Kenda have been working on a new dry conditions tire, collaborating with Aaron Gwin in the development process. The tire is made for dry conditions with World Cup tracks like Leogang and Lenzerheide in mind. Cornering predictability and particularly high puncture protection were key in the goals of developing the tire.
It's available with Kenda's AGC or ATC casings to suit gravity riders along with trail riders. The tire is available in both 27.5" and 29" sizes and a 2.4" width.
Weight for the 29" AGC version is a claimed 1297 grams, and the ATC version is 997 grams. The 27.5" AGC model weighs a claimed 1178 grams, and the ATC version comes in at 923 grams.
The Pinner is priced at €57.90 / $79.95 for the ATC casing and €60.90 / $84.95 for the AGC casing. The ACG is now in stock and the ATC will be available on May 18th. A wider 2.6" tire will also be available this fall.
There are two casing versions. The AGC is more suited to gravity riders while the ATC is aimed at the trail riding crowd.
This Pinner features a similar compound design found in Kenda's other gravity tires. The Pinner uses a dual-layer set up, with a firmer rubber serving as the base and supporting the knobs, and a soft compound laid on top to maximize grip. The ATC version is a dual tread construction: soft shoulder, firmer center tread. The tire focuses on keeping a minimum rolling resistance, excellent cornering capabilities and braking traction, and predictability. The predictability is achieved from the tread pattern which utilizes a consistent contact patch throughout the lean angle.
After looking at what competitors were doing well, and Kenda's own tire knowledge, they settled on prototypes for the tire. Field testing with Gwin and others provided more feedback to help finalize the Pinner tread design. Gwin‘s input led them to move the shoulder knobs more in-line with the center knobs, as opposed to being perfectly staggered, which increased the predictability during field evaluations.
The tire differentiates itself from Kenda's all-rounder Hellkat tire by being more specifically designed for drier and hardpack conditions. According to project engineer Tony Yandek, "The Hellkat really shines in loose conditions. While the Hellkat tread pattern is made to penetrate the ground, the Pinner is made to be stable, confident and planted over hardpack, rocks and roots. The Pinner is a much quicker tire as well , so if there’s no need to penetrate the soil, you should pick up the Pinner."
We have a set of the Pinners on hand, so stay tuned for initial ride impressions in the near future.
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255 Comments
Marketing these days is a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
So each time AG moves to another sponsor/brand, they probably have to listen to Master Ginger in order to make him HIS signature tyre, with the help of the Holy Ghost of course.
The UR Polygon team uses regular Kenda tyres, so do you think Tracey Hannah would ride faster with an AG signature rubber, keeping singing of course?!
Or Kenda knows they can make more money on an AG signature tire that will make people curious?
"Im a dick to most people just cause i can be to those choosen few consider yourselves lucky lol"
I'm pretty sure he used Magic Mary tyres at muddy rounds when he wasn't sponsored by Schwalbe in the past, too.
Are Minions the new Session?
Spec Butcher (not sure)
Bontrager G5
Onza Aquila
and now this one?
Really see "his" tire evolving through different brands. I dig it!
Product Announcement. It's coming
Product Release, It's available for the consumer to buy now
It was patented by a fella at Sun Ringle a long time ago shortly before being absorbed by Hayes and then adopted by folks at Marzocchi before they shuttered their doors.
When the sponsorship coordinator told your team manager those 2 magic words, you knew you were gonna be building your bike in the parking lot of the first National race of the year after pulling your parts right off the UPS truck at the resort's post office.
Anyhow, they invented the OG version of your language, and they spell it "tyre".
www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180207-how-americans-preserved-british-english
@DirtyRider13: interesting indeed
My Hellkats have been great so far. I've also had great luck with the Specialized tires, but the edge knobs wear a little fast. Vittoria makes some great tires. I guess you could say I don't care who makes the tire, I just want a perfect one. Seems like we have a lot of people here who got sold a Maxxis and never tried anything else. I'll just keep looking until I find the perfect one...no matter who makes it.
Just the graphics have grown and grown over the years. I would like to see them pared down a bit bt that's the only thing I don't eally like.
Love me a semi-slick!
My current rear 3C DHR2 has 800km on it now according to Strava and at this rate it's going to go to 2000km. That's not bad for the £42 it cost me.
But tyres are just as much personal preference as shoes or grips so there is lots of room for manufacturers to cater to specific tastes.
Maxxis tires are manufactured by CST.
Be wary who you praise and diss.
The guy who designed the Minion line went onto design tires for Vittoria.
Remember 10 years ago when you couldn’t sell Maxxis tires to anyone? In a few years the herd will be hot for brand “X” - yep. Always loyal to companies that actually make their own stuff.
People love maxxis tires because they're great
Riding EXO is like riding a bouncy castle, especially when aired up enough to not smash your rims to bits.
Double Down is pretty decent, but it's too heavy compared to other casings, that are even better at both puncture protection and damping, while also having much grippier compunds than MaxxTerra.
