Fat Bike Tire Test: Kenda Juggernaut Pro

The Kenda Juggernaut Pro is the lightest 26x4.00 sized fat bike tire you can buy. With a specified weight of just 835 grams, it's much lighter than most other fat bike tires. To achieve this exceptionally low weight, Kenda uses an ultralight 120 TPI casing covered with a minimal amount of rubber. The drawback of this light construction is clear: this definitely isn't the most durable or indestructible fat bike tire.

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Next to the ultralight 120 TPI casing, the Juggernaut Pro also uses a dual tread compound with softer cornering knobs and harder center knobs for longer life. The folding beads are of the tubeless-ready kind which makes this tire easier to seal when used in a tubeless configuration. A cheaper 60 TPI wire bead version of the Juggernaut is available as well. Do keep in mind the 60 TPI version has a much higher weight of 1285 grams.

With such a low weight, it seems logical for this tire to also have an exceptionally low rolling resistance. Let's put this tire to the test and find out if that's true.

Manufacturer Specifications

Manufacturer Specifications
Brand	Kenda
Model	Juggernaut Pro
Year	2016
Supplied By	Bought in store
New or Used	New
Mileage	0 km
Price Range	Med
Buy At	Ad Amazon.com
Manufacturer part number
TPI	120
Compound	Dual Tread Compound
Bead	Folding
ETRTO	100-559
Size Inch	26"
Width Inch	4.00
Specified Weight	835 grams
Max Air Pressure (psi)	30
Made In	Members Only
Available Sizes	26x4.50 26x4.00

Kenda Juggernaut Pro Test Results

Size, Weight, and Thickness Measurements

Size, Weight, and Thickness Measurements
Specified Weight	835 grams
Measured Weight	853 grams
Measured Width Carcass	101 mm (un-round)
Measured Width Tread	92 mm
Measured Height	84 mm (un-round)
Measured Knob Height Center	3.0 mm
Measured Knob Height Edge	3.0 mm
Measured Total Thickness Center (excluding knobs)	1.70 mm
Measured Total Thickness Sidewall	Members Only
All size measurements are taken at an air pressure of 16 psi / 1.1 bars on a 65 mm inner width rim.

As previously mentioned, specified weight is 835 grams. My sample of the Juggernaut comes in at a slightly higher 853 grams. On a 65C rim, at an air pressure of 16 psi, the casing of the 26x4.00 Juggernaut has a width of 95 mm. The maximum height of the tire comes in at 84 mm.

With a height of 3 mm for both the center and edge knobs, the knobs on the Juggernaut are the smallest I've measured up to now. As expected for a tire with such a low weight, the sidewalls have a thickness of just 0.5 mm which is much less than most other fat bike tires. It must be said that most fast normal sized MTB tires have sidewalls that are just as thin as these.

Rolling Resistance Test Results

Rolling Resistance Test Results
Inner Tube	None (60 ml sealant) (current protocol)	Schwalbe SV13J (390 gr) (test protocol)
Rolling Resistance 20 PSI / 1.4 Bar	Members Only	Members Only
Rolling Resistance 16 PSI / 1.1 Bar	Members Only	Members Only
Rolling Resistance 12 PSI / 0.8 Bar	42.1 Watts CRR: 0.01262	47.6 Watts CRR: 0.01427
Rolling Resistance 8 PSI / 0.6 Bar	51.7 Watts CRR: 0.01550	59.2 Watts CRR: 0.01775
All numbers are for a single tire at a speed of 29 km/h / 18 mph and a load of 42.5 kg / 94 lbs. Use the formula: RR (Watts) = CRR * speed (m/s) * load (N) to calculate rolling resistance at a given speed and load.

Low weight? Check! Low rolling resistance? No! Not at all. It's crazy, but the Juggernaut Pro actually has the highest rolling resistance of all fat bike tires I've tested to date. How can rolling resistance be so high when the tire is this light? To me, it's clear Kenda doesn't use materials that have been optimized to offer a low rolling resistance. Maybe they forgot to think about this or they simply don't care about the rolling resistance of their tires.

I can't imagine how high rolling resistance of the 60 TPI version of this tire will be. My machine probably can't even handle that tire as the 120 TPI Juggernaut was already stressing the machine to the max. At full power, at an air pressure of 8 psi / 0.6 bars, I was only able to spin this tire up to 195 rpm instead of the required 200 rpm, the machine simply didn't have enough power. I've added 2.5% to the 195 rpm measurement to calculate the 200 rpm (18 mph / 29 km/h) power.

Puncture Resistance Test Results

Puncture Resistance Test Results (higher is better)
Total Puncture Score Tread	26 Points
Total Puncture Score Sidewall	Members Only
Tread Puncture Force Sharp Needle	7 Points
Tread Puncture Force Blunt Needle	Members Only
Tread Total Tire Thickness	1.70 mm
Sidewall Puncture Force Sharp Needle	Members Only
Sidewall Puncture Force Blunt Needle	Members Only
Sidewall Total Tire Thickness	Members Only

As expected from such a light tire, puncture resistance isn't impressive. With a tread puncture score of 7 points, it performs average. The sidewall puncture score of 4 points is lower than average but expected from the very thin sidewalls.

Conclusion

The 120 TPI Kenda Juggernaut Pro is a fat bike tire with an extremely low weight. Unexpectedly, rolling resistance is extremely high and it's the reason I wouldn't touch this tire with a 10-foot pole. When compared to the Schwalbe Jumbo Jim LiteSkin (read review), at an air pressure of 8 psi, you'll lose close to 40 - 50 watts of power for a pair of tires. When you consider that the average cyclist can generate 250 watts, that's an insane amount of power lost in the tires.

I rate this tire 1 out of 5 based on my tests. I can't see a reason to fit these tires if they perform this bad in the tests, I give it the 1 point for its low weight. Check the overview page (overview) to see which tires I do recommend.

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RATING: 1 / 5
TEST VERDICT: Not Recommended

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