Schwalbe Marathon Plus

[in4]

New tyre time is getting close. Having a brief search makes me think that Marathon Pluses are still the most popular 26in option? 

[WorldTourer]

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.

[dsim]

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.

[martinf]

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.

[mickeg]

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.

[Andre Jute]

[...] 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.

[GaryRT]

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. 

[GaryRT]

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.

[PdE]

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.

[in4]

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!

[martinf]

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.

[chipbury]

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.

[mickeg]

...
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.

[WorldTourer]

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.

[martinf]

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.