A while back I asked some of my buds on here that were also on thumper talk to vote for my entry in a contest to win a Knobby Knife. https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...t-38746/page2/ I ended up winning one of the ten tools that they were giving away. Thanks again guys! I had always been interested in the idea of the KK but couldnt pull the trigger on the $65 price tag. In the last few years I have been riding much more dirt than street, and having sharp corners on the ***** in the dirt makes a difference. Many times the ***** still have plenty of height, but the leading edge is all rounded off, giving up traction.



The mail man brought my Knobby Knife today (Friday) about 2 pm. I was busy packing to head out early tomorrow for the Golden Eagles Theilman MN trail ride. http://www.goldeneag...rail_rides.htm. The tires I have on the bike are prime for a KK treatment. I warmed the knife up and gave it a shot . It really was easy! The knife does not go burning through the tire like butter. It takes a little bit of a push to make it cut, which is good as it lets you cut and stay in control. Some of my cuts were a little ugly, but functional, and I'm sure that the more i do it the better I will get. Still I think I did pretty good.
I almost forgot to add that it didn't take nearly as long as i thought it would. I didn't time it, but I was surprised when all of the sudden, as I rotated the tire, the next **** I went to cut was already done.



rounded *****


sharper but sketchy first cut


getting better


doesn't take much

 

Good, looks like worth it. Let us know if you feel them like new tires.

 

So now that you know what you know. Would you buy one if I borrowed yours and never gave it back?

 

Hey Dan, that's cool you won it. I remember watching the video and thinking this is a cool tool. Hopefully you'll be able to use it for other projects too.

 

LOL If I knew who had it I would ask nicely, and get it back.

Here is a more plausible scenario.
Lets say someone was trapped in a burning car and I used the Knobby Knife to pry the door open. Lets say once I got them out of the burning car, I forgot the Knobby knife and it was tragically consumed in the blaze. Would I buy a new one then?
I think I would. It is a pricey tool, but I feel like it will give me at least double the life of my dirt tires, and pay for itself. It all depends on when you consider a knobby used up. If you run your tires down until there is a quarter inch of **** left, then this tool won't make much difference to you. If you change tires as soon as the ***** get rounded off, you will like the knobby knife a lot.
Dan

 

Thanks Brien, I have been interested in it since i first saw a post about them on ADV.
It may very well come in handy in some other way.
Dan

 

if my tires didn't just come apart on the 09 i'd consider it and using the ac10's they wear pretty fast on hard pack/roch the don't have the time to round too much, hove you run them since knifing them?

 

I ran them pretty hard over the weekend up in Minnesota. Some beautiful flowing river bottom trails up there, but also a lot of gravel trails with big chunks of rock everywhere. The cut tires held up as well as a new one would have in the same conditions.

 

Huh! I never knew that even existed. Interesting. So it basically takes the rounded edges that make a knobby start to lose traction and gives it a new edge? That's cool.

 

Holy ROCK-GARDEN, Batman...

Are these on level ground, or on inclines?