SB 8’s, the Hula Popper of tires?

Sometimes I think that fishing lure manufactures and designers are trying to catch the fisherman rather than the fish. When I see a lure that looks like a fish I usually impulse buy, use it without much success, then it sits in the bottom of my tackle box – $7 wasted. The Kenda Small Block Eights are entirely the opposite. On looks alone, I would’ve never purchased a pair of these. They did not “hook” me when I saw them. However, after riding them for three weeks I am sold.

Ben at Kenda was kind enough to send a few pairs of cx clinchers my way. My first reaction after opening the box and inspecting the SB 8’s was, “oh, grass tires.” The small waffle tread (small blocks) is more aggressive than a file tread, but less so than a “mud” tire. I mounted them to a pair of Ksyrium Elite’s and off I went.

Twice per week for the next three weeks I rode with Mikey out to the Gun Club venue (OVCX.com race #9), did some laps, then rode home. The ride out and back is on a bike path. Mikey’s vintage Michelin Muds (and his sarcastic yammering) drowned out the minimal tread on pavement noise. At 35 psi, they were cushy on road. The Gun Club course has gravel, grass, sand, mud, and hardpack. Over the three weeks, we rode on a completely dry course, wet/muddy/rainy, plus everything in between. I thought that Mikey would kill me in the mud with his bright green French beast of a tire. He didn’t. The SB 8’s gave me decent traction, a fat ride, and plenty of sidewall grip. The profile of the tire is round and tread goes far down onto the sidewall. I did turf it once when the front wheel washed out on a fast, muddy downhill to uphill turn. Mikey may have crashed too had he been going as fast as I was. I did have some rear wheel spin when seated and climbing on wet muddy grass, but this was the only time.

CONCLUSIONS
This is a tire that can take you through 75% of what you throw at it. These and pair of mudder tires would get you through a season. The tires I tested were 700×35’s, however, the width measures the same as Mikey’s 700×32 Michelins. Unless you want a narrower tire, go with the 35’s.

John K’s thought on the Small Block Eights 700cx32:

I try to be objective about things.  I think some brands represent quality & some do not.  We have talked Quality ad nauseum on the podcast, I could talk about it even more, that’s how much I care about it.  We’ve talked about how you know it when you see it, it is easy to see, hard to define… something else that is hard, is to allow something to break out of prejudices previously held.  As much as I tried, I didn’t want to be clouded by my earlier experiences of Kenda tires.  From my bike shop experience, I remember these are the tires normally found on entry level hybrids & mountain bikes that aren’t meant to see the trail.  They had wire beads, lots of weight & generally were the low dollar replacement tire for someone that just wanted something to roll on, not something that someone who fancies themselves a fancy pants connoiseur would put on their fancy carbon fiber, feathery light, space age material cyclocross bike- oh the thought of such things!  Really?

OK, so my first experience maybe upheld my prejudices.  After unfolding them from their plastic merchandizing placard, I tried putting them on my aged Campagnolo Protons.  I have had these wheels for about 7 years & have mounted & removed most brands of tires from them- I have expectations that certain brands will be harder to mount than others- but never have I had a tire as difficult as these.  So tight are these tires on that rim that once the bead of the first side was over the lip of the rim, it made a solid *thwap!* as the bead held tight to the bed of the rim where the eyelets reside.  Next step, insert the tube & now the second bead goes on, just as tight.  Whew!  glad that is over.  As I said, I expect some rubber with these wheels to be tight- these are the tightest.

Next up, on the bike.  I race on my tubulars, so was using these as my week day training wheels.  Most training rides for me consist of riding the road to a nearby park or greenway where there is a mix of grass, hard pack dirt, gravel and some loose trails.

My first & last impressions are how well these tires roll.  I mean, really nicely, low resistance, even at 30 psi  & cushy to boot.  In the conditions I have been usig them, I have not lacked grip or traction.  Because of the typical application for these, I have started going to a higher pressure, around 40 psi, since there is so much smooth riding down to the area where I train.  Even with that, these tires are a comfy ride.  Maybe the cause is the height of rubber for each tightly spaced block that allows some of the edge to be taken off the bumps?  I am not sure, but I have been very pleasantly surpsied.

