Schwalbe Marathon Plus Smartguard fitting

bmca2010

Just bought one of these tyres as ive heard good things about their puncture protection. Major problem tho, cant get the tire on the rim as the tire is way to big, ive read reviews about people having difficulty fitting them due to them being too tight but this is the opposite, can any1 one offer assistance? any1 had this problem?


and yea have defo bought the right size of tyre for the rim, (26)

thanks

ride_whenever

In what way are they too big.

Compare the numbers on your old tyres with those on your new ones.

bmca2010

ill try and get a pic tomorrow

its too big like trying to fit a 700c tyre to a 26inch rim would be, only its defo a 26 inch tyre, bought from crc.

have had to resort to the mountain bike for my commute atm so need a bitta protection on the back wheel

rally200

I've had the same with Marathon +, try holding one side in place with a bit of string - it works

bmca2010

yea i tried cable ties, but the amount of extra tyre stickin out that ws goin nowhere was ridiculous, ill keep trying

ride_whenever

well you say it is ridiculous, is the tyre labelled correctly on the rubber?

bmca2010

Aye it's the same size as my mountain bike tyre but the rubber is more In an outward position, a pic will help explain hopefully, thanks for the replys

rally200

can you take them back?

I just took mine off (after 3 years) the commuter last week & put on some old cheapo Kenda;s & can't believe how much better it is now - I think I'd rather put up with the odd puncture

N0bodyOfTheGoat

They are a swine to fit, as the rubber belt under the tread tries to reform. Think I lost ~2 hours getting a pair on the F5C and the Pylon8! :shock:

the_hundredth_idiot

I'm afraid there's a fair chance they are just an absolute bee-yatch to fit rather than being incorrectly sized. I have some Marathon Pluses on the MTB for when I use it on the road. I was very surprised the first time I tried to fit them around how tight they were - took me ages. Got them on in the end and now just have very different expectations about puncture repairs.

Not sure I'd buy them again. I'd rather be able to fix an occasional puncture in 10 mins than a very occasional puncture in 1 hour. Particularly, given punctures have been scientifically proven to have a 99% probability of occurring on dark, wet, cold nights when you're in a rush and a less than 0.1% chance of occurring on a lovely summer's day when you've a couple of hours to kill and there's a pub within 10 yards with a garden where you could have a nice pint while fixing.

jackthelad

I have marathon plus tyres on 2 of my bikes.what you need to do is blow up the inner tube slightly more than you would for a normal tyre,not that much more,fit the tube in the tyre then fit the tyre to the wheel,by putting both side of the tyre in at the same time,now as you are fitting the tyre push the sides down into the frame of the wheel to hold in place.now you will get about 3/4of the tyre in, now place the tyre between you legs on the floor with the sections that are already in place towards you and push down and away to try and push the last section in,at this point you will be left with about 10 per cent of the tyre still out, so pick up the wheel and pull back on the tyre to get the last section in.Once tried you will find it is not a problem.The tyres are first class for puncture protection,and if you do get a puncture when your out the tyre is easy to get back on after it has been used on the bike for a while.My third bike i fitted nimbus armidillo.and i think these tyres are excellent,good protection but not as much weight as the marathons so seem to roll a lot better than the marathons ,got them from dales in glasgow for £20 - thats for tyre and tube.Oh last point when putting the tyre back on, do not get tempted to use tyre levers just your hands or you will nick the inner tubes.

hope this helps for an easier life

jackthelad

ps if you are doing canal paths regular then they are worth the hassle to find out how to fit,as you can pick up punctures on a regular basis,once fitted the marathons basically take this out of the equation.

pps keep on top of the tyre pressure, these tyres get heavier if the tyre pressure is allowed to drop, so check regular

ppps forgot yuo might want to run a small film of fairy liquid around the rim to help as well