Kenda K657s on my DR650

I was looking for a suitable street tire for a trackday on the DR.  I found the Cheng Shin Barracudas and the Kenda K657s.  I initially ordered the Cheng Shins, but they were not available, so I ordered a set of the k657s.  I was not expecting much, just something better than knobbies for the roadrace track, but I was very impressed with these tires.  Even at touch-down-my-toes lean angles they stuck like glue.  The front looked the part of a race tire with rubber balled up and sticky enough to pick up pebbles and such.

They worked well at 30psi and better at 25psi providing good feedback when pushing hard.  It was not just me that was impressed either - my buddy with a shelf full of WERA trophies rode the bike and was amazed at well the tires worked at the limit of traction.

I'll also say the bike handled great.  My suspension is stock and there was no pogo action, weird feeling surprises, or bad behavior of any kind.  There was brake dive, it never bothered me and never upset the handling of the bike.  At top speed the bike was still quite stable and turned easily.

Even I was able to match or exceed the corner speeds of the sporty bikes.

Anyway, for about $125.00 and some effort changing the tires you can get a pretty good super moto experience.

Thanks for Reading - Mike         Photo by Rob Cheng