Schwalbe Marathon Plus

tomdeswrig

When people say that the Schwalbe Marathon Plus is quite heavy to ride with - what do they really mean.

Do they mean it is like riding with lead tyres?

mf5

They are quite heavy tyres with a high rolling resistance, not quite riding with lead tyres but you would notice a difference with a lighter tyre

owenlars

My wife has them on her hybrid, I have them on a 15 year old Dawes Galaxy and my Cyclocross bike. I think it is difficult to describe how they feel but I doubt that they affect top speed that much. They just aren't like Conti GP4000 for example. Having said that I would only put them on the type of bikes I've mentioned above where the bike weight and geometry probably has more effect than the tyre and where you need their supreme resistance to failure.

asprilla

Like riding through treacle. Bulletproof treacle.

tomdeswrig

Hmmmmmmmm

The problem is that I am looking for new tyres for my Dawes Discovery 301 2001 bike.

I have had Schwalbe land cruisers but the rubber compound is awful and the tyre has perished.

I am considering the Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Continental Touring Plus, as most riding is on rough country lanes and some riding in forest trails (Thetford Forest).

I would like a fairly smooth tyre that will ride smoothly on tarmac but provide adequate grip on the forest tracks.

Any ideas on what to do?

Thanks

alfablue

Why not the regular Marathon? They are puncture resistant but don't have the extra weight. I have toured on them, pretty good.

tomdeswrig

Do you think the plain marathons would be happy on a forest trail?

alfablue

more so than the pluses I would think, more compliant. You will not get great off-road grip unless you sacrifice grip on tarmac, so its a compromise, but I was happy touring on all sorts of unmade paths with them.

tomdeswrig

In reality - on a hybrid bike would I really notice the difference between the pluses and the plain marathons. For some unknown reason I am drawn to the pluses!!

Or Continental Touring Plus

At the end of the day I expect that any of the aforementioned tyres will ride much better than the WTB All Terrainasaurus (tread is the same as these: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=49004) which originally came on my bike and only lasted 9 years loads of miles.

coopster_the_1st

I dislike the cycling through treacle description.

They are heavy and you notice this. Going down a hill they are brilliant as the extra weight helps here and they add the feeling of stability to the bike but going up they are heavier to ride. On the flat they are fine once up to speed although you do notice the effort needed to keep them rolling on anything that is not flat or downhill.

The biggest difference is cornering. The weight is most noticable here where they want to keep the bike upright rather than lean. It was a strange sensation at first but you get used to it.

Personally, they are a great commuter tyre where you just want them to work. Not sure I would want them on a bike that I would be riding for up to 8 hours for multiple days though you do not have to worry about them in rough country lanes

asprilla

I have them on my station bike, Durano Plus' on my fixie and a range of more sporty tyres on my other bikes. You can certainly notice a difference in acceleration and rolling resistance that puncture protection tyres like these give.

I also find that the grip on them isn't great, particularly in the wet. It's not bad or dangerous, it's just noticeable compared to slicks.

However, the pair on my station bike have yet you have a puncture in 4 years. If you want maintenance free and peace of mind they are the best thing to have on your wheels.

tomdeswrig

Thanks for the replies. Is it fair to say the the marathon pluses will handle better that a tyre which is more designed for off road use - as I suspect that the cornering could be a bit hairy with big knobbly tyres?

I expect that I will end up buying a pair and living with them. Decisions Desisions

alfablue

I would buy the pluses if it was for a commuter and I absolutely didn't want punctures. For other uses I would buy the regular marathons because I would want a better handling, more compliant tyre. Knobblies on wet tarmac are awful, so don't go down that route. (I even have some narrow ones on my audax bike). I wouldn't buy Continental unless you like cuts, premature wear and punctures!

gbsahne001

the wife's just called; her bike fitted with Marathon+ has just had a visit! Good thing she's only only a 15min walk away.

tomdeswrig

Having never used slicks do you think I would notice any significant weight (M+'s) in the tyres when changing to them from a Schwalbe Land Cruiser (somewhat knobbly)?

Thanks

jimmypippa

gbsahne wrote:

the wife's just called; her bike fitted with Marathon+ has just had a visit! Good thing she's only only a 15min walk away.

What did she cycle over, Barbed wire?

I heard the crunch as I cycled over a glass bottle with no bad effects. (It was dark and I didn't see it).

note to self -see how much better they are than the normal marathons that came with my CTW bike...)

alfablue

tomdeswrig wrote:

Having never used slicks do you think I would notice any significant weight (M+'s) in the tyres when changing to them from a Schwalbe Land Cruiser (somewhat knobbly)?

Thanks

you can see all the weights here http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1071-marathon-plus.html

and here http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1085-schwa ... uiser.html

looks like 185g more each tyre.

Canny Jock

Asprilla wrote:

I have them on my station bike, Durano Plus' on my fixie and a range of more sporty tyres on my other bikes. You can certainly notice a difference in acceleration and rolling resistance that puncture protection tyres like these give.

I also find that the grip on them isn't great, particularly in the wet. It's not bad or dangerous, it's just noticeable compared to slicks.

However, the pair on my station bike have yet you have a puncture in 4 years. If you want maintenance free and peace of mind they are the best thing to have on your wheels.

I agree with all of this. Went through winter with them on a Tricross, and found them heavy with not a lot of grip - I had the odd moment when they seemed to slide, although I never had an off.