Admittedly, cyclcocross in North Carolina has been dry, hard packed & grass, I have yet to experience the mud fest that are typical in other parts of the country, here.  Most of what I hear about these tires is lack of traction in the mud, but I have yet to really experience that with these tires in my limited mud use.  My application of these tires has been limited to small areas of mud followed by fast hard packed areas, so the tread quickly cleaned itself and behaved as it had in every other condition- very well.

Aside from the tire mounting to the Campy rims, these tires did something that is difficult to do, change my mind about the equipment I would consider.  So impressed with the ride of these tires, I will consider running them with the Stan’s No- Tube set up on fast dry courses.  When compared to other tires I have used in the same conditions, Vittorias, Ritcheys, Michelins & Tufos these stack up very favorbly due to their ease of rolling & comfort with little downside.

When cross was a discipline dominated by make shift, dodgy, 23#, retrofitted, Rub Goldberg fabricated road & touring bikes- I would have said this would be a good tire.  In today’s world of specialty, carbon fiber frames, forks, brakes & wheels… I would still say this is a tire worth consideration, especially in drier applications.

TEST CONDITIONS: Provence, France, mostly dry, gravel road to excellent pavement

Saturday, July 25, 5:30 p.m., 75 kph descending from the summit of Mt. Ventoux towards Malaucene a guy wearing a backpack flies by me like I’m a rookie.  Aww, hell no.  Some dude with a backpack, no not even a backpack – it’s one of those sacs with two lengths of rope like you get from the publicity caravan and it’s half full and sloshed over to one side of the guys back, anyway this guy is not going to pass me on a descent I’ve done many times.  Stage 20 of the Tour has just finished so the oncoming lane is closed to traffic and the descending car traffic is light and controlled.  I crouch lower, let go of the brakes and glance at the computer as it approaches 100.  A mental checklist: what’s the next turn like, can I overtake that van in the next 500 meters, do I trust my tires? Yes.

Yes I did know the the tires would be fine. After two weeks of working as a cycling guide for VéloSport Vacations, I do trust the tires. I’d put many miles on them over all sorts of provençial roads while leading clients and chasing the tour. Jim Baldesare from the Kenda Pro Cycling Team gave me the tread last month when he was in town for a race. I figured the roads of southern France would be a good test track. The C2C’s are part of Kenda’s Tinker Juarez signature line which also has a mountain tire. The tires are named for the RAAM, in which Tinker finished 3rd some years back. The Kenda website (click here) says they weigh 120 grams, have 120 threads per inch, and have a MSRP of $40 per. The tires themselves look odd. A smooth black center contact strip is sided by a sort of reverse gold waffle pattern. I suppose this is to give one the impression of good grip while corning, but the pattern covers the entire sidewall almost to the braking surface of the rim. The tires have a nice rounded profile and measured to specs at 23mm. The ride of the tires is decent. Not springing or spongy, but not totally hard and dead. After a 1000 miles they show little wear and have no deep cuts. I usually ride them at 120 psi, I weigh 60 kilos, and they are mounted to a pair of Velocity Aerohead rims. I did slide both tires through a high speed corner, but recovered quickly. I did not have the chance to ride them in the rain.

I know the next few k’s like the back of my hand. Long straight downhill. The summit of the Ventoux to my left, the Valley to my right. I let go of both brakes and slide past the backpack wearing kamikaze. I don’t look over. I concentrate on the cars, the road, the fast approaching right turn. I swoop through turn scrubbing off little speed and go back to full aero position. I am flying, no way Mr. Backpack can keep up. Another left followed by a longer not so steep part. It can’t be!! Monsieur Sac is pulling up on my left. He says, in English, “fun downhill, isn’t it?” Then I recognize him. It’s former US Postal Pro rider Marty Jemison. Of course. I’d seen him with his group on the Ventoux earlier that day. We spend the next 20 minutes taking turns at the front screaming down the road until we enter the little village of Malaucene. Backpack and all, Marty can still go very fast on a bike.