Marathon