WTB Kodiak 2.5″ 29″er Tires: First Impressions
November 9th, 2009 by Guitar TedOkay, here is the specs and measurements on the new WTB Kodiak 2.5″ tire coming from Niner Bikes soon. I mounted up the Kodiaks after weighing them on the same rims as I had with the Dissent 2.5″ tires for comparison. The rims are Salsa Cycles Gordo rims at 35mm wide and I used tubes as I did with the Dissent tires. I also have a few rides in on them now and can report my initial impressions.
The Kodiaks have a very different profile than the Dissent tires do.
Okay, so with no further adieu, here are the weights and widths. (Width measurements taken after 24 hours of the tires being mounted.)
-Weight: 1320grams and 1360 grams each.
-Width: Width of Casing @ approx 40psi: 58.2mm. Width Knob to Knob @ approx 40psi: 64.6mm. Casing Height:54.5mm
Here is Niner Bike’s press release info on the Kodiak:
A 2.5′” monster, this Niner exclusive tire is the burliest rubber you can spec on your 29”
bike. Made with WTB’s High Grip DNA™ rubber compound, the tread is specifically designed for
fast, gnarly, technical descending. The WTB Inner Peace™ sidewall reinforcement has your back
when it comes to pinch flat protection, sidewall stiffness and keeping tire damage to a minimum.
Finally, the wire bead means less bead stretch and better rim retention when you do push the
limits of your riding. 29×2.5″, 1400 grams, 50 Durometer, 27 TPI.
The Kodiaks were even more difficult to mount than the Dissents were. I had to use a steel lever to mount these on the Gordos. The side walls are of similar construction to the Dissents with the Inner Peace bead protection. Like the Dissent, the beads sat up fine and I was off and running. I thought the Dissents looked wider at first. The high crown made the Kodiaks look narrower to my eye. I had already ridden the Dissents, obviously, and had higher expectations for the rolling feel of the Kodiaks. The big knobs of this tire added weight over the Dissents though, so I was skeptical of having the same sort of epiphany I had when starting out on the Dissent. Certainly the Dissent has a more voluminous casing, basically “filling out the corners” where the Kodiak is missing that part, thus the rounded cross section. That probably will allow the Kodiak to fit more frames than the Dissent though.
Since the casing on the Kodiak is very different in cross section than the Dissent, the Kodiak having a rather pronounced crown to its profile, the shape of the Kodiak fit my Rock Shox Reba Team better. The Dissent rubs the fork brace at times while the clearance with the Kodiak is fine. No chance of fork contact with the Kodiak. The differences do not stop there either. The tread is very different on the Kodiak with the center of the casing having some rectangular pairs of ramped knobs. Then alongside of those is a row of intermediate knobs that are larger and well supported. These are flanked by even larger outer knobs that are very well supported. All the outer and intermediate knobs are sort of connected at the base in a “tie bar” sort of way. Make no mistake- these knobs are like fortresses and are large. Deeper and more of a multi shaped affair than what is seen on the Dissent.
The Kodiak has some massive side knobs.
Ride Impressions: With everything set up and ready to go, I gave the Kodiaks a test run in the neighborhood before loading up to hit the test loop. I felt similar sensations as I did with the Dissents. Nice rolling tires for all those knobs. Maybe a bit more buzz and noise with the Kodiaks though. Once out on the trail, I noticed that the Kodiak climbed well, gave a nice ride over rocks and roots, and cornered like it was on rails. More on that in a bit. I should say that the trails were extremely dry at this particular time, so the tacky, wet conditions I rode the Dissents in were gone for the moment. I did find leaf strewn trails with hard pack to some tacky conditions and some sand. That said, here’s a few comments about the Kodiak tires so far in these conditions.
I found that the tires outer knobs wanted to grab the sides of ruts and pull you up into the sides of the ruts. Also, the Kodiak showed a tendency to cut into sand more than the Dissent, which was definitely a floater in sand. I accounted this as being a result of the Kodiaks high crowned casing versus the Dissents flatter crowned casing. The Kodiak did seem to carry speed better though on the hard pack due to this. I liked the climbing in the dry conditions just fine, but I will have to wait until after a rainfall here to duplicate some of the conditions I got to run the Dissent in to gain a clearer comparison there. The Kodiak run at low psi ranges (sub 20 to lower teens) rolls over stuff in its path great. Very smooth, yet the Inner Peace and stiffer casing keep your rims from coming into contact with trail debris. I thought the tires gave great trail feed back though. They certainly didn’t feel “dead” at all.
