Originally Posted by
sunburst
Public Service Announcement!
Do NOT buy the Kenda K184 27x1-3/8" tires. Worse tires I have ever owned. I built up an old Peugeot mixte as my main city bike, and with much anticipation rode it for weeks with these tires. It was slow and difficult, and taught me what rolling resistance means. On top of them being a literal drag to ride I started to realize both tires were out of round, to the point of feeling a bump every revolution once I became aware of it. Absolute crap quality.
I swapped them out for Schwalbe Marathons and I now can ride 2 cogs higher with less effort. Now the bike is great, just what I expected. I've built a dozen+ of these old mixtes so I know what they feel like with good tires and wheels.
And if you're thinking it's the extra width, that's not it. I rode a Raleigh with Michelin World Tour 26x1-3/8" for the last couple of years and really like the feel of the bike with those fatter tires. That's why I tried it on the Peugeot.
Looked up the Kenda tire. The tread pattern shows that it's clearly meant for mainly off-road use. (Unlike, for example the Michelin World Tour tire, whose name indicates that it's optimized for use on paved roads.)
So the Kenda K184 is a less than ideal choice for paved-road use. Just as any tire designed for use on dirt/rocks/mud would be.
So, yes, avoid buying that Kenda tire for commuting or most kinds of road cycling.
It's common for tires to appear to be out of round, but they almost always seat properly after reducing the pressure to 15 psi or so, applying some non-oil-based lubricant (e.g., dish-washing liquid) between the hook of the rim and the tire bead, and carefully reinflating.
Sometimes it takes three or four attempts, but the low spots usually end up popping into place, eventually.
Could be you got a couple of duds, but their quality control procedures have to be pretty good, considering that they manufacture over half a million tires and tubes every day.