Do you like to go fast on your bike? Of course you do – me too.  The low rolling resistance Excavator tire from Kenda is a sure fire hit for those who race XC and are looking to maintain decent traction in the looser stuff.

At first glance the tread pattern reminded me of the Excavator’s meatier brother, the well-known Nevegal, with its paddle groove design.  However, the Excavator is much quieter when riding on concrete than the Nevegal and rolls with lower resistance thanks to its a less aggressive tread design. The Excavator excels in corners with its large knobbies on the edges and self-cleans loose mud extremely well, though it will get your back good and dirty.

The Excavator utilizes Kenda’s Dual Tread Compound (DTC) technology which basically combines two separate tread materials into one tire: the L3R Pro compound for the center and the STICK-E compound for the sides. This gives you a long lasting center tread and sticky, corner grabbing side tread in a single package.

The Excavator is a great XC race tire when conditions are unknown as it can roll with pride through the screaming fast hard pack and also when conditions are less than desirable.  The tire ranks high with 120 TPI (threads per inch) and comes in two models: foldable (26×1.95, 26×2.10, & 26×2.35) and wire bead (26×2.35 & 2.50) for those who ride DH . Unfortunately, 29ers are out of luck and will have to stick with the popular Nevegal. Weight for these tires range from about 600g to 1400g depending on size and model.  As you might expect with Kenda tires, the Excavator is high quality and could not be easier to install.

Overall, the Excavator is a must for XC riders who want a fast and all-around great tire. The Excavator won’t take you out to dinner and buy you flowers but it just might earn you that podium spot at your next race or at least make you look like you know what you’re doing.

Thanks to the folks at Kenda for providing the Excavator for review.

Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap over rocks and tree branches, and more powerful than your two legs can handle! Kenda’s stable of tires are famous for superhero-like performance and the Small Block Eight tires (MSRP $47.99) are no exception. These tires are super durable, easy to install, roll fast on hard pack, and get good bite in both straight line acceleration and cornering. At the end of the day I had a hard time finding any kryptonite to slow these tires down!

At first glance you might imagine these tires are specialized and limited but that’s simply not the case. The tread is actually scaled-down Nevegal blocks with eight of them across the tread making this a good multi-purpose XC tire. Each tire weighs a respectable 520g (26 x 2.1) which means they aren’t super light but the upside is they are mega durable and stable at high speeds.

Mounting these tires to both the front and rear of my Opus XC rig was a cinch – just make sure to note the correct tire rotation direction and remember not to use any tools other than proper tire irons. I tossed a bit of baby powder in my tires before installing with super light Kenda tubes (124g each) to help reduce the friction that is generated between the tube and tire when the tire rolls and deflects. I inflated both front and rear tires to 42 psi and was ready to go – all in under 15 minutes.

MTB tire testing conditions at the Don Valley trails were perfect: dry with soft patches and the occasional mud pack left over from the rains a few days before.  Using the Small Block 8 tires on both front and rear of my bike really gave me a sense of what this tire is all about. At the beginning of my ride I fiddled with tire pressures a bit and I ended up taking out 5 psi on the front to give me better compliance in the corners. Once I got the pressure right, cornering felt tight and accurate.

Climbing with the Small Block Eight tires was great and I got great traction on hardpack, rocks, and even rooted trails. I did, however, find the Small Block Eight’s kryptonite when I hit some hardpack clay coated with a dusting of fine sand. Now to be fair that combination is tough to climb with almost any type of tire and in the end I did manage to get up (with some wheel spin). Even Superman isn’t perfect.

Rolling on trails this tire is very fast and requires little energy to keep its momentum. I found that the tire changed speeds and directions nicely and allowed me to lean into corners without having that wobbling feeling that some tires produce when hitting the transitional blocks in the tread. On one of my rides I did notice the front tire can become overworked when cornering which sometimes resulted in lost tracking and a slide (push). For this reason I dropped the front tire pressure a tad and that seemed to help. In terms of rear cornering these tires nailed every turn.

Braking with the Small Block Eights was great. The good thing about these tires is their ability to generate a tremendous amount of surface friction which allows the brakes to do their thing. In fact I found the Small Block Eights to be one of the best braking XC tires I have tested in a long while. As with any tire, you can easily lock the tires up if you try, though you should always avoid this – it’s dangerous and bad for the trails. The tires work best at the fine point between lock up and rolling which must be that Nevegal block shape biting on the trail when needed.