Now back to that cornering thing for a minute. I will first say that the Dissent is no slouch in cornering, but this Kodiak is a tire that seems to be even better. I tried to wash it out on some hard packed dirt/gravel. I was amazed at how far I could push into the corner and not even detect any looseness at all. The tire felt glued to the surface. This was a totally flat surface too. I was at a lean angle by the end of it that I hadn’t tried before and still the Kodiak stuck the corner. Impressive! At least on dry stuff. On other sections of trail the Kodiak gave no hint of letting go. The softer compound and side knobs just railed. I think I would have to reach some terminal velocities before I found out where “over the edge” was with the Kodiak. Again- I will have to see if the Kodiak is moisture friendly before I can pass further judgment though. I will say that I got the Dissent to hint at breaking away far before I leaned the Kodiak over as far as I did.
Kodiak 2.5″ 29″er tires are available now only from Niner Bikes.
Stay tuned for more coming in a few weeks.
Note:This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.
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Yeah, those side knobs are huge. I think they are comparable to a Hersey Kiss if it were in a block shape. The size and height seemed close to a kiss.
How do the Kodiaks and dissent work tubeless? You wrote that the bead is extra tight- what do you think?
Officially, I can NEVER advocate riding a WTB tire without an inner tube unless it’s UST or TCS (our new Tubeless Compatible System). What I can say is, generally, it’s harder to get a wire bead tire to bead up tubeless. Impossible? No. Difficult? Sometimes.
Well since WTB marketing chimed in here, I’ll leave two comments:
1. Thanks for the info, GT. It’s about time, eh (wink)!
2. Two new big 29er tires from WTB, and neither appears to be even close to a direct replacement for my beloved Stouts, which for rugged riding were just big enough, just tacky enough, and just barely not too heavy for my tastes. I will miss them (after I wear out my last pair).
Kosmo: If we have enough interest in the Stouts we can bring them back. I am taking note each time someone complains about a discontinued item. For the time being, I’m guessing there are still a fair number of Stouts kicking around the marketplace, between dealers and distributors. I can’t promise anything, but I can say that we’re listening. Thanks for the feedback.
+2 for renewed production of Stout. Great winter tire! For my riding, both Kodiak and Dissent are overkill.
@Kosmo – x2 – perfectly expressed – I love my Stouts for exactly your reasons
@WTB – thanks for chiming in – count another pro-Stout vote! I don’t use your tires for everything, but the Stouts and the Vulpines have uses on my bikes no other tire adequately fulfills. Consider bringing Stout back as a tubeless – I run them that way now, and they “converted” just fine, but…
@GT – so, is the Kodiak, at similar weight, differentiated enough compared to Dissent? Or is it the “Dissent” that fits sub-PBJ frames and forks? Would a DH 29er do OK on Kodiaks?
GT-You are killing me with the fuzzy pictures shot with a wide angle lens that distorts the subject. Can this be improved?
@Lee T: I think that the Dissent and Kodiak do fit different needs, (as well as frames/forks!!). I think the Dissent seem to prefer loose terrain. It “floats” better. The Kodiak seems better suited to hardpack to my mind. But again- it is too early on in testing to really tag these tires yet.
@ Shop Mechanic: What do you/would you like to see? I’ll see if I can make it happen. (I’ve always said I was a hack photog. If this gig paid anything, I’d definitely hire that photog job out in a heartbeat!
)
On tire photos maybe try to emulate the way tire manufacturers display their tires. I would make sure your camera is partially zoomed in to eliminate the distortion. Also check that the camera is focused on the tire rather than the fork. I always like a shot that is straight on as it gives a better idea of what the tire looks like on the rim. Good lighting will help with keeping things in focus and avoiding camera shake fuzziness. Just some ideas. Thanks for the free info though. How about a test on the new Ardent 2.4? I am curious about that one.
@Shop Mechanic: Thanks for the considered critique.
Ardent 2.4″ers? They’re already on the way.
Wow, these two tires are wacky! I would love to try one out, I don’t know if they’d even fit in my frame. :O
@WTB Marketing- what about tubeless read yversions? Add just a TLR bead the reast will be catered by sealants.