Winter Cycling - Kenda Klondikes?

I need to replace at least one of my studded tires--probably both before winter is over. I need 26", mostly for street use but some off-road and ice riding.

The only tires my LBS has are Kenda klondikes and Kenda Klondike XTs. (It looks like the XTs are the same as Klondike Wide on the kenda website.) They run about $50 each. The shop owner says he has the XT on his front tire and the regular Klondike on the rear, and they work well.

Has anybody tried the Klondikes? What did you think?

Kenda (http://www.kendausa.com/bicycle/wintertire.html)

http://www.kendausa.com/_DOWNLOADS/images/model/07klondikestandard.jpg

These were also the same as the Nashbar studded tires. Search the web and here for reviews. I liked mine but got rid of them for Nokian Mount and Grounds. I will say that the Nashbars were every bit as good performance wise as my Nokians.

Stud wear may be an issue but they will probably last quite awhile.

I have the Nashbar branded version (says Kenda on the tire too). Good on ice and hardpack. Could be better on snow, but are OK if you let some air out.

I've had them for a couple of years and studs have lasted OK. Nashbar had a good price on them (under $30 per tire if I remember right). I have heard though, that Nashbar is no longer using Klondikes for their house brand studded tire so you might want to check with them to see what it is you're getting before you order.

Apparently they've chosen to go with no brand as their house brand this year. I've checked their site numerous times over the last few weeks and I never see any studded tires listed.

My Klondikes made their first commute today. I ended up with them for the same reason - the LBS was out of everything else and I was needy, so I figured I would give them a shot.

I rode slicks all last winter, so I don't have another set of studs to compare them to, but I was very impressed today. My bike path is all hard pack and ice, and on my Race Lite Hardcase tires on Friday, I had all I could do to stay upright. Today I cruised down the path with no issues. I could feel the rear wheel kick once in a while, but it seemed to grab and recover right away. Supposedly the studs are carbide so hopefully they'll last. I had mine mounted on an additional wheelset so I can swap back to slicks when (if?) the snow and ice go away.

I usually run my slicks at 110PSI so I was a little leary of running a 65PSI tire - but they rode really well (I think they are rated 50-80PSI). They are noisy and obviously have more rolling resistance, but they were not nearly as bad as I expected.

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Thanks for you replies so far. The only previous thread on this forum was three years ago, and it looks like the Klondike XTs (or wides, if they're the same thing) are new since then, although the regular Klondikes look about the same.

Has anybody else tried these Kendas? What did you think?

I'll give you one more real world experience with these tires. With a Winter Storm Warning and an Ice Storm Warning yesterday, like any sane cyclist, I decided to bike commute to work. We had about 2 inches of snow on the ground from the overnight and ended up with nearly 4 more inches up by my house by the end of the day. Once again these tires got me to work safely, and even allowed me to plow through a number of 12-18" snow banks through intersections, etc.

I still have no experience with them on ice (maybe tomorrow am?) but for fresh snow and hard pack they work well.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2125/2104797338_48a0e6bc7f.jpg?v=0

I just had my LBS put studded tires on my hybrid, and they turned out to be Kenda Klondikes. I got it back today and took it out for a spin, we're getting a snowstorm here, the roads were icy and packed, and they worked great. Uphill no problem, and coming down a gentle downhill, while I couldn't take it at my normal dry-road speed of 25-30mph, at 15 it felt good; there was some slipping but I was able to correct. I can't really compare them to others since these are my first studs, but so far I'm happy with them.