Having said that, I didn't have a p*ncture in 4 months riding, so would still recommend them highly to someone who puts p*ncture protection at the top of the list. They don't claim to be lightweight race tyres and there's not much to touch them for protection. The only other downside is that they can be a bitch to fit, although a lot of tyres are like this.

I've switched to Bontrager Hardcases, which are not lightweight but a good bit lighter than the Marathons. So far the bike feels a bit more sprightly and the ride seems smoother, grip is a bit better (they are slick but with a rough finish) but not up with sportier tyres (I have Specialized Roubaix Pro 11 on my single speed which are a lot grippier).

gbsahne001

jimmypippa wrote:

What did she cycle over, Barbed wire?

Looks like an attack from within; there's a hole the shape of a spoke in the tube

roger_merriman

the hard rubber isn't as grippy as softer rubber, but the tires are quite versitile I use 38mm on a big cheap hybrid. quite happy in the snow and ice, see plodded up darkhill and Broomfield with out a problem.

I haven't found wet metal work to be a issue either might be speed tend to be under than over 20 mph or maybe the footprint of 38mm but been fine the last 3 or 4 years.

vorsprung

A 28mm Marathon Plus weighs 740g
A Contintental GP 4 Seasons weighs 250g

So the weigh difference per tyre is huge

The rear marathon+ on my commuter bike is nearly 3 years old and has done 11,000km with no punctures

zrazzle

It's been over two weeks since I put a marathon plus on my back wheel and destroyed my hands in the process...i'm not saying anything apart from... 8) along with a healthy dose of TOUCH WOOD. Not too fussed about speed myself so haven't really noticed the weight difference.

iPad

Canny Jock wrote:

The only other downside is that they can be a ***** to fit, although a lot of tyres are like this.

I bought a pair on Friday, and found them easy to fit, and I'm no bike mechanic. Maybe I was lucky with my rim combination or whatever, so I wouldn't let this put you off.

As for how they ride, I bought them to make my ride a little softer and they work fine, sure they're probably no good for a serious road cyclist, put for my daily commute, they are more than adequate.

In fact I got a PB on my trip to the office yetsre day morning, and today was my second best time, so I've not noticed a mssive drop in performance (not that at my level tyres make that much difference).

All in all, I would recomend them, and they're not like riding through treacle, more like warm honey

essex-commuter

I commute on M+'s and race on GP4000's...feel the difference and benefit from the extra 'drag' during the training.

Simples.

Canny Jock

iPad wrote:

Canny Jock wrote:

The only other downside is that they can be a ***** to fit, although a lot of tyres are like this.

I bought a pair on Friday, and found them easy to fit, and I'm no bike mechanic. Maybe I was lucky with my rim combination or whatever, so I wouldn't let this put you off.

As for how they ride, I bought them to make my ride a little softer and they work fine, sure they're probably no good for a serious road cyclist, put for my daily commute, they are more than adequate.

In fact I got a PB on my trip to the office yetsre day morning, and today was my second best time, so I've not noticed a mssive drop in performance (not that at my level tyres make that much difference).

All in all, I would recomend them, and they're not like riding through treacle, more like warm honey

What size did you get? I fitted 700x28 and they were a nightmare, I thought I was either going to damage the rims or bend the tyre levers. In the end I got them on, but damaged a tube in the process. I've heard from bike shop folks that 25cc are even worse.

As above though, if you are looking for the bestp*ncture protection, I'd put them at the top of the list.

iPad

Canny Jock wrote:

What size did you get? I fitted 700x28 and they were a nightmare, I thought I was either going to damage the rims or bend the tyre levers. In the end I got them on, but damaged a tube in the process. I've heard from bike shop folks that 25cc are even worse.

Good point :oops:

They are 700x32 which would proably explain why they were easier to fit than the 23mm race elites that I had before.

Breathless Commuter Man

I have recently added these to my commuter and am losing about 3-4kmh from my average speed home. used to be about 32-33kmh, now I have not managed to get above 30kmh.

derosa

iPad wrote:

Canny Jock wrote:

What size did you get? I fitted 700x28 and they were a nightmare, I thought I was either going to damage the rims or bend the tyre levers. In the end I got them on, but damaged a tube in the process. I've heard from bike shop folks that 25cc are even worse.

700x25 are a nightmare to fit when new, but run 'em at 100+ psi and you'll fly along.
Commuting tyre par excellence - perfect for the job. Wouldn't use them for 80 miles on a Sunday though!

tomdeswrig

Has anyone tried using either the plain marathon of the pluses on forest dirt tracks such as Thetford Forest - if so how are they?

fossyant

vorsprung wrote:

A 28mm Marathon Plus weighs 740g
A Contintental GP 4 Seasons weighs 250g

So the weigh difference per tyre is huge

The rear marathon+ on my commuter bike is nearly 3 years old and has done 11,000km with no punctures

I use the 23mm Conti 4 Seasons for commuting - fab tyre for every day - grip in all conditions - only 220g's , but not as quick a my Mitch Pro Race tyres, but I'd not use these commuting.....

bumpitybump

tomdeswrig wrote:

Has anyone tried using either the plain marathon of the pluses on forest dirt tracks such as Thetford Forest - if so how are they?

In February when the forest was very cold and dry I did a six mile loop on the forest tracks on my commuter bike which is fitted with marathon pluses. No issues at all with it although I'm sure if the ground had been wetter and the conditions more muddy I would have struggled as the tread on the pluses will clog much more easily then a 'proper' mountain bike tyre.