The Kenda Nevegal Stick-E L3RPRO 1.95 is another condition-specific tyre. As always the Nevegal was used on a Stan's ZTR Olympic rim with yellow tape and Stan's sealant. It aired up fine using a track pump and sealed very well with many less leaks in the sidewall than the Blue Groove. You can ride these tyres from the box, rather than waiting a couple of days.
A central line of ramped knobs keeps rolling respectable, while the outer rows, supported by spider webs on the carcass, resemble a cutdown mud tyre. This design is optimum for riding in loose, dry conditions - if you can pick up the trail surface you are riding on, then this is the tyre for you.
Where the Blue Groove let go, the more substantial Nevegal hooked up in the turns. Roots were handled without problem thanks to that mellow central pattern and soft compound rubber.
The downsides? This tyre is 554g, 100g more than a Blue Groove. It won't enjoy mud - while able to go through the stuff with some drifting grip is uninspiring because of the central ramped tread. Cutting this line would improve things if you were racing on a track where a significant portion was muddy. My advice would be to run a far more aggressive tyre if you're in a mudbath though. Finally, for racing I'm not mounting this tread on the back anytime soon. It is heavy and slow rolling and generally you can get away with the back wheel getting wild.
Overall, this tyre excells on the front in anything dry and loose, especially loam and copes great with roots too. You'll see us with this tyre at the Midlands XC, Gorrick and Southern XC venues.
Once we're done reviewing the whole Kenda range we'll post a total tyre guide for UK racing. Still to come are tests on the Small Block 8, Karma and Short Tracker.
What tire width did you use on both the blue groove and nevegal?
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