Howdy.
If you've known me for a while, you know that i'm off my bike due to increasing amounts of goathead thorns in my area. It's caused me to use motorcycle tires which suck because they're nearly impossible to get off a bike rim.
The offending object in question:
The problem is, the pointy part of goatheads in my area get up to 11mm in length. A marathon plus is not adequate because it has a total of ~7mm rubber. About 1 out of every 50 goatheads punctures the tire. In a single ride, i can pick up dozens, so my odds of a goathead flat are basically every other ride.
I went looking this year to see if there were any improved bike tires, sealants, etc, and came up on the kenda k-plus models, the Kwick Drumlin and Kwick Journey. The Drumlin was out of stock, so i settled for the Journey model:
Weight for a 26 x 1.95" tire is listed as 1335g, or 2.9 pounds. Heaviest bike tire i've seen on the internet! I figured there'd probably a lot of rubber on this thing, which is a good sign for puncture resistance.
I decided to order a k-shield ( 800g much lighter ) and k-shield plus version for comparison in the name of science.
Both tires had a harder than regular compound, closer to a motorcycle tire. They also have a marking for moped on them. We're off to a good start.
To compare the tires' total thickness, i have a special 11mm thumbtack, and use a section of a Mitas MC2 ( average moped tire ) as a comparison point.
In the Mitas poke test, it's quite difficult to get the poker all the way in with my thumb. We have a very stiff compound, but only 8mm of rubber.
Note: in the proceeding pictures, i am holding the pin in with a thumb to max out the amount of puncture. In the above picture, the pin happened to stay in at max puncture, probably thanks to the hardness of the tire.
Okay, let's poke the k-shield tire from the top. The tire itself is slightly easier to poke than the moped tire, but much harder than a regular bike tire. This is good, except we don't have a lot of rubber here.. we get a puncture from an average length goathead for sure :/
The side poke is equally unimpressive. We have an about equal amount of protrusion.
OK, in reality the harder rubber may make up for the less than stellar depth. But this just seems like a totally average puncture proof tire overall, basically it lives in the shadow of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus for having around 1-2mm more protrusion than in my last test.
What about the k-shield plus?
Tire compound was also hard while poking but the overall tire was much harder while handling it; it really felt like a moto tire. Obviously there is a damn lot of material in this tire.
Holy smokes, we only have 1-1.5mm protruding! This is about as thick as a mid size motorcycle tire i've measured in the past!
Same deal with the side poke, nice protection while turning too!
I have to say.. with a tire liner or sealant or thick tube, this tire could easily be made immune to these demon goatheads. I'm extremely impressed with the sheer amount of rubber here, it's more than a moped tire and as much as a light-medium motorcycle tire.
The only downside is that both tires are quite warped in all dimensions upon recieving, probably from sitting bunched up in a hot warehouse..?
I imagine a couple summer rides in salt lake city would probably even them out.. but.. i never received such warped/bent tires before.
Ordering another k-shield plus to complement the other so i can ride this in real world conditions without any additional protection and let you know exactly how much extra i need. Plan to experiment with Flatout sealant and thick tubes first..
Will report back on that, but i just had to share this hot tip
If you've known me for a while, you know that i'm off my bike due to increasing amounts of goathead thorns in my area. It's caused me to use motorcycle tires which suck because they're nearly impossible to get off a bike rim.
The offending object in question:
The problem is, the pointy part of goatheads in my area get up to 11mm in length. A marathon plus is not adequate because it has a total of ~7mm rubber. About 1 out of every 50 goatheads punctures the tire. In a single ride, i can pick up dozens, so my odds of a goathead flat are basically every other ride.
I went looking this year to see if there were any improved bike tires, sealants, etc, and came up on the kenda k-plus models, the Kwick Drumlin and Kwick Journey. The Drumlin was out of stock, so i settled for the Journey model:
Weight for a 26 x 1.95" tire is listed as 1335g, or 2.9 pounds. Heaviest bike tire i've seen on the internet! I figured there'd probably a lot of rubber on this thing, which is a good sign for puncture resistance.
I decided to order a k-shield ( 800g much lighter ) and k-shield plus version for comparison in the name of science.
Both tires had a harder than regular compound, closer to a motorcycle tire. They also have a marking for moped on them. We're off to a good start.
To compare the tires' total thickness, i have a special 11mm thumbtack, and use a section of a Mitas MC2 ( average moped tire ) as a comparison point.
In the Mitas poke test, it's quite difficult to get the poker all the way in with my thumb. We have a very stiff compound, but only 8mm of rubber.
Note: in the proceeding pictures, i am holding the pin in with a thumb to max out the amount of puncture. In the above picture, the pin happened to stay in at max puncture, probably thanks to the hardness of the tire.
Okay, let's poke the k-shield tire from the top. The tire itself is slightly easier to poke than the moped tire, but much harder than a regular bike tire. This is good, except we don't have a lot of rubber here.. we get a puncture from an average length goathead for sure :/
The side poke is equally unimpressive. We have an about equal amount of protrusion.
OK, in reality the harder rubber may make up for the less than stellar depth. But this just seems like a totally average puncture proof tire overall, basically it lives in the shadow of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus for having around 1-2mm more protrusion than in my last test.
What about the k-shield plus?
Tire compound was also hard while poking but the overall tire was much harder while handling it; it really felt like a moto tire. Obviously there is a damn lot of material in this tire.
Holy smokes, we only have 1-1.5mm protruding! This is about as thick as a mid size motorcycle tire i've measured in the past!
Same deal with the side poke, nice protection while turning too!
I have to say.. with a tire liner or sealant or thick tube, this tire could easily be made immune to these demon goatheads. I'm extremely impressed with the sheer amount of rubber here, it's more than a moped tire and as much as a light-medium motorcycle tire.
The only downside is that both tires are quite warped in all dimensions upon recieving, probably from sitting bunched up in a hot warehouse..?
I imagine a couple summer rides in salt lake city would probably even them out.. but.. i never received such warped/bent tires before.
Ordering another k-shield plus to complement the other so i can ride this in real world conditions without any additional protection and let you know exactly how much extra i need. Plan to experiment with Flatout sealant and thick tubes first..
Will report back on that, but i just had to share this hot tip