Maxxis has somehow managed to get free advertising from all the people that have only ever ridden Maxxis, and maybe a Schwalbe tire on his buddy's bike 5 years ago.
Schwalbe tyres in my experience are very grippy but also expensive, heavy and slow rolling. Great puncture protection in SG form. Just not my cup of tea except for perhaps an uplft day, but I'm not changing tyres for three or four days a year.
Interesting how Gwinner has historically used Maxxis even when under contrcat with other companies. The last year or two Bruin and Bieber were using DHF front tyres when Specialized didn't have a DH casing 29er tyre for them to use. I would guess they could have chosen any tyre they wanted. It's not a coincidence that everyone uses Maxxis. There might be better tyres out there but you know what you're getting with a Minion. Not everyone has the time, money or inclination to test sixteen different tyres to find out which one they like best. Buy MAxxis and you don't have to bother, because 80% of the riding public has done that for you.
Tried Schwalbe SG tires last season, and they worked okay, but felt maybe a touch overdampened.
I guess it's all personal preference though, personally I really like Michelin Wild Enduros, they work really well for my conditions, roll plenty fast with enough grip and puncture protection, all at a decent enough weight.
There's no doubt that minions have some of the best tread patterns out there, especially DHR2 in my opinion, if they had offered it in MaxxGrip with DD casing, that would probably be my go to tire, but MaxxTerra simply lacks some grip on roots and rocks in my experience compared to other offerings.
I use Maxxis Exo DHR2s now. I rarely get flats and have many dents in my rims that did not result in flats. I'm sure there are better tyres out there for certain conditions and whatnot but for an all round tyre, they are spot on for me.
My local conditions are probably not what would be considered normal for most people, as we have a lot of razor sharp slate almost everywhere.
I don't think I've ever pinch flatted since going tubeless, but I have cut and ripped a lot of casings due to the aforementioned rocks, they also tend to wreak havoc on rims if you aren't careful.
Different conditions require different tires, and I suppose most serious tires today are quite good for their intended purposes.
Just thought I'd share that.....
First and foremost there are physical limitations. We´ve gone up to 29" wheels which inherently makes for a much heavier tire in and of itself. That paired with heavy duty casings gets us to a point where we just don´t wanna push any further as far as weight goes.
As for the more rounded profile and the "narrow" rims, that´s just down to the way a downhill bike is ridden, especially by a pro. You wanna be able to properly engage those sideknobs. If you have a rounder profile, there´s more of a "sideprofile" so to speak, while with a wider rim and therefore more flat tread section, you run out of sidetread earlier. The wide approach enables a less skilled rider to utilize the sideknobs, which is a good thing for many, but becomes problematic when you´re going for more aggressive lean angles.
Wide tires are made for riders who are a little timid and need lots of braking traction and/or ride slower with less abrupt direction changes. They keep their bike upright and therefore engage most of the wide tread at all times. DH racers in comparison live on the edge, so to speak, hence why they prefer a rounder tire profile.
Narrower tires are also way better in deep mud or deep loose soil where a wide tire kinda swims and squirms on top while a narrower tire penetrates the surface to engage the underlying firm soil. It´s also much better to not constantly change too many variables on your bike. As they have to adapt to new conditions often from day to day, switching between two vastly different tire widths would become problematic for most i guess.
EDIT:
Manufacturers often discourage consumers from doing things they deem a bad idea for most of their customer base. Most mountainbikers are recreational athletes who do not utilize their euipment to its fullest potential. Not even close. Manufacturers cater to these people with their product. Now said product may have limitations for a very skilled rider or the product may even work better when utilized in a way the manufacturer did not inted it to, but they´re obviously not going to tell you that as that would defeat the purpose of all their marketing and confuse the hell out of their customer base. And a confused customer is very likely going to switch to a brand with a more clear cut approach in their marketing.
At least from my point of view 2,3 on 26mm not that bad comparing to 2,6 on 30mm, i would even say i do prefer smaller size since it holds better on the rim and i do not have damaged sidewalls (all comparison made base on maxxis exo lightweight minions) On 180mm bike
I imagine for the hard tail it will make difference
Spot on.
Again a wider tire mostly provides its benefits to a slow rider. When the tire has time to really conform to the terrain, say a root, it will generate more grip. However a fast rider (let´s imagine for arguments sake every dh rider is decently fast) will hit stuff so fast that this isn´t really relevant anymore as the time of contact with that root will be so briefly that the tire has long hit the grippy dirt patch behind the root before any sliding off will occur. That´s why once you´ve progressed past a certain skill and speed level, your riding will become much safer as the speed will allow you to in essence generate more grip in treacherous conditions. In this scenario the wide tire only provides diminishing returns.
Also, we need to remember that tyres are not a damped system. They are basically an air spring without rebound control. Running a wider tire with less pressure will result in theoretically increased grip, but practically under a fast rider it will also bottom out much more. So a fast rider needs to increase pressure in that kind of tire in which case he ends up with a huge bouncy undamped balloon between himself and the ground. The fact that casings usually get lighter (with therefore reduced damping) for wider tyres in order to safe weight doesn´t help this behaviour either.
