Kenda will finally be unveiling the Slant Six after Sea Otter. They were gracious enough to show me some love again this year, so I will be ordering a set at some point after Sea Otter to give a blue-collar review. It will be hard for me to take the Excavator / Nevegal setup off my Komodo but I am pretty stoked about the Slant's so we'll see how they compare.

Stay tuned.



Hans Rey's "H-Factor" looks pretty tempting too:



The steed (shameless chance to post another silly pic)

Nice tires Ed. I missed the new fork still looks good.

Yo Jeep!

The fork was a purchase for the RM Flow that I built that ended up being just too dang small for me. I was gonna go all DJ/Urban widdit. The steerer tube was too short for the tall stinkin' Komodo HT until I found that Spank Spike FR/DH stem. Mixed with the low-stack CB Iodine headset...it fits like a glove. Way smoother than the Fox too.




The Slant Six kinda looks like a good LRT tire. The monster grip from the Excavator will be difficult to match, but I'm hoping the smooth-rolling Slant's will be a good cross-over tire. I'll most likely end up running the Excavator F / Slant Six R unless the Nevegal outshines it. The Nev'scavator setup is pretty HOT!

Hey Ed I noticed that you have the nevagal in the back but have you ever tried in the front? if you did how much better the excavator is? because I have the nevagal in the front and I love it but I hated it in the back imo they can't beat the grip of the specialized captains. Reason I asked if they are slightly better I'll stick with the nevagal but if they are noticeably better I'll give them a shot next time around.

The Excavator is a gripper. The first time I rolled with EC, it was a loamy day at the Mansion. I climbed a rutted out, rooty, wet'n'muddy section that the Nevegal would normally slip on at least a few times. With the Excavators front and rear...I didn't slip a wheel. Just grip. As far as "high speed" cornering...as little high speed KS has to offer, I notice that the Excavator grips really well up front.

I'm hoping DMinor will step in here and give some insight on true high speed cornering from the Excavator....eh, hemmmm...D?



Regarding the Nevegal as a front tire? Yell hyeah, man! It's a great all'rounder. If you put any stock at all in the AM tire shootout that MBAction does...it's been the shootout winner more than a couple of years. It's fantastic. Not quite as grippy as the Vator, but it rolls a bit better and it's slightly lighter. I prefer the Nev'Scavator setup b/c I get excellent cornering grip and front bite out of the Vator with a good rolling Nev'e rear. The 2.35 Nev is slightly narrower than the 2.35 Vator as well. That was my orig. motive for the setup b/c my 2.35 Excav. was rubbing slightly on my seat stays.

Now that I've gotten used to this setup, I could't be happier.

Nice! Thank you sir.

I ran Excavators all season last year. They grip everything like mad. It didn't matter if it was the perfect decomposed granite base of Beacon (Spokane), the blown-out ski slope silt and rocks of North Idaho or the roots and mud of Garbanzo at Whistler; they held. Now, mind you, this is all 2.5 DH wire beads, so YMMV - - but the principal of the rubber and tread patterns should remain the same no matter the size. I took the Nevs with me for Crankworx but never put them on, I was so happy with the Exs the whole week. I heeled it over hard in a lot of varying conditions and never had a front end wash-out all season that I recall. Buff berms, flats, off-cambers or chunked-out braking-bump loose - - didn't matter.

When we went back to Whistler in Oct. I put one of the Nevs on the front of my trail bike to get a bit more fall traction (and to retire a tatty High Roller) and it stuck like glue to all of the trails I rode out of Whistler valley, including the wet wood of River Runs Through It. I was pretty impressed to how it hung onto some big rock-rolls too. There's a trail there called Comfortably Numb that has some real long steep ones and the Nev clung to them and let me control my descents. I'm sold; trail bike gets its own set of 2.35s for this year.

I'm probably going to get another set of Excavators this spring.

It has been raining here almost every day, and I was thinking about replacing the rear tire. I am running a Kenda Excavator 2.35 DTC up front which I am really happy with. My decision is pretty much between another Excavator or a Slant Six 2.1 DTC.

I rarely have to deal with really deep mud, usually just surface mud (fairly steep mountain). The quickest way up is a semi paved walking path, but there are also steep, rooty, and rocky dirt ascents that I do as well. Going down is a mix of fireroads and rooty, rocky single track with fairly shallow surface mud. I am worried that the Slant Six may not give enough traction, or that the Excavator is overkill. Also, I am almost certain the Slant Six would give more traction than the mountain/road hybrid stock tire on the back right now.

I was wondering if anyone has any further experiences with the Slant Six as a rear tire, or a direct comparison of the two. Thanks!

Slant Six works even better than Maxxis Aspen. It has near-Nevegal grip and Crossmark speed....yum.

Ah cool! Then I guess I am glad to have waited until they get back in stock early next month.