
User submitted reviews
Review by Eric
These tires are great. Good looking, fast, and tough. Rode them around in rough alleys and glass strewn parking lots on purpose to proof Test them. They pass with flying colors.
The one minor complaint? They are a bit harsh riding. But given the toughness of them, it's well worth the tradeoff. Highly recommended.
Review by Anonymous
I use these tires to cruise around the neighborhood, and do some light single tracking to avoid busy roads. I made the mistake of being caught out in the rain. The smooth center tread does NOT deal well with mud.
Review by Grandpa
These Kenda tires were original equipment on a Raleigh sportcomfort bike I bought 19 years ago and that I dearly love. Im 72 and a casual rider. I occasionally ride a 20 mile route, shorter neighborhood jaunts more frequently, and sometimes go weeks between rides, ergo not a whole lot of wear considering their age. I ride almost exclusively on pavement and love the low rolling resistance at 65 psi. I also like that when I do cross gravel, grass, or dirt, these tires float much better than those on my old road bike with its 90 psi tires. Ive never had a flat or any problem with the Kenda tires and they still look reasonably good, but at 19 years old now, I make sure to wear safety glasses when I air them up. Im ordering the same replacement tires because if it aint broke
Review by Grandpa
These Kenda tires were original equipment on a Raleigh sportcomfort bike I bought 19 years ago and that I dearly love. Im 72 and a casual rider. I occasionally ride a 20 mile route, shorter neighborhood jaunts more frequently, and sometimes go weeks between rides, ergo not a whole lot of wear considering their age. I ride almost exclusively on pavement and love the low rolling resistance at 65 psi. I also like that when I do cross gravel, grass, or dirt, these tires float much better than those on my old road bike with its 90 psi tires. Ive never had a flat or any problem with the Kenda tires and they still look reasonably good, but at 19 years old now, I make sure to wear safety glasses when I air them up. Im ordering the same replacement tires because if it aint broke
Review by Al
Three flats on new tires when biking the C & O and GAP. One thorn like puncture, one sharp shark tooth like stone and one unknown leak, (solved after replacing the tube.) After the third, I started picking the stones out of the 'rain groove' around every 20 miles or so, and haven't had a flat since-finishing the trails and then riding acouple hundred more miles on pavement. You draw your own conclusion. Three stars for the price and they seem to be fine on pavement around my area. (Do rain grooves really work below 20mpg and I really didn't need the knobs for my riding.
Review by Anonymous
Pro
It's a fast tire for pavement and light dirt duty. Turned my old mountain bike into a quick commuter.
Con
The thin wall tends to allow cuts into the tire. I've had one cut by glass and a 2nd one cut by metal wires on the street.
Review by Bentone23
I rarely ride off-road. I wanted tires that gripped well in sandy roads, hard packed dirt, not so well maintained roads and occasional use on dirt roads. I wanted less rolling resistance without sacrificing grip. These tires met that challenge. I have increased my normal ride speed on my mountain bike from 11 to 14 mph average. I have only had them a short time so I can't talk about wear or flat tires.
Review by timothyb
I can't say the tire is awesome, but it works well for us and I would recommend them. Most of our riding is on the road hard pack and we haven't had a problem with flats. To me, the sidewall looks thin, so I don't know how well they'd hold up on sharp gravel or rough terrain.
Review by Greg Gratton
I ride the Great Allegheny Passage the trail and it is a mix of pavement crushed limestone and dirt. The tire performed well on all three surfaces. I run it with 50psi so when I transition from each surface I have good contact. I inflated the tire to 40psi and the tire fells flat at 60 psi you might as well run with slicks. You will find 50psi will this will slow you down a little. I'm not racing just out to get some exercise and enjoy the views along the rivers.
Review by ICTBKR
I ordered these in the beginning of January to replace some dry rotted tires on my mountain bike. They arrived, everything appeared good. I installed them and aired them up... still good. Took a 10 mile tour on a bike path not far from my house. The path is pretty clean except for some twigs. Next weekend, I notice a cut. I called up BTD and they shipped another one out, wondering if maybe it was damaged in packaging. 4 months later, and no use on this bike except the bike path (approx 15 trips, about 150 miles), another cut. I ran no more than 40 PSI, and avoided all hazards I could. These tires... go ahead and order them... and notice those super thin sidewalls for yourself.
