Tires KENDA or Maxxis

I run exo casing minions. No complaints.

Ridden both for XC racing and I have come to prefer the specialized tires over maxxis. I personally like to run ground control T5 upfront with fast track t5 in the rear as my base for my local trails and most race courses ( mid Atlantic area US) . If the course is hard pack and not super technical I’ll run fast track upfront with fast track or renegade in the rear. My I also found to get I got pinch flats more often on maxxis or side wall cuts through rock gardens. This is completely a personal preference but I’ve also felt more in control of the bike with specialized tires I mentioned

I have also ridden both. Like pretty much everyone else here said, it’s a matter of personal preference. I had a lot of problems with the 120 TPI Maxxis XC tires where I live because we have a lot of sharp rocks. I have been using the 60 TPI rekon race tires for the last couple of months and they have been great.

I ride a Maxxis Aspen up front and a Specialized Renegade in the back. Both are very fast rolling and I like the Aspen better than the Specialized Fast Track up front.

In my experience I have had way less flat tires switching from specialized to maxxis tires. Fast trak and ground controls were super unreliable for me. I’ve used maxxis rekon, ardent, ikon, and aspens. Will never go back to spec tires.

Would definitely recommend either of these to anyone. Dual sport is the way to go and these 2 give a more offroad vs more on road choice.

I wrecked hard on gravel with stock tires, went with Kenda big blocks and got all my confidence back. Little different on the road, would only recommend if you do more off road riding.

They run a bit narrow but I haven’t measured

I had these, but the 12.5’s on my JL i traded in for the gladiator. They were good for all but ice. My jl’s stock ko2’s were far better in the snow/ice and i actually missed having them. Live in Alaska so half the year slipping around wasn’t ideal lol. Just some info for anyone looking at these tires

Drove my trd off-road for a week with them. Then it snowed and froze and i proceeded to slide almost into the curb on the other side of the road on the first turn out of my driveway going to work going in the morning.