Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Non-Thorn Related => Topic started by: in4 on February 28, 2024, 09:08:16 pm
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New tyre time is getting close. Having a brief search makes me think that Marathon Pluses are still the most popular 26in option?
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If you do many thousands of km, you can also go with the (folding version of the) Mondial, as that is still produced in 26". The Almotion is becoming an increasingly popular tire for touring and light bikepacking, but I think it has never been offered in 26", only 650B and 700c.
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If you do many thousands of km, you can also go with the (folding version of the) Mondial, as that is still produced in 26". The Almotion is becoming an increasingly popular tire for touring and light bikepacking, but I think it has never been offered in 26", only 650B and 700c.
My Nomad originally came with 26 inch x 2.15 inch Almotion tyres, but their grip doesn't work that great with wet mud and thorns kept coming through. I've changed to Marathon GT365 - great offroad grip and almost the same puncture protection as marathon plus. They aren't lightweight at all though.
I'm editing this in case anyone is interested in tyres in the future.
I've realised the GT365s are way too heavy compared to the Almotion tyres. But the newer Almotion tyres have crap puncture protection so I'm switching to Mondials.
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Depends what you want in a tyre.
For local use on glass-strewn streets Marathon Plus is probably sensible. But a bit heavy and more rolling resistance than I like. I have these on the rear wheels of the two visitor bikes at our island flat, where distances are short and the "near zero punctures" feature is more important.
Marathon Mondial is also fairly puncture resistant, and better off tarmac. A bit lighter than Marathon Plus, but still quite a lot of rolling resistance. I have a pair on a utility bike that I sometimes take off-road, but in the discontinued 55x559 size. 50x559 is still available.
For my own use of mainly on-road riding I generally prefer a lighter and more free-rolling tyre. I have a good stock of Kevlar bead Marathon Supremes in 50x559, but these are no longer available.
The closest currently available equivalent to Marathon Supreme that I have found in the 50x559 size are Continental Contact Urban Wire Bead, which are quoted at 559g. I have the 35x349 size of this tyre on one of my Bromptons, they roll well on tarmac and I haven't yet been bothered with punctures.
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I have not bought any 26 inch tires for several years, still have tread on my plain Marathons (with Greenguard), Duremes and Extremes. Most of my riding since the start of Covid was on 700c tires. And since the Duremes and Extremes are discontinued, that leaves the Greenguard Marathons.
That said, I have never bought the Plus version with that extra rolling resistance.
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[...] think that Marathon Pluses are still the most popular 26in option?
Or you may just be seeing what is available rather than popularity.
Buy I'm not surprised that the Marathon Plus is popular. I used to ride on Marathon Plus in 622mm. Unless you're a commuter on glass-strewn city streets, I can't recommend their harsh ride, though their puncture proofing is superior and their longevity exemplary.
I don't know in what sizes it is available, but the Bontrager Hard Case Elite a Trek Benelux bike came with appeared in every respect to be a workalike to the Marathon Plus: nasty ride but puncture-proof and hardwearing. It is also a close enough lookalike to make me wonder whether the Hard Case Elite tyre is built on the same carcass as the Plus.
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My Raven Tour came with the 26 x 1.75” Marathon Plus fitted (my request based upon the experience of others). The rear lasted 15000 miles and the front one is on my work hack. That was 16 years ago.
I now use them for winter (1.75” rear, 1.5” front) and swap them in spring for Marathon Racers (the folding 1.5” version which now seems to be unavailable). These are really nice and 600g lighter than the 1.75” M+. The M+ are heavy and a harsher ride but in winter i don’t tend to ride for long periods so don’t find it a problem - i would prefer this to sorting a puncture in the freezing rain 😀. The harsher ride can be aided somewhat by using lower pressures.
That’s my experience of them.
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I forgot to mention that i found the standard Marathons to be a good compromise - i used the 26 x 1.5” and found them be exactly that.
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Schwalbe Marathon+ are a lot like Rohloff hubs - heavy, expensive, and last a very long time. I have one on the rear with almost 20,000 miles on it (and about ready to be replaced) but probably no more than 2-3 flats in that time. Not a good long distance road tire, but for city commuting they are the best that I know of.
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https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/search/?term=marathon+plus+26+x+2&size=26+x+2%2E00
Disappearing down a rabbit hole moment!
Three different 26 x 2 options and I haven’t discounted a 26 x 1.75 one yet!
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Schwalbe Marathon+ are a lot like Rohloff hubs - heavy, expensive, and last a very long time. I have one on the rear with almost 20,000 miles on it (and about ready to be replaced) but probably no more than 2-3 flats in that time. Not a good long distance road tire, but for city commuting they are the best that I know of.
I won't be getting anything like that mileage from my Marathon Supreme tyres. So far, I have only scrapped 2, with an average of 10,000 kms (about 6,000 miles). Both of these were from carcass failures on the rear wheel. I swap the front tyre to the back when I wear out or scrap the rear tyre, so I don't have different values for front and rear tyres.
IMO, still good value for money from a lightweight tyre used hard for a mixture of utility cycling, cycle camping on road, with some off-road use on rocky and sandy tracks.
Punctures with Supremes- IIRC about 3 in 23,000 kms of use in the 50 mm width size, but rare enough that I don't really notice. Compared to none at all with Marathon Plus in about 9,000 kms of use (all sizes).
For my own use, I prefer spending 20-30 minutes sorting out a puncture every 5-6 thousand kms to losing 1 to 2 km/h of speed and having a harsher ride with a (nearly) puncture proof tyre.
But I am lucky to live in an area with relatively clean and well-maintained roads with not too much glass or metal debris. No goat-head thorns either, although blackthorn caused enough punctures to make me change from lightweight Brompton Yellow to heavier Schwalbe Marathon (not plus) tyres when I was working on survey contracts with my Brompton.
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Schwalbe Marathon+ are a lot like Rohloff hubs - heavy, expensive, and last a very long time. I have one on the rear with almost 20,000 miles on it (and about ready to be replaced) but probably no more than 2-3 flats in that time. Not a good long distance road tire, but for city commuting they are the best that I know of.
That's a good distance!
I know there are a lot of variables to tyre life but i've just changed my rear tyre (Marathon+ 700/35c) after 4200miles as the tread was gone and I could see the blue inner at one place.
On my previous bike I went through four rear tyres (also Marathon+ 700/32c) average 4000miles a time.
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For my own use, I prefer spending 20-30 minutes sorting out a puncture every 5-6 thousand kms to losing 1 to 2 km/h of speed and having a harsher ride with a (nearly) puncture proof tyre.
But I am lucky to live in an area with relatively clean and well-maintained roads with not too much glass or metal debris. No goat-head thorns either, ... ...
Fully agree. I average one puncture a year. I always carry a spare tube on the bike, along with a pump.
That said, most of my tires have some form of puncture resistant layer, but that layer is not as slow as the plus version layer.
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Amazed at the claim of one puncture a year. Until I rode the Baja Divide (a whole other story), I only had three punctures with Marathons in 40,000 km of touring all over the world, on all kinds of terrain. Two of those punctures were in South America from the sharp wires that are used to repair truck tires, and tend to litter the roadside.
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Amazed at the claim of one puncture a year. Until I rode the Baja Divide (a whole other story), I only had three punctures with Marathons in 40,000 km of touring all over the world, on all kinds of terrain. Two of those punctures were in South America from the sharp wires that are used to repair truck tires, and tend to litter the roadside.
Depends where you ride. Where I live in France, I don't get many punctures when I ride on tarmac.
The last few times that I visited the UK I had far more punctures, probably because of the far greater prevalence of broken glass from disposable beer bottles littering the badly maintained cycle paths I used for parts of my trips. When I can, I try and avoid riding on the much busier UK road with UK traffic passing inches away, as compared to France where the French rule of leaving 1m to 1m50 clearance when passing two wheelers is observed by a majority of drivers. To compound the problem, French roads are generally wider than those in SW England.
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IMO, still good value for money from a lightweight tyre used hard for a mixture of utility cycling, cycle camping on road, with some off-road use on rocky and sandy tracks.
Martin's observation & experience mirrors my own: I used the 26 x 1.6 Supremes on my Raven from 2014 to 2022, and continue using the 650B x 1.6 on my Mercury Mk 3 since May '22. Versatile, reasonably priced, reliable, reasonably fast, and comfortable.
As a point of comparison: In 2017, I tried a pair of Compass (now René Herse) 26 x 1.75s on my Raven, for day rides in and around Ottawa. I was a gear faster than on the Supremes, but found the Compass tires to be fast-but-fragile: after 3 punctures (2 front/1 rear) in 400 kms, I decided the time saved while riding was a false economy, and the lovely feeling wasn't worth the bother... :(
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I managed to get 6000 km on my compass tires (26X2.3) before they became debris magnets, and, as with John, I grew tired of a puncture every ride. I had already given away my Marathon Supremes (26X2) to a friend so I decided to try out a set of Continental top contact IIs. I found them to be somewhere between the compass tires and the Supremes in both rolling resistance and comfort. They are now at 9000 km. When I head to Japan in five weeks, I will leave them on as they have never punctured and show little signs of wear.
They are worth a consideration to replace your Marathons as I think the Supremes are no longer available in 26in
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I decided to try out a set of Continental top contact IIs. I found them to be somewhere between the compass tires and the Supremes in both rolling resistance and comfort.
These look to be an excellent replacement for Supremes, especially if their rolling resistance in real use is actually lower.
This isn't the case according to the tests in this link, but they are laboratory tests and don't use the 26" x 50 mm size, so they may not reflect conditions in real use:
https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/tour-reviews
In the 26" x 50 mm size, Continental top contact II is a bit heavier than the Continental Contact Urban Wire Bead at 735g rather than 559g. More expensive as well, but judging by the specifications probably tougher and more puncture resistant.
They are worth a consideration to replace your Marathons as I think the Supremes are no longer available in 26in
Not seen Supremes available recently, even as old stock.
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They are worth a consideration to replace your Marathons as I think the Supremes are no longer available in 26in
Discontinued in all sizes, replaced by the Efficiency, though that's available in a smaller range of sizes and no 26".
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Marathon Plus are great for the intended purpose of avoiding as many punctures as it's possible, for anything else I prefer other options. IMO much better options for only a slightly increased risk of punctures. However, I regularly ride with someone who considers Plus's the ideal tyre for most uses. The only answer is to experiment and form your own opinion.
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Hi PH,
What would you recommend in 26 x 1.75 as an option to Marathon Plus?
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Hi PH,
What would you recommend in 26 x 1.75 as an option to Marathon Plus?
It's nearly fifteen years since I last had a 26" wheel bike, so my choices might be out of date. It also depends what you use the bike for. Thorn's choice for road touring was for years the Pannaracer Pasela, I used a couple of sets in 26" and 700c, maybe not as puncture resistant as some modern tyres and not that long lasting, otherwise I couldn't fault them. For more general use, the standard Marathon HS420 is worthy of consideration, though I preferred the pre greenguard version. For something a bit more off-road without going full blown MTB, the Continental Double Fighter might be my choice if you have a bit more space to take a 1.9". I have them in 650B and have been impressed.
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Thanks for the reply, not heard of the Paselas.
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Hi PH,
What would you recommend in 26 x 1.75 as an option to Marathon Plus?
I recently got some Marathon Mondial 26 x 2.0 inch tyres in large part to this thread as I realised my GT365s were way too heavy.
I really like the Mondials. They are the Evo version so better protection than the cheaper non-Evo version.
I've got another tourer with 700 x 40mm Marathon Mondials already so can attest to them having a very good mixed road and off-road tread
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I recently got some Marathon Mondial 26 x 2.0 inch tyres in large part to this thread as I realised my GT365s were way too heavy.
I really like the Mondials. They are the Evo version so better protection than the cheaper non-Evo version.