Review by mtb787b
these tires are very functional dispite what people may think about the agressive tread on the sides. these tires really made mine and my dads mountain bike have the best of both worlds. we wanted the rugged durability and suspension of a mountain bike, but since we ride on the road a lot too, the constant resistance of fully agressive tread mountain bike was tough. not to mention they wear down faster. these tires are the best combo of fully slick and agressive tread. i think they are much better then tires that are fully slick or fully studded but still try to do both. i think these tires can help people get the most out of there bike.
Review by Darktone
I ride 11 miles a day for exercise on paved bike trails. With knobby tires I averaged 15mph and with the K847's I am easily 16 mph. Much faster to accelerate if you slow down to get around someone. The coast time is improved considerably! I am 240 pounds and they hold me fine!
Review by LaffertyARCH
I love the Kenda Kross tires. They ride like street tires on asphalt and concrete, and have the grip of cyclocross tires on rough terrain. They cut my drag and times significantly over other hybrid tires I have tried.
Review by Anonymous
Great commuter tire as thick center rib rolls smooth and provides extra puncture resistance. I now have them on 5 of my bikes,and yes, I know I have a bike problem. I don't ride on dirt much, but a local gravel short cut proved these tires worthy of that surface as well. to sum up........great urban commutercruiser tire for the price. AND they got here next day with standard UPS delivery.
Review by Anonymous
Great tire for commuting. Fast and durable. First set lasted several thousand miles. Flats are rare as the main tread section is thick.
Review by Weekender
I bought my first MTB, a used Specialized Hardrock Pro which I use for rail trails, camping, gravel trails and just exercise. The Kenda Enduro tires it came with were good for off-road but not for street use. Rough riding and lots of rolling resistance. After reading another review here about the K847 and Katy Trail I had to give them a try and am glad I have. They've transformed the bike into what I need. They're good on grass, trails and of course pavement. They roll easily and are comfortable. Great tire for the MTB commuter, casual rider. Going to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail and these tires should be perfect.
Review by Kudalufi
An ok tire with an agressive-looking tread. Good looking, but you might as well just have slicks. The picture shown here is an uninflated tire, which makes the aggressive-looking side knobs look like they will engage more quickly than they do. The slick central road strip, when inflated at operating pressure, bulges quite a bit more than shown. The slick strip is therefore quite a bit too wide and too far removed from the side knobs to allow them to engage when they are needed. The knobs won't bite unless you are on the softest of trails - mud or snow. At which point, they aren't enough to get you through.
A far better tire, but as far as I can tell, only available in Canada, is the Kenda K-835 26x1.75. The central strip is far narrower on that tire, with knobs directly to either side of the strip as well as off on the edges like this one. This means the narrow strip will sink down and let the knobs engage on trails that are gravel, or medium loose pack, but still give you low rolling resistance on paved surfaces.
Review by Brett
These tire replace standard mountain bike (knobby) tires. Bike is ridden mostly on light trails and roads on 10-25 mile rides on average. Very fast and smooth rolling. Lighter than expected. Very pleased with this product. Highly recommend, out-performs other tires in price range.
Review by philipv
Due to its inherent resistance I noticed that my bike lost speed going slightly downhill, unless I pedaled. At my age (71) each Watt is important. Liners made matters worse, but where I live,there are lots of thorns on the tar due to people mowing their lawns and spattering the thorns all over. Liners are a must. With these tires my bike picks up speed on the same downhill, even with liners. Makes my daily run a pleasure
Review by Anonymous
I just switched to these cross training tires and they are much better on the road than the full on mud tires that I have been riding with. These tires are fast on the road and still have surprisingly good traction off road as well.
These tires are exactly what I was looking for !!
Hi Kudalufi,
Thanks for the review. We recommend the K847 Kross Plus primarily for road and only light duty dirt use. The edging knobs on that tire are really only designed to engage once the tire is leaned into a corner, to help offer some added grip in slightly loose conditions. While we do inflate all tires before taking our photos, there's a great point being made here about tire width affecting grip. We'd only add that rim width plays a huge role in this, and the narrower your rim, the more rounded this tire's final profile would be, moving the side knobs further out to the sides and leaving only the slick portion around the primary contact patch of the tire. Wider rims would bring the knobs into more contact with the terrain, even when not at an angle.
Thanks, Stacia