Tyres - something other than my XR's?

cookiemonster

Hi

I'm doing a few weeks in Lebanon and Syria in April with a couple of friends. We're travelling in style and getting a jeep and driver to carry our stuff (yes, I know, but there's no arguing here - the chap thats arranging things wont have it any other way, and as he's lebanese he gets to decide )

For expedition stuff I use Marathon XR's on 26x2.0 and they've been faultless. However on this occasion I wont be carrying anything, and we'll be on tarmac for the most part, so I'm thinking that a lighter, faster rolling tyre may be in order.

Choices at the moment are...

travel contact in 1.75 (thinner, slightly lighter and a bit more slick than the XR's)
marathon plus 1.8 (again, thinner slightly lighter but similar tread)
marathon race 1.5 (slick, light tyre - probably screwed if we head off road)

I cant really decide if there's enough difference in the travel contacts or marathon plus's over the XR's to warrant a change - although the XR's are fairly heavy work around town for example.

The race's are just a bad idea but then again...

Anyone tried XR's and travel contacts / marathon plus's, and can tell me whether i'll notice a difference? Or any other recommendation for touring tyre (which is probably what I'm after, rather than super-tough expedition tyres)?

Cheers

Jon

andymiller

Have a look at the Schwalbe website. There's a very useful document giving technical information about its tyres:

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/pdf/techinfo.pdf (727kb pdf)

Among other things it says that:

As a general guide, you should expect a tire life of 2000 to 5000 km from SCHWALBE standard tires. Marathon type tires should generally last for 6000 to 12000 km. The MARATHON XR is an exception with its high mileage of about 8000 to 15000 km. With MTB tires, it is impossible to give a useful indication, as the individual riding style is the main determining wear factor. The Stelvio tire should generally last 3000 to 7000 km.

Schwalbe are quite open that there is a trade-off between durability and grip in the wet.

If you don't need the extra durability of the XRs then the choice probably comes down to how much puncture protection you want - and the trade-off between puncture protection and extra rotational weight.

amaferanga

Conti Travel Contacts are significantly lighter than the XRs. For a tour on asphalt I wouldn't even contemplate XRs - way too heavy. I used to commute on Travel Contacts and they roll pretty well, much better than Marathno XRs.

cookiemonster

cool, thanks - i really wanted to know whether i'd notice a difference (often its the case that there's a difference on paper, but not noticeable in practise)

TC's it is then I guess