Kenda Kaliente 23c Tire Review
When you’re a child, you’re taught that if you don’t have anything nice to say, then you shouldn’t say anything at all. If I followed that philosophy, I wouldn’t be able to warn other riders how utterly crappy this tire is.
I bought the Kenda Kalientes to replace the cheap-o CST tires that came stock on my EighthInch Scrambler, mostly because of their light weight, but also because I’ve been very happy with Kenda mountain bike tires for the last 10 years.
I was pretty impressed with the tires right after I got them; they’re light, roll extremely smooth, are quiet, and have excellent braking. In fact, had I only ridden them a few times, I’d probably be really happy with them. However, the problems started after maybe 100 miles or so with the first flat tire.
Sure, all tires get a road (or trail) puncture once in a while, but I rarely got more than 50 miles in at a time without having to stop on the side of the road and fix another flat tire. It got to the point where I was so tired of trying to repair tubes that I just began throwing in fresh ones each time it happened. When you’re going through 5 tubes a month, it starts getting expensive–not to mention annoying as hell. I was finally fed up one evening when the front tire flatted on a seemingly clean road on an otherwise perfect ride. When I got to looking at the tire as I put a new tube in, I noticed thousands of tiny holes all over it. Some were large enough to be seen as actual slices, while others only became apparent once the innertube was filled, and the tire’s body was expanded. It almost looked like dry-rot, but the tires were only a few months old and had roughly 1,000 miles on them. I have tires in my shop that have been around for nearly a decade that still haven’t started to dry-rot, so it appears that these were all put there from road debris.
My city is very bike friendly (at least in theory) and the roads are kept pretty clean; if I lived somewhere like Detroit or NYC I guess I wouldn’t be as surprised with the condition of the tires. However, on clean roads, tires should never end up with so much damage with so few miles on them.
With very little use, the tires are shot, the graphics are fading, and it’s time to buy new tires. All I can say is, get these tires if you need something light, and plan to race on extremely clean roads or on a closed track. However, if you’re a daily rider like me, and want something that actually lasts–and doesn’t force you to stop and swap tubes every other ride–then buy something else. Hell, buy anything else.
Pros:
– Light weight
– Reasonably priced
– Smooth, quiet, grippy
Cons:
– Fast wearing
– Prone to punctures
– Damn near impossible to mount on some rims
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