20" x 3.0 Kenda Flame



I have a 20" wheel on this unicycle and have been looking for a long time for a good street tire that was fat enough to absorb the shock of going off stair sets. I wasn’t sure if this 3.0 Kenda Flame would fit when I ordered it, but it turns out that my Bedford frame has just enough room.

So far the tire seems plenty big enough to cushion any kind of drops I want to do. It rolls pretty smoothly over pavement, yet it still has enough tread on it to give it some grip.

One problem I have noticed is that it seems to fold over easily. If I am doing any kind of a gap that is more than a few feet I have to make sure that I land with the tire pointed in the same direction I am moving in otherwise it folds over pretty badly. I am not sure how this compares to other tires of the same size. I put about 35 psi in it and I weigh about 190lbs.

That is awesome!

http://www.choppersus.com/store/product/122/Tire-20-x-3-Road-Hog-/

I had that Kenda tire for a bit on a BC Wheel.

It was far too mushy for my liking on anything other than a BC Wheel for just learning.

Nice tire! I’m thinking of possibly getting one for a Bedford 20" as well, only what is the max psi on that? I’m reading 40 on a site selling them, only thing, how mushy is it at that point? For just riding around (on a 20", I know) would it have less rolling resistance than, say, a luna tire?

http://www.choppersus.com/store/product/123/Tire-20-x-3-Slim-Cat-/ that is what i just bought. I will have it in the mail soon. I also bought an ody high pressure to chop in half and glue in to stiffen up the side walls t’will be nice if it fits my frame.

Will that make your tire able to hold a higher pressure? Could solve the “mushy tire” problem…

I don’t really think so it was just a cheap tyre haha. Yeah from what I know it will fix the mushy-ness. It maybe be able to hold a higher pressure because of it, but I don’t really know.

The Kenda slick 3" tires will have less rolling resistance than a Luna I would say down to about 15psi for a 150 pound rider.

I ran mine soft because it was extremely forgiving to balance on a BC Wheel with lower pressures than at higher pressures.

This video shows how forgiving it really is… I ran about 20 psi in that video, which is way too soft for doing a drop say… 18" which would probably flat spot my rim… that’s when I first learned to ride though, which is why I am saying it’s forgiving. I find BC Wheels quite boring to be honest, but a slick thin tire is MUCH better for a Unicycle of any type than a fat slick.

You’ll have to let me know how this works. I have never heard of anyone gluing a smaller tire to the sidewalls of a larger tire to stiffen it. What kind of glue would you use. It seems like it would make a pretty heavy wheel with two tires in it.

I do like the smooth roll my tire has but I am starting to get annoyed by how easy it folds over.

Yes, it says 40 psi max, although I suppose you could go up to 50 psi with out a problem. I run it at 35 psi and I am 190 lbs. I don’t have any problems on straight runs, but if I want to do any gaps I have to be pretty careful.

It definitely has less resistance than a luna.

Will do although it might be a while before I get around to it.

Well not really heavy, I got a lightish tire and I am going to shave it alot. I have not though of the glue yet. I was thinking gorilla, but that might make it way to stiff. I am going to look into some epoxies and stuff like that to see what I can find. Yeah the foldage would be annoying.

It seems to me like you should use some sort of rubber cement that would have a lot of flex to it.

Why not get a 20" DX32… Darren Bedford sells them in 36, and 48 holes.

Umm… what does that have to do with anything in this thread?

That is a good idea I also though of some type of silicon, it dosn’t really have to told it there to much just enough to keep it in place.

Are you creating this problem? Would a higher tire pressure not solve this issue, or is the tire just too massive?
Currently I am thinking of getting a trials bc (Bedford) for xmas and putting this Kenda Flame on it. I only weigh about 150lbs. and would probably max out the tire pressure, so would this be a problem even then?