I'm currently riding a 2011 FE570S. Prior to this bike, I've been on a KTM 525 and a Honda XR650. In all I've run over 57,000 miles on these bikes with approximately 80% being off road miles. I've tried multiple brands of tires, but for many years now, i've been running the Kenda Trackmaster tires. I've liked the tires because the work well off road, and give decent milage compared to other tires of the same style. I have also noted that they are fairly inexpensive too.
So, since 2004, I'd estimate that I've run through 35 sets of these tires on my KTM alone, and another 30 setts on a Honda XR 400 of my sons. I think that is about to change.
In December I installed a 80x100 21 on my bike and I just finished ride in Death Valley on that tire. The tire, wore extremely funny, almost as if it was out of round from the factory. Since most of the riding was done off road, it was not really noticable when pounding around on the rocky roads of Death Valley, but the tire wore extremely strange. On one point of the tire, it was worn almost to the casing while 180 degrees away on the wheel the tire was still at 70-80% tread.
I brought this to Kenda's attention as a warranty issue. This is the only time I've ever contacted them regarding a tire issue. Initially the engineers stated this was caused by me accelerating while braking on the street, I called BS on that since I wasn't sliding the front wheel around on the pavement and smoking the rear tire to do that. BTW, the rear tire is fine with a uniform wear pattern. After multiple E-mails, Kenda just flat stated the issue was not related to the tire and refused to warranty the tire. They didn't give a reason as to what had caused the issue, just stated it was not caused by the tire.
For the record, the bike is basically new, the wheel is basically new, and the wheel is round and tru. I'm not satisfied with this level of, or maybe I shoud say lack of, customer service, and I thought I'd let all of you know about it so you can make an educated decision when buying your next tires. :cuss:
So, since 2004, I'd estimate that I've run through 35 sets of these tires on my KTM alone, and another 30 setts on a Honda XR 400 of my sons. I think that is about to change.
In December I installed a 80x100 21 on my bike and I just finished ride in Death Valley on that tire. The tire, wore extremely funny, almost as if it was out of round from the factory. Since most of the riding was done off road, it was not really noticable when pounding around on the rocky roads of Death Valley, but the tire wore extremely strange. On one point of the tire, it was worn almost to the casing while 180 degrees away on the wheel the tire was still at 70-80% tread.
I brought this to Kenda's attention as a warranty issue. This is the only time I've ever contacted them regarding a tire issue. Initially the engineers stated this was caused by me accelerating while braking on the street, I called BS on that since I wasn't sliding the front wheel around on the pavement and smoking the rear tire to do that. BTW, the rear tire is fine with a uniform wear pattern. After multiple E-mails, Kenda just flat stated the issue was not related to the tire and refused to warranty the tire. They didn't give a reason as to what had caused the issue, just stated it was not caused by the tire.
For the record, the bike is basically new, the wheel is basically new, and the wheel is round and tru. I'm not satisfied with this level of, or maybe I shoud say lack of, customer service, and I thought I'd let all of you know about it so you can make an educated decision when buying your next tires. :cuss:
