Marathon plus tire issues

samsbike

Today I had my first puncture on my M+ tire. A 3mm piece of glass which just nicked the tube.

However what surprised me was how much the tread had worn compared to the front and I have maintained the pressure on a weekly basis.

The tires have covered about 1200 miles and I can't understand how the rear is worn so much. Does anyone know how long a M+ should last for?

I did swap of front to rear. However, after inflating and then fitting the front tire, I heard a bang and then rapid deflation. Checking the tube there was a 1mm ish hole. Could this be a pinch flat?

thanks

nicklouse

not a pinch flat.

sounds like you did not get all the glass out.

samsbike

Is there a trick to this, as I tried again to get the glass out from the inside and am not sure if I suceeded on this.

godders1

A pinch flat would ususally be two holes (that's why it's sometimes called a snakebite puncture). And a blow out type flat from a poorly seated tube on fitting would ususally cause a much bigger hole than 1mm so I agree that left over glass is favourite.

With the tyre off the bike pinch the area where the glass has gone in to open up the hole a bit and have a good poke around with something like a paper clip (I have a set of those tiny jewellery screwdrivers and they're ideal). Then push through from the inside to make sure any shards are pushed out. Obviously you want to do as little damage to the tyre as possible but a small hole on the tread won't do it any harm.

I'm not sure why your treads have gone so quickly, I've done about double the mileage you have on a pair of M+ and they don't yet even look close to the stage where I'd swap front for back. Do you lock your back brake up a lot?

samsbike

Thanks for the advice I hardly even lock up the rear, so am perplexed by the lack of miles as well.

godders1

Strange, I guess the surface where you are is a bit harsh or something?

mudcow007

i find if there is embedding glass/ stones in my marathon tyres -

i remove the tyre off the rim an push from the inside out, this generally gets all the crud out

some bits of glass are sneaky swines though

MichaelW

Marathon tyres are very different from Marathon Plus. The Plus one are notoriously hard to remove and I find it hard to believe that mere glass could puncture one. Usually it takes a long nail. M+ should last a lot longer than 1500miles.
The plain Marathon are just a good set of commuter tyres, the come off as usual and have reasonable protection.

Hoopdriver

Twelve hundred miles to wear out a Marathon Plus? Somethings just not right there. I get many, many thousands out of mine and I just cannot imagine a bit of glass penetrating them. Are you sure they are Mararthon Plusses and not regular Marathons? Although even so, a Marathon should last much, much longer than 1200 miles.

graeme_s-2

I wouldn't recommend putting a worn tyre on the front wheel. You generally want the best (grippiest, least likely to puncture) tyre on the front wheel. The back wheel is more likely to puncture, but a front puncture is more likely to have you off the bike. Equally if you lose grip at the rear it's generally recoverable, whereas a front wheel slide will often see you on the deck.

More on this from Sheldon Brown here:

http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-rotation.html

godders1

That makes sense for tyres without protection but on an M+ I wonder if a slightly worn tread is going to be any less grippy or more prone to punctures than a new tyre?

As Sheldon himself said “tread” on a tyre for tarmac use is pretty much cosmetic anyway and doesn’t give additional traction. And on an M+ the blue strip provides the protection so I don’t see how wear to the relatively thin layer of rubber over the top of that is going to significantly increase the risk of punctures.

magibob

What about the opposite of locking up. Are you on loose surfaces and spinning the back wheel?

Just a thought.

Andy