|
|
Kenda Nevegal & Blue Groove tyres
James - 18th November 2006
Back to reviews archive
Kenda have come from being relatively unknown in the bike world. The start of this year that all changed, Kenda signed up a whole swathe of riders, from the mighty Steve Peat to Brian Lopes. Aston Hill are also sponsored by the KendaUK boys.
Currently the main players in their range (for me at least) are the Nevegal and Blue Groove patterns. These are both part of the John Tomac Signature series, the Nevegal designed for the looser terrain with tall sharp knobs to hook up when it gets down and dirty.
The Blue Groove comes in at the other end of the spectrum, designed for hard packed and rocky terrain, with lower profile knobs to increase the possible surface area.
If you're gonna spend thousands on your bike, making sure you've got the suspension perfectly tuned to track the ground and keep your wheels on the hard stuff, you've got the brake bite set perfectly and the right pads for the conditions, thats sod all use if youre riding a slick tyre on some slippy welsh slate! So you need the best rubber you can afford to make the most of that small area in contact with the ground!
Nevegal in the left corner, Blue Groove on the right
As with any tyre manufacturer Kenda have names for all the technologies they employ.. a brief run down would be as follows.
Cap-Ply - This is their sidewall, it has an insert which cannot be squashed when you hit the ground hard, and therefore attempts to prevent pinches - and so far has been successful! Being a large guy I tend to suffer plenty of pinch punctures but havent had any problems with these tyres yet, even running the pressures lower than I normally would!
Stick-E - This is the tacky compound Kenda use, it means the tyre rebounds slower, and therefore more rubber is in contact with the ground at one time, as well as the treads having the pliability to mould around objects on the trail. We found that even though it doesnt have a durometer rating (i.e. a rating of its 'rebound') it worked quite well for most trails.
Firstly we put on 2.5" Nevegals front and rear, after fiddling with a tyre lever and anchoring the tyres onto the rims we went out to hit up Hopton Castle and Bringewood.. where they'd get a real test of our British springtime. Greasy mud, and slippy root infested descents were the order of the day, and the tyres performed admirably, much better than the competition rubber we previously had fitted. I was able to power through the roots without worrying whether they'd kick me off-line and grip in the mud was predictable as the tall knobs dug through to the hard stuff underneath, drop the pressures a little and the grip in mud was phenomenal, the tyres just held the line perfectly!
Next we head off to France, baked hot earth, braking bumps galore and this time we had a Blue Groove up front and a Nevegal out back. Unfortunately performance wasnt as good as we found in the mud, the Blue Groove feeling a little twitchy on the switchbacks. However after a quick pressure drop on the chairlift back up and the second run they'd changed calibre, and were gripping like pro's!
Blue Groove in the snow
You really need to trust the sidewall technology within these tyres, even the folding tyres, and believe that you can run much lower pressures when they're fitted, because once you overcome that its like a whole new experience. I'm quite happy replacing my old tyres with Kenda rubber, i've now got a setup for both greasy conditions and for when the trails get baked (so just the greasy conditions one then..). You'd still need another tyre for when the trail gets extremely muddy, or you could just fit the Nevegals, throw the back end out and get that foot out MX style! Stick-E is a great compound, just tacky enough to hold its own in the rocks and roots but not too soft that it wears out wheeling the bike out of the van.
I'd reccomend these tyres to anyone looking for a new set of rubber, coming in at around 25 quid a tyre, you cant really go wrong. Look out for the Steve Peat, Hans Rey and Brian Lopes Signature tyres coming soon, we await them with baited breath!
Nevegals
|
|
