a fan.
ARtraveler
R.I.P. Dwayne
Okay, okay. Kendas are getting a large black eye here. I come from the "other" side of the argument.
My dealer was one who would NOT put anything else other than OEM tires on the Spyders. I was in Alaska, so they had me you know where. :roflblack: There were also NO tire shops that would work with me....and I did not want anyone that did not know about Spyders messing around with the rear tire anyway.
Bottom line...I used Kendas from 2008 through 2019 on five different Spyders. I NEVER had an issue with the Kendas. My track record was always...20K miles on the fronts and 15 - 20 K miles on the rear tires. I put over 145,000 miles on my five assorted Spyders. All got at least one set of new tires.
Only one exception...the SOFT compound rear tires in 2014 got me 8.9K miles on the rear tire. I replaced that tire just this year at 32K miles. (that's 23K on the replacement).
I had the bikes serviced at Lamonster Garage less than a month ago. We put new tires on all around on both Spyders. He used car tires this time around (except for the 2011) which got OEM Kenda fronts. They had no other 14" tires for that one.
We will see how the "new" tires work out in relation to my past experience with Kendas. Now that I have choices I can be a bit more picky. I never felt as though I was in peril while driving the Kendas. :thumbup:
My dealer was one who would NOT put anything else other than OEM tires on the Spyders. I was in Alaska, so they had me you know where. :roflblack: There were also NO tire shops that would work with me....and I did not want anyone that did not know about Spyders messing around with the rear tire anyway.
Bottom line...I used Kendas from 2008 through 2019 on five different Spyders. I NEVER had an issue with the Kendas. My track record was always...20K miles on the fronts and 15 - 20 K miles on the rear tires. I put over 145,000 miles on my five assorted Spyders. All got at least one set of new tires.
Only one exception...the SOFT compound rear tires in 2014 got me 8.9K miles on the rear tire. I replaced that tire just this year at 32K miles. (that's 23K on the replacement).
I had the bikes serviced at Lamonster Garage less than a month ago. We put new tires on all around on both Spyders. He used car tires this time around (except for the 2011) which got OEM Kenda fronts. They had no other 14" tires for that one.
We will see how the "new" tires work out in relation to my past experience with Kendas. Now that I have choices I can be a bit more picky. I never felt as though I was in peril while driving the Kendas. :thumbup:
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trikermutha
New member
WAS it a defective tire or was the tire running low on air or other factors that would cause this to happen?
Amazing, and telling perhaps?
bikerbillone
Well-known member
Two ply, egads, I don't know much about tires, but two ply on a motorcycle/3 wheeler?
Has anyone considered that BRP's engineers are no doubt very aware that the Kenda tires that they put on the Spyders are two ply and that the rubber is softer than a car tire? Maybe it was designed that way to accommodate the weight and unique suspension of the Spyder. I have no doubt that a stronger/ harder car tire would last longer, but is it as safe under all conditions, i.e. wet roads, etc... ? Is this akin to the philosophy that a 30 amp fuse is better than a 10 amp, because it won't blow as fast and will last longer? I'm a retired engineer and I can assure you that there is much more that goes into the design of these things than the typical consumer is aware of. I would suggest that rather than bashing the Kenda tires here, that someone ask BRP for an explanation and see what they have to say. It seems there's enough concern from owners to justify some technical advice from the people who make these decisions and have responsibility for them. I think we all want to enjoy our Spyders as economically as possible, but more important is that we do it as safely as possible. When it comes time for me to replace tires, I hope to have some data to review and be able to make an educated decision. I'm curiously following these discussions and I value the opinions of the experienced people that comment here. That's where my thinking process is right now.
Rick
Rick
bikerbillone
Well-known member
Tenic, good comment. I heard/read that somewhere, I know it's dumb with no reference, that BRP went to the tire makers that were interested to build a tire to fit the specs of the Spyder, Kenda was interested and did contract with BRP to make the tire. But I'd also like to hear from BRP how all this went down, the story behind the story. They could very easily post it here on SpyderLovers, a simple job for BRP. If there's s liability problem that they cannot, then that's something else.
h0gr1der
New member
Reference the Toyota "Unintended Acceleration" phenomenon. I lost track, but I believe they still deny any issue, even though there are reported cases. Big corporations will not change once on a coarse of action, until the bottom line gets affected. I suspect you will get no other answer than that it is what has to be used.
There are lots of Kenda tires rolling with perfectly happy customers (especially for those who rely on dealers to do the swap, or for some reason can't get it done), but there are also quite a few who are unsatisfied with the performance of said tires. So we become test pilots, each and every one who does this installation. To garner a true sense of car tires vs Kenda, do a thorough search for people who have swapped, and note their response. I can't recollect any who have said "Car tires are bad, I'm swapping back to Kendas", regardless of the brand of time mounted.
BRP is stuck in the big corporate world. It simply amazes me that they don't make the following things standard on my RTL. 1. Improved sway bar (Baja Ron), 2. Improved headlights (LED's with correct housings to broadcast light). 3. Lower belt tension. The list goes on and on. Test pilots, each and every one who farkles for improved performance. Your owners manual strongly suggest none of these modifications should be done. You get the idea.
bikerbillone
Well-known member
Yes, think I get the idea. Sadly, it's necessary to add accessories to make the machine more than a 'good' machine, but then, it may give some the satisfaction of 'building it to fit'. My thing is doing all those 'add ons' gets added to the purchase price. However, I would suppose not much difference than a Harley, Honda, or whatever in that regard. But really, does it cost that much more to build it right? Engineers are not dumb, they can build it better, many after market add ons have proven that.
h0gr1der
New member
One thing and one thing alone. It comes down to the bottom line. I'll just about bet Kendas, being the cheapest tire (or almost the cheapest), beat out everyone on a contract basis (my opinion only). Unless a disproportionate amount of issues such as fatalities or crashes arise, resulting in investigations and loss of revenue, I bet nothing changes. Sad, because companies that adopt the stance of listening to the customer (within reason), and making the upgrades that the customers really want as a whole, seem to have a habit of being wildly successful.
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