Here’s how I rated the Kenda Small Block Eight MTB tires:

8 out of 10 for climbing
7 out of 10 for cornering
9 out of 10 for rolling and efficiency
5 out of 10 for loose conditions
10 out of 10 for hardpack
8 out of 10 for stopping in a straight line

Overall I would have to say the Small Block Eight is a great tire for those who want a tire that will last a long time and ride fast with great control on trails that are mostly hardpack with some patches of softer stuff. These tires even work great for those who ride mainly on pathways, producing an even, comfortable ride. If you’re planing on racing, get these tires for training and treat your bike to a set of Kenda Kozmik Lite II tires for race day!

Specifications from KENDA:

• Excellent hard pack XC race tire
• 8 Nevegal shaped but smaller knobs across the tire for better ‘bite’
• DTC – Dual Tread Compound offers cornering grip with faster center line acceleration
• One of the fastest rolling tires in the Kenda Premium line
• 120 TPI casing on 26″ and 29″ tires
• Folding Beads
• Avaliable in UST tubeless version as well
• Sizes: 26 x 1.90 UST, 26 x 2.10 UST, 26 x 1.95,  26 x 2.10,  26 x 2.35,  29 x 2.10

Just a quick thanks to the folks at Kenda for the tires and the good folks at Easton for the excellent XC-One wheels to put the Small Block Eights on.

Yep, it’s pretty simple: earn points for submitting trail videos and video comments this month and the top 3 point grabbers will earn free junk! Point values are awarded like this:

• 3 points for new trail videos (must be at least 30 seconds long)
• 1 point for each video comment you post on singletracks

All videos and comments are subject to approval and you can keep track of the standings on the contest page. Videos from nearly any website are eligible as long as we can find a valid embed code – that includes YouTube, Vimeo, BroadBandSports, VHoldR, and others. Videos must be submitted via the proper trail page and videos submitted via singletracks.f5sports.com are not eligible for the contest.

Prize winners will be announced Monday, June 1:

1. First Prize: Set of Kenda Nevegal Tubeless MTB Tires (retail value: $44.99 each)
2. Second Prize: Singletracks t-shirt PLUS a 1-year PRO membership*
3. Third Prize: Jimi Wallet, Nite Rider Cherry Bomb safety light, and Camelbak Chill Jacket water bottle

Special thanks to Kenda, Mr. Smith, Nite Rider, and Camelbak for donating schwag!

* If you already have a singletracks t-shirt and/or PRO membership you may exchange for any item in our schwag bag

If you’re looking for the perfect mountain bike tire and off-the-rack just won’t cut it, why not mod your tires? As crazy as it may sound, riders like Eric Carter have been doing this for a while and some tires (like the Kenda ExCavators) were actually designed with end-user modifications in mind. Tire cutting isn’t for everyone and we should point out that once the knife touches rubber you’ve completely voided your warranty but hey – no risk, no reward, right?

Decline Magazine actually published Eric Carter’s tips for modding ExCavator tires and you can read his tips on the Kenda blog. His first mod is for improving performance in soft and wet terrain and involves removing the center lug. Other mods help out on hard terrain and cornering – just goes to show you elite racers use every edge they can get, including tire mods to suit course conditions.

We tested the Kenda Dred Treads a few weeks back and the guys at Kenda had some “unofficial” tips for modifying the tires for various conditions. A vertical cut through the “stop sign” knob improves off center transitioning without sacrificing too much rolling resistance while a horizontal cut improves bite on climbs and in wet conditions (though it increases rolling resistance). Cutting a “plus sign” into the tread helps improve bite and off-center transitions but will decrease the life of your tread (there are always trade offs).

Another way to increase traction and make the Dred Treads perform less like a semi-slick tire is to remove the stop-sign treads entirely. This will allow the remaining inner knobs to sink further into soft or wet soil while at the same time increasing rolling resistance.

If those options aren’t enough, you can even vary the number of knobs you cut / remove. Say, for example you only want to add a little more grip to your tires – just cut out every fourth knob or every other knob. The possibilities for tweaks are pretty much endless – the perfect tire really is possible!

Cutting tires with a knife can be tricky and you’ll want to be careful not to puncture the tire or yourself Some cuts like the one on the “stop sign” knobs are best performed using sidecuts or pruning shears. So get out an old tire and start modding – and post your pics so we can see how it turns out!

