I happened to glance at my rear tire today and realized I was down to nothing on it. Some tread was left on the chicken strips but the middle of the tire was a slick. Since the forecast calls for possible rain and I’m riding down to San Diego tomorrow to do a poker run with one of my MC’s chapters down there, I figured I’d better get some new meat back there.
I was a little pissed off that this tire had worn down so quickly. It seems like I put it on just a few months ago and that it should have lasted longer. But then I checked my maintenance records and got a surprise: I put this tire on back in September and I’ve put a little over 9,000 miles on it since then. Time and miles fly when you’re having fun, I guess. So I’ve changed my attitude toward this tire: I give the Kenda Kruz two thumbs up. It was cheap, it handled great, and I got a lot of riding out of it. That works for me.
The tire I had on before this one sucked. It was a Pirelli and it was a piece of shit. I hated it from the minute I mounted it — it wanted to track in the rain grooves on the freeway and felt really squirrely in the turns — but I rode it anyway because I’m a cheap bastard. So I rode the snot out of it just to wear it out faster so I could replace it sooner, and it definitely cooperated. I forget the exact numbers on that one, but I’m pretty sure I only got about 6,000 miles out of it, and at least 3,000 of that was interstate highway during my trip to Colorado last summer. So it was a shitty tire, it wasn’t cheap, and it didn’t last long. Buh-bye Pirelli.
Before that I was running a Metzeler Marathon, which I like quite a bit. They’re a soft, sticky tire, so they handle really well, but they don’t last long because they’re a soft, sticky tire. Plus, they’re pretty pricey. Expensive tires + require frequent replacement = Chuck doesn’t buy them anymore.
But Kenda… Kenda is the right formula. Cheap + long life + good handling = Chuck just bought a new one. That’s two in a row from Kenda. I guess I like them.