I've got another tourer with 700 x 40mm Marathon Mondials already so can attest to them having a very good mixed road and off-road tread
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to indirectly compare the performance of two bikes with 26 x 2.0 inch tyres on a short trip using tarmac, followed by a section of rocky track with some muddy ruts.
The large visitor bike I was riding has Marathon Plus on the back and Dureme (long discontinued, but a very nice tyre) on the front. My colleague from the nature reserve was riding a largely similar bike (MTB style, 8-speed Nexus Premium, sprung saddle) but with Marathon Mondial 26 x 2.0 inch tyres (EVO version) on both wheels.
On the tarmac, the bikes seemed about equal. This tallies with my own experience that Mondial is slower on tarmac than Dureme/Supreme and Marathon Plus is a tad slower than Mondial.
But on the off-road stretch the Mondials seemed much better. With the Marathon Plus/Dureme combination. I had to be more careful picking the easiest way through the muddy parts, and my rear tyre slipped about more on the rocky bits.
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I recently got some Marathon Mondial
I haven't used those, or the Marathon XR they replaced. They have a huge reputation for longevity, but I've always wondered at what cost. Is it just weight? Or have they sacrificed anything else in order to be so hard wearing?
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I recently got some Marathon Mondial
I haven't used those, or the Marathon XR they replaced. They have a huge reputation for longevity, but I've always wondered at what cost. Is it just weight? Or have they sacrificed anything else in order to be so hard wearing?
A large part of it is weight. I ran Mondials for several tens of thousands of km, and when I got a pair of Schwalbe Almotion tires, they felt light as a feather and frankly flimsy compared to what I was used to.
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I haven't used those, or the Marathon XR they replaced. They have a huge reputation for longevity, but I've always wondered at what cost. Is it just weight? Or have they sacrificed anything else in order to be so hard wearing?
Apart from the weight, which to me, excluding lightweight tyres like the Supreme, doesn't seem particularly high, the cost is rolling resistance on tarmac. At least in the Marathon Mondial EVO version that I know.
As with some other long-lasting tyres there might also be a penalty in wet grip, but I have not noticed any problems with that and there is a lot of rain in winter here in South Brittany. Perhaps I am just more cautious than riders who have problems with tyre grip.
In the 2024 downloadable catalogue Schwalbe rate the characteristics of Marathon Plus (MP) and Mondial Evo version (M), both in the 50x559 size, as follows, for all the figures (except weight!), high is better:
Puncture resistance MP = 7, M = 6
Rolling resistance MP = 3.5, M = 4
Road grip MP = 4, M = 5
Off road grip MP = 2.5, M = 4
Durability MP = 6, M = 6
Weight MP = 1100g, M = 740g
The results are a bit different according to the independant bicyclerollingresistance.com site. For the Marathon Mondial EVO version they tested (37-622 Evo), puncture resistance is a bit less than Marathon Plus in the same size (108 as compared to 129), rolling resistance slightly higher (26.7 as compared to 25.5), weight much less (570g as compared to 900).
Subjectively, I reckon the Marathon Mondial EVO in the 55-559 size I have used most rolls slightly better than the 50-559 Marathon Plus that I have also used fairly extensively. But this might be psychological due to the better acceleration with a significantly lighter tyre. They also seem more comfortable, but that might be due to me using the 55 mm width rather than 50 mm, although due to the thickness of the puncture protection layer there is less air (cushioning) in a Marathon Plus even in the same size.
Marathon Plus always feel a bit "dead" to me, although this feels less pronounced in a wide 50x559 size. I had Marathon Plus 28x622 on a pair of visitor bikes and in that size the tyres felt really awful.
IMO Marathon Mondial scores over Marathon Plus for a mix of tarmac and moderate off-road use, while remaining not as good as a dedicated MTB tyre for 100% off-road use.
For use predominantly on tarmac, I prefer a lightweight tyre like the discontinued Marathon Supreme (there are similar tyres still available in 26" in the Continental range).
If puncture protection is the absolute priority, in the 26" size on tarmac I reckon Marathon Plus is the way to go, at the expensive of mediocre rolling resistance and more weight than something like the Supreme or even the ordinary Marathon.