After recently discovering that my semi-slick tires were hopelessly full of dry rot (see photo – not for the squeamish!) I started looking around for a good set of mountain bike tires with low rolling resistance. Luckily I found the Tinker Juarez Signature Series “Dred Tread” tires from Kenda that blend the best of both worlds: low resistance with wicked control through turns and climbs.

The Dred Tread tires feature low profile center knobs with standard knobs on the sides to assist in cornering. On straight sections of hardpack and pavement the tires barely hummed and felt smooth as butter – yet climbing in damp dirt and roots the tires only spun out occasionally on especially slimy, steep sections. The Dred Treads really shine in cornering where the tires felt as if they were full-knobbies, sticking to tight lines without so much as a slide or wobble.

Kenda uses what they call a “Dual Tread Compound” or DTC on the Dred Treads: a softer, grippier rubber on the outer treads and a harder, longer lasting rubber on the center treads. The upshot: tires will last longer before you need to replace them (that is, unless you’re riding around in circles).

The low profile center tread has another advantage as well: The Dred Treads shed mud like my German Shepherd sheds fur (which is all the time). Actually, these tires don’t really shed mud since mud doesn’t get caught in them in the first place – the tread pattern is far too wide to catch much of anything. As you can see from the photo above only the smallest crevices collected dirt on a recent ride which means you’ll be rolling fast all day long.

I’m a big fan of simplicity when it comes to mountain bikes and equipment and the Dread Tread tires are especially simple to install. First, there is no distinction between the front or rear tire treads – the pattern works equally well in the front and the back. Secondly, the Dread Treads don’t even have a directional rotation pattern – there’s no way to put them on backward! The folding bead went on super tight on my Crank Brothers Cobalt rims with no surprises.

After riding these tires in the woods and on the streets I haven’t found a single thing I’d improve about them – though I’ll stop just short of calling them perfect. The Kenda Dred Treads are a great tire for XC riders looking to cut down on rolling resistance without sacrificing much in terms of performance. Besides, if Tinker rides and endorses these tires how can you argue?

The El Moco MTB tire from Kenda looks like the offspring of a dirty 3-way composed of a WTB Weirwolf, a Michelin Mud Cyclocross Tire and the venerable Panaracer Smoke. The El Moco incorporates Kenda’s DTC (Dual Tread Compound) technology and the folding 26×2.1 XC racing version I’ve been riding has a top quality 120 TPI casing. It can be used on the front or rear wheel and has an advertised 630 +/- 30gram weight.

The El Moco has a mix of low-profile knobs in a paddle pattern across the center of the tread and aggressive full sized knobs for cornering. In theory, the little knobs in the middle roll fast on hardpack and smooth trails while the big knobs give confidence on looser stuff and corners. My local trails vary from buff trails as smooth as a baby’s butt to root and log mazes with some weathered, rounded rocks and short rock gardens thrown in, not much sand, not many long stretches of pure rock. This tire is fast on the smooth sections and had superb traction over roots and logs – even when damp. In loose loamy dirt the side knobs give excellent cornering traction and while climbing the tire stayed connected and only broke loose when I got sloppy. El Moco clears mud well – even sticky North Carolina red clay.

In terms of tire pressure, I’m still playing around to find the butter zone. The Kenda Website and the tire sidewall recommend 40-65psi while the header card packaging for the tire recommends 30-80psi. I started at 40 psi and found the tire to be a little harsh and not as grippy as the Hutchinson Spider Airlight 2.1s (another 120 TPI tire) I took off or the Panaracer Fire XC tires that were on before that. I lowered the pressure to 35psi and later to 30 psi. At the lower pressures the tire hasn’t been squirmy in turns or bottomed on the rim over roots at speed. As I ride the tires more I will try 25 to 28psi to see if I start to get pinch flats.

My 26×2.1 tires weigh 648grams and 653 grams – well within the advertised limits. I did have to use a single tire lever on each one to get them mounted on my Cane Creek wheels, but this is typical for me with folding bead tires. Both tires inflated round and true on the rims on the first try – I did not have to go back and re-seat part of the bead. My first week riding the Kenda El Moco Tire has been good, and I will continue to post updates as I encounter different trail conditions.

MSRP is $47.99 for the 2.1 size. On Sale at: $24.00 at Greatadventuresports.com and $39.98 at Pricepoint.