Speed wise they are not the fastest, however they aren’t terrible. They do feel a bit ‘squishy’ to me; many times i’ve thought I had flatted but it wasnt the case, simply due to the soft feel of the tires. Given this, they arent ideal race tires – however I have raced road races and criteriums with them and never once thought my tires left me at a disadvantage.

At 1000+ miles i’ve rotated the tires once and both front & rear are developing flat spots. The wear seems to be good considering the chipseal I often ride on & my weight.

Overall I recommend. If you can afford a 2nd set of tires/wheels for raceday, by all means, do that. But for those of us with one bike & one set of wheels to ‘do it all’, they’re about the best compromise there is between speed and flat resistance.
Yeastman
I think everyone has pretty much covered all the good things about these tires, so I just want to point out these are marked as “directional tires”, not that it may actually make much of the differences since these are not even treated tires, but why not make things right from the beginning when you have the chance, the direction of sign is marked on the red sided lable, not very noticeable.

Also these tires will be very difficult to install when brand new, they are very tight and will hug the rims like nothing else, so make sure you got some good tire levers like the Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack or very strong/thin tire levers.
aiyo

More…

Love these things; most of my riding is done on the road or hard-packed.

love the handling, ride and quietness of these tires; they look good too.

Great price as well.

Will buy again
Jufon
These are great tires for the money i have about 40 miles on them now, they were easy to install this was my first set of tires i have ever mounted no water or soap just deflated the tubes(not all the way about 10psi)and slip them on about 5-6 mins for each tire. They are a great tire to convert your mountain bike fast shipping in a big box but the tires dont get bent that way so dont complain my friend just ordered two tires and they came all folded up in a bag so whoever ships theses cares about the product.
chad
I purchased a pair of these tires to use on my MTB for a smoother ride on the city streets than the Kenda K53′s I was using.

The K53′s were nice tires and offer very little rolling resistance compared with full-on knobbies (and are smoother going straight) but still have good knobs on the sides. But when you are turning they have that knobby growl, so I figured that I’d try the 838′s as they had seemed to be highly regarded by some.

The tires are pretty smooth-riding and feel very sticky in the corners unlike the knobby K53′s which tended to squirm at higher speed corners with large lean angles. The 838′s seem to stick like glue to the tarmac (but not so much on dirt trails -naturally). I put the whole wheel off the bike on the slippery ceramic tile of my condo and could put all my weight against it at angles much greater than 45-degrees and the tire refused to slip or squirm which is a lot more than I can say for the K53′s. I was pushing against it like a football tackle sled with all my might and they wouldn’t budge. The K53′s will slip out when I try this. I haven’t tried using the 838′s in the wet yet so I don’t know how the traction will stand up in the rain. They look like they will do OK with that motorcycle-style tread pattern.

Another good thing about this tire is that I can fill them up to 60-65psi which is about 50% more pressure than you can safely fill the K53. This allows lesser rolling resistance, better road feel, and much more front brakes can be used as front tire impending lockup has much more of a controlled feel than with lower-pressure tires. I can do controllable stoppies with these tires lifting the back wheel right up with my cantelever brakes out front.

One thing about these tires is that while they say they are a 1.9 wide they are a bit wider than that in reality. I’ve got 26×1.75 rims and if I measure the sidewalls they are exactly 1.9″ but the actual tread area is well over 2″ and pushing 2.25″

I suppose if you had really narrow rims the tire would squish out and be taller but as it is the 838′s have a larger circumference than the K53′s had and are HUGE. I’m glad I have a lot of clearance on my old Ross MTB with planet bike MTB fenders because these tires are so large that right now the rubber mold nubs are actually rubbing on the fender. It’s a good thing they are small and will wear away soon.

These things are WIDE. I’ve seen little asian-market 50cc motorcycles that didn’t have such wide tires as my bike has now. I think I like it because there is tons of traction available and they ooze confidence when the bike is pitched over in a corner to near crank-scraping lean angles -this bike rides MUCH more aggressively on the tarmac now than it did with the K53′s which always seemed to me like the bike was trying to squirm out from under me to the outside of the corner. Going from the K53 to the K838 is like going from Bias to Radial tires on a motorcycle. They are THAT much more grippy and because of the higher rated pressures you don’t lose anything with rolling resistance (especially in the corners). And they are smooth as glass going straight or turning.

It’s like magic.

I wouldn’t put them on a rim narrower than 1.5 though or wider than 2 (max). I’d imagine they would be pinched and pointy on a narrow rim and pulled flat like a low-rider on a 2″ -it’s just the kind of tire they are with the built-out tread onto the sidewall like a motorcycle tire.

Cons:

You might not have the clearance for these tires even though you can run 2.25′s on the K53 or other knobbies.

The picture shown is a gumwall tire but what I got were blackwall tires. Not a big deal to me but others might be disappointed. Be aware of that.
J. Moll

More…

About a year later, I’ve only had a handful of punctures and no pinch flats. The rubber on the outside is FILLED with little nicks and gouges, but the kevlar lining has for the most part kept any of that crap from getting through to the tube.

I’ve been extremely pleased with these, especially given what I paid for them.
Dave
I’ve been using these for a couple of years now, and I couldn’t be happier with them. The hard center and soft shoulders make for a tire that roll efficiently and corners like it’s on rails, and the flat protection is excellent: at least as good as “commuter” tires at twice the price. And the 700×23 holds 130 lbs PSI! You just don’t see that at this price.
Will Gibson
I’ve had these tires on my old road bike (27x 1/25) for over an year and half. They’ve have been on my bike for over 1000 miles now. I commute into San Francisco and have to deal with many obstacles, worst of which, is the endless patches of shards of glass. I’ve only had 4 punctures and the last 3 have been after the 1k mark.

These are very sturdy tires, which are relatively light weight and with great traction. I’ve had days where I’ve taken out nasty chunks of glass, but didn’t lose air pressure, they have save me many times from being late to work.

I’m trying out the Gatorskins now, but the tires are still in riding condition, but with to many glass scars to ride in the city. For those that ride fixies or like to skid to a stop, there is a purple layer that becomes visible to let you know when it’s time to switch them out (but I still don’t see them on mine).

Yes, they are not well known, but I also was recommended these by the guys at the bike shop. I’m glad they did.

Bottom line: Amazing puncture protection with long life, yet affordable. Plus they make old 27” wheels look more modern (sad that they only come in black for that size). If you need good tires but don’t want to shell out the $40+ for each tire then get these, you won’t be disappointed.
J. Garcia

More…

I only wish I would’ve bought it sooner.
smatsushima1

More…

It is heavy and confidence inspiring, perfect for lift served riding. Wear seems about average so far but traction and cornering are excellent.
Dr. D



More…

I ordered a new tube and this new tire from Amazon. I was glad they had them as 16 inch tires and tubes don’t seem to be too easy to come by. I searched youtube and watched a video on how to switch them out. Actually doing it took 15 minutes or so and was really pretty easy. My son is happy to have his new tires and we’re happy that we don’t have to be constantly putting new air in his tires every time we turn around.

This was a great value.
E. Peck





More…