Kenda Nevegal DTC Tire Test

Jack our resident tester just had a chance to submit his review on the Kenda Nevegal DTC tires.  We've switched all our bikes now to Kenda since last season and we've been very happy with the performance.  Below is Jack's review.

If you are looking to improve the performance of your ride, one the key areas to consider are the tires.  After all, the contact patch between the tires and the ground is all what keeps you glued to the trail.  So I was anxious to try Kenda’s newest tire in the Nevegal line, the 26x2.1 DTC.  The 1.9 Nevegal Lite was Mountain Bike Action’s 2004 top pick tire, and repeated with the 26x2.1 Stick-E rubber with Stan’s sealant as the top pick last year.  With great reviews like this, you inherently are expecting a great all around tire.  As well, I have been running a set of Blue Groove 26x2.1 Stick-E front and Nevegal 26x2.1 Stick-E rear, both with Stan’s sealant for light free ride stuff with great results.

The 2.1 DTC tires are listed at 580 to 640 grams.  The pair of tires that I received covered a large portion of the publish weight range.  I like the fact that Kenda is now listing their tire weights with a range that represents that anticipated in production.  If you are a real weight weenie, you know what your target is.  At this weight, these are not lightweight tires for XC use, but are quite comparable to other full knobby large volume tire in this size range.  By European metric measurements the 2.1 tire measures as 52mm across the sidewalls and 56mm across the tread.  These tires are also quite large in circumference and really pushed the limits of clearance on my Whyte.

The DTC version uses the same construction and tread pattern as the Stick-E version, and both are very close in weight.  The difference comes in the rubber compounds used.  The Stick-E tire uses 50 durometer slow rebound rubber for the whole tread.  The DTC dual tread compound version uses the Stick-E rubber on the side knobs but uses a 60 durometer L3R Pro rubber for the center knobs.  This rubber is faster rolling and longer wearing while still offering great grip.  This compromise should better suit all around riding with only a small sacrifice on ultimate grip in technical terrain compared to the Stick-E version.

When it came to mounting these tires, I elected to use my tried and proven method of using Stan’s sealant to install these tires on a set of Mavic CrossMax XL UST wheelset and run them as tubeless tires.  The rear tire went on without a hitch.  The porosity of the tire casing was very low compared to a lot of other tires I’ve converted.  Mounting the front tire was another story though.  It beaded up fine but would not seal up 100% between the bead and the rim.  I decided to take them for a ride like this in the hope that the ride would get the front to seal up.  After getting the tire pump out three times in eight kilometers, I decide this wasn’t happening.  I tried remounting the tire a second time but no better results.  I ended up resorting to using one of Stan’s rim strips.  This solved the problem and now the tire holds air almost indefinitely but added an additional 60 grams to the wheel assembly.  Still lighter then a tube so worth the added complication.  This was the first Kenda tire that I ran into this problem with.  This was the lighter of the two tires and was likely shy a bit of rubber in the key bead area.  Not an issue when run with a tube but it proved a bit challenging to convert to tubeless.   At least the extra weight of the rim strip was largely offset by the lighter tire.  For those looking to run converted tubeless, I would recommend looking for a tire in the middle or on the high end of the weight range though.

Putting the tires to the trail really showed what these tires are capable of.  My regular ride location has a variety of terrain ranging from loose sandy pines to rooty and rocky loam type soil in hardwoods, with plenty of hills to test their traction climbing and decending.  Looking at these tires, your first impression is that these are big tires and will likely have good grip at the expense of rolling resistance and acceleration.  Once you are rolling though, you quickly come to realize that they roll incredibly well.  My seat of the pants impression is that they seem to roll almost as well as any semi-slicks I’ve tried.  This is great considering they are full height knobs.  Though this really impressed me, what really blew me away was how much grip and confident they inspire railing though corners, particularly the front tire.  I was able to dive into loose sandy corners with significantly more speed then any other tire I’ve tried, even including the Stick-E compound Blue Groove.  On dry trails, traction when climbing is never an issue.  This was a pleasant surprise. When the tires are installed in the recommended direction, the drive edges of the knobs are a beveled edge.  This bevel is the key to its low rolling resistance but does not seem to hurt its drive grip as all in the dry.  I was always tempted to try the tire the other way around but always came back to the fact that the balance between drive grip and rolling resistance was perfect.

