Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
jodee1kenobi
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Joined: 19 Apr 2011, 11:20pm

Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by jodee1kenobi »

Hi, its come to that time when my tyres are getting towards the end of their life :( and I'm looking at new tyres :D

I've been looking at the Schwalbe Marathon Plus and was just wondering what everyone's thoughts were on them.

Thanks in advance
I don't believe in Peter Pan, Frankinstein or Superman. All I wanna do is bicycle, bicycle, bicycle........
Pugwash
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Joined: 13 Jan 2010, 12:57pm

Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by Pugwash »

They are absolutely brilliant, I ride through a town centre park as part of my commute, occasionally broken bottles etc - still no punctures. - Touch wood.
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Si
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by Si »

these have been discussed at some length over the last few years. If you use the forum search facility on marathom plus" or similar you ought to get loads of opinion.

for what it's worth: my 26inchers are very p*nct*re resistant, moderately comfortable, grip and road holding is fine in wet and dry, tough enough for off road, not at all fast, and can be a pain to get on and off the rims (but see colin's video on how to do this in the 'too good to lose' bit of the forum).
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531colin
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by 531colin »

jodee1kenobi wrote:...............

I've been looking at the Schwalbe Marathon Plus and was just wondering what everyone's thoughts were on them..........



Very, very puncture resistant.

Heavy, slow rolling. The narrower ones (700x25, 700x28) are so stiff they give a bumpy ride, and they are a bit of a wrestling match to put on.

I would only use them for a commute on glass-strewn city streets. I suppose if you are puncture-phobic, you might put up with the ride in order to get the puncture protection.

Ordinary Marathons are reasonably protected against punctures.....There is also the new Marathon Greenguard, a sort of halfway house between Marathon and Marathon plus.....I havn't tried them!

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/tour/....Looks like the ordinary Marathons are discontinued!
seventeezlad
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by seventeezlad »

A friend of mine recently came back from a 3 month trip around Europe, using said tyres. He'd put them on around 500 miles before he set off, and 3000 miles later he'd not experienced a single puncture!!! I know what tryres are going onto my tourer/commuting bike for sure!!!
LANDSURFER74

Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by LANDSURFER74 »

I USE 700C X 28 AND THEY ARE BRILLIANT ... BUT I HAVE HAD THE REFLECTIVE STRIP PEEL OFF. . on road, off road, up hill down dale, best tyre since the Michelin Elan ...
rualexander
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by rualexander »

seventeezlad wrote:A friend of mine recently came back from a 3 month trip around Europe, using said tyres. He'd put them on around 500 miles before he set off, and 3000 miles later he'd not experienced a single puncture!!! I know what tryres are going onto my tourer/commuting bike for sure!!!

It's not unusual to go 3000 miles plus of touring on any decent modern tyre without getting any punctures, I've got a set of Panaracer Pasela tyres with that kind of mileage on them with no punctures. My Schwalbe City Jets have about 1500 miles on them with no punctures so far, and they are only £8 from Spa.
Punctures are pretty rare these days unless you are riding over glass frequently or out on the country lanes after the Hawthorn hedges have been cut.
littleman
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Joined: 20 Aug 2011, 10:44am

Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by littleman »

I've only been using them for the last month or so - and I know they've saved me from at least one puncture. How do I know? ................. because I heard a scuffling noise and looked down as a small piece of hawthorn twig rattled through my front mudguard several times before the large thorn holding it in there either came out or snapped off as the twig was flung aside.
I went all around the tyre looking for any remaining piece but couldn't find anything so assumed it came out whole? - Done several miles since so it looks to be fine [X-fingers]?

I've never known any different so they seem easy enough to roll for me - but there again I ride back lanes, towpaths and rural footpaths so I'm grateful for their tough no nonsense nature.
Speed is less important than durability and I'm pretty impressed so far, In fact I don't think I would trust anything more foo-foo than these.
james01
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by james01 »

They are certainly a bit slow and harsh especially the narrow sizes, but their anti-puncture performance is excellent. A good compromise is to use a M+ on the rear, where a puncture takes much lomnger to fix, and use a lighter nippier tyre up front.
thirdcrank
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by thirdcrank »

We did have a long thread about punctures etc., and part way through, CJ arranged for the OP to have some marathon Super Plus for a long term test: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1939&hilit=schwalbe+marathon&start=45
nez
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by nez »

They are worth the harshness and difficulty mounting if a rear wheel p§nct@re is a complete PITA. For this reason I have them on my Brompton. I wouldn't bother with them on a conventional cycle. As others say, many modern tyres are pretty p§nct@re resistant.
drossall
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by drossall »

nez dans le guidon wrote:They are worth the harshness and difficulty mounting...

I'm another who likes them. I haven't noticed either problem.
nez
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by nez »

Maybe it's more pronounced on the small wheel.
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BSRU
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by BSRU »

I used to have Marathon Plus tyres on my hybrid but decided to change to Continental GP 4 Seasons, I wish I had made the change alot earlier. The Conti's are lighter, less rolling resistance and far superior in the wet, overall a better commuting tyre, in my opinion.
uphillbothways
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Re: Schwalbe Marathon Plus your thoughts please .

Post by uphillbothways »

They're great for what they're designed for - zero-maintenance utility bikes. In Schwalbe's home markets of Germany and Benelux there are a huge number of cyclists who ride every day but have little idea how to mend a puncture, often because they have hub gears and roller brakes that are a right faff to disconnect. Many of them don't own a spare tube or a pump. For these users, Marathon Plus tyres mean avoiding the biannual walk to the bike shop to have their puncture mended.

For those of us with QR wheels and a spare tube in the saddlebag, I think the compromises are just too great - they're nearly twice the weight of Paselas, roll as slowly as some knobblies and are noticeably stiff and unyielding. For a Brompton or a shopping bike, they're a brilliant choice. For a tourer, you're going to be carrying a tube and a pump anyway just in case, so you might as well choose something faster and more comfortable.
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