All these things interact and result in an overall less capable tire with exorbitant width. Simply looking at the size of the contact patch isn´t doing it justice at all.
It´s a little like driving a formula one car. You better drive that thing fast to generate downforce or there will be no grip at all. In our case you better ride your wide tire slow or there will be some unwanted behaviour.
"Running a wider tire with less pressure will result in theoretically increased grip" - Any change in grip is likely a result of the different contact patch, not the reduced pressure - casing tension should be roughly the same.
"huge bouncy undamped balloon" this I believe, is the sensation of a taller sidewall, rather than just the width of the tyre. If you've ever changed stock van tyres for low profile ones (which are usually wider too) you will feel the difference in the ride, the stock ones with a taller sidewall are bouncy, vague and comfortable!
There's way more to all this in a dynamic situation of course. And a tyre's charachteristics and grip determined by height, width, profile, construction and materials as well as tread pattern. Then there is rim width, terrain, riding style and the riders preferred casing tension for that tyre (adjusted by adding or removing air from the tyre!).
Well, that's what I was trying to say basically. Of course there's differences in tyres, however as a rule of thumb with a bigger tire the aspects like sidewall height do usually increase as it's usually not only width that increases but overall circumference. Especially as many guys just keep buying larger size tires and not some wide trail product which tries to minimize sidewall height. At least for most tyres. And as I said, sidewalls play a part in this equation, they do however tend to be less effective the bigger the tyre gets, as the manufacturers usually start reducing material to safe weight.
Also agree that the increased contact patch is what causes increased grip with reduced pressure due to the tyres ability to conform more to the ground. Again I was coming from the premise of a wider tyre usually being a taller tyre as well and maybe my wording made it sound like it was due to the decreased pressure and/or damping. Shouldn't have put those two into the same paragraph.
So yes, if you were to optimize the tyre system in regards to all those aspects you can absolutely get away with a wider Tyre to a degree. When we put sponsoring obligations, weight, rider experience etc into perspective though, it often becomes a hard thing to do for pros as well as recreational riders as there are a myriad of variables to get right as you correctly stated.
In general though, with most products available to us, a too wide tyre will feel more bouncy, have detrimental effects on flat resistance and contribute to a vague feeling tyre as the effects will all be felt increasingly at higher speeds.
Of course without specific measurements and/or products to discuss, this is too theoretical anyway. I was just trying to provide some reasoning for people blindly buying into some of the bicycle industry marketing BS which often seems to perpetuate the impression that wider tires are what is universally better for all rider types, which is not true. They have different advantages and disadvantages depending on skill level and we should all be mindful of when our ability level crosses that threshold so we can adjust our equipment accordingly.
The idea behind a wider rim is really to combat the lateral flex of the rim profile. Ultimately a tradeoff is the decrease in vertical strength. This really comes down to the way they design rims. The goal is really a rim that holds a line but is compliant while tracking that line. With this comes certain drawbacks.
Moving over to 29" wheels only magnifies these issues. Here's where I feel carbon is superior.
Any WT tire is designed to give the same profile on a 30mm + rim as a standard tire on a 25-29 rim.
My current rims are Race Face Arc 30HD (29) with Assegai 2.5 WT DH casing, and cushcore. I'm still destroying rims with this setup. Its not the tire thats the issue. Its a combination of the Alloy, with profile, and rim diameter.
If your concerned about the weight of cushcore, don't be. You won't notice it. What you will notice, is the ability to push the bike into corners much harder than before, and decreased small bump feedback.... And likely some catastrophic failures.
I will be going over to the Reserve DH wheels, to see if they perform better on this wheel size.
When it all comes down to it, there are way too many variables to try and simplify. Its a precise combination of many things, so to say its a tire or a rim is only part of the equation. I think we can all agree though, that 2.6 or larger tires are pointless.
Riding the Hellcat out back on my trail bike, leaks like a sieve for tubeless but gives some good predictable grip in most conditions and rolls not too bad.
This tread pattern doesnt look as good for here.
AGC = Aaron Gravity (not Gwin!) Compound?
ATC = Aaron Trail Compound?
Surely it should be:
AGD = Aaron Gwin Downhill?
AGT = Aaron Gwin Trail?
Advanced Gravity Casing
Advanced Trail Casing
DTC and RSR are the compounds.
A number of local riders have switched to the Hellkat and love it. So consistent and predictable. I'd really love to see the AGC in the DTC compound someday! I will also be trying the Pinner F&R and just rear with HK front in ATC DTC soon.
If it works, why change it?
Onza Aquilla
Specialized Butcher
Maxxis Minion DHF
Kenda Pinner
Contact: J. Hall
...Michelin DH32.
Especially on the rear wheel........and susceptible to sidewall tears? Don't even ask..........
I do like more options, however currently only e13 came closer to maxxis in terms of performance
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