With their stellar performance on my regular trail, I was anxious to try them on some other types of trails.  Riding hard packed clay trails again they impressed.  Next up was riding in some rock gardens.  Running at 30 psi, these tires never flatted, which is more than I could say from my buddies I was riding with.  Traction again was impressive, but this was the first time that I noticed that traction was not limitless.  The front worked great but the rear struggled a bit more to find drive traction.  In this instance I’d rate them a B+.  Side grip was great.  In comparing these to any other tires I’ve ridden except the full Stick-E version, these were easily the best.

I haven’t racked up a ton of wet and muddy miles on these tires, but based on my limited experience, here’s my thoughts.  They are a wide tire for XC so they don’t sink into soft muddy too deep.  This means they don’t dig down to the bottom looking for traction like a dedicated mud tire, but the open knobs do a good job of finding traction anyway.  The knobs are fairly open so they clear reasonably well, though they tend to trough a lot of mud around.  When you hit wet roots or rocks, they are no miracle workers.  I noticed a significant drop in grip compared to the same trail in the dry, but compared to other tires, they seem to do a pretty good job of finding what little traction is available.  Again the full Stick-E version is noticeably better in these kinds of conditions.

The final test was to perform a simple rolling resistance comparison test.  For this I chose a paved road with a medium grade hill leading on to a long flat run out.   I started from a repeatable point on the hill from a standstill and allowed the bike to accelerate down the hill and then roll to a stop on its own.  I noted the maximum speed achieved and the point where the bike came to a stop.  To compare to the 2.1 DTC Nevegal’s I chose the Blue Groove front/Nevegal rear, both full Stick-E versions, and a set of 2.0 Hutchinson Python Elite Gold’s.  The former since they are very grippy tires, possibly at the expense of rolling resistance, and the latter since they are one the better rolling tires I’ve tried that still have an acceptable level of grip.  I ran all three tires at 35 psi, though I retried the DTC’s at 25 psi to see the difference inflation pressure made.  All tires were standard non-UST versions but converted to tubeless with Stan’s sealant.  The Python’s proved to be the best.  They accelerated up to a 22.4 kph maximum and I use their stopping point as the bench mark for the others.  Next up was the DTC’s at 35 psi.  They reached a maximum speed of 21.9 kph and stopped 20.5 meters short.  This dropped to 21.0 kph maximum and 46 meters short when their pressure was dropped to 25 psi.  A noticeable difference but not too bad.  Bringing up the rear was the Blue Groove/Nevegal Stick-E at 19.9 kph and 91 meters short.  This equated to approximately a 10% increase from the DTC version.  What impressed me with this test is how close the DTC’s were to the Python’s and how much better they were then the fully Stick-E tires.

Compared to other tires I’ve ridden, overall these tires were simply amazing.  They strike a perfect balance of grip versus rolling resistance for most trail conditions, and their corner bit is awesome and very confidence inspiring.  They also rolled extremely smooth for a full knobby tire.   If your normal ride location is very rocky or you ride a lot in the rain, you may prefer the full Stick-E version, but for most of us, the DTC is probably the preferable compromise and will probably last a bit longer.  The bottom line for me is that I have now made these my regular a around riding tire.

Jack Pittens

Comments

[George]

you said that the nevegals are not so good in the rear. what do you recommend in the rear?

[Spokewrench]

Excellent! I'm glad you liked our review and found it useful.

Thank you for your comment!

[Tiago]

Thanks for your excellent review. I tried my DTC 2.1 Nevegals today and they really amazed me, they're incredible!

[Tim Keenan]

Excellent review, I have a lot of paved riding mixed in with my trail riding so I will be changing from full stick-e to the DTC.

Any tips for a taller heaver (not fat) rider?

Thank you,

Tim