Kenda Kriterium Tyres

Simon Whiten

Preview of the Kenda Kriterium Tyres

Kenda bill the Kriterium as a tyre that ‘can do it all, from training to racing’. Perhaps that’s true but its position in their large range of road tyres perhaps suggests otherwise, as Kenda seem to have a tyre for every occasion and at every price point. If you were aiming to race you might want to look elsewhere such as at their top clincher tyre, the Kountach.

Kenda Kriterium

 
As these tyres are standard issue on some new bikes, perhaps the point is that you could race with these tyres as a starter tyre if were just getting into it. Most people buying these tyres might look at them as a training tyre.
 
Having said that, all the ingredients for racing are there; it’s certainly light at 200g (+/-10%) per tyre, and with a 120tpi casing and folding bead should roll well. The rubber compound is called L3R PRO, and whilst not the top of the range R2C compund, its benefits do include being both hard wearing and light weight. This should equate to a fairly quick tyre but we’ll see.
 
The Kriterium should also be puncture resistant, as it features Kenda’s Iron Cloak protective strip just under the tread.
 

Kenda Kriterium tread has grooves to aid cornering grip in wet conditions

 
We have the 23 in for review, but the Kriterium is available as a 25, though Kenda say that size is ‘for touring and commuting’, perhaps flying in the face of all the latest tyre width research which favours wider tyres for racing.
 
The ‘grooved slick design’ of the tread sports a pronounced rubber flashing ridge when new, a hangover from the manufacturing process which should soon disappear to reveal the true profile which looks to be a good shallow round shape, ideal for smooth cornering. The grooves look as if they’ll clear excess water well, though with bike tyres that is usually of negligible effect; we’ll see if there’s any extra grip as a result when we race them at a local crit.
 
The tyres are a tight fit on any wheel so far and are directional so take care to get that right.
 

RRP is £27.99 in the UK and $34.99 in the US.
 
We’ll report back once we’ve got a few miles in.
 

Kenda Kriterium packaging has all the info to help you make the right purchase

Kenda Kriterium tread is directional

Kenda Kriterium tread has grooves to aid cornering grip in wet conditions

Kenda Kriterium info on the tyre itself – 23c, 120TPI and 125psi

As always with Kenda tyres, there’s plenty of supporting material

Kenda Kriterium

Brand new Kenda Kriterium tread has a raised centre rubber ‘flashing’, though this should soon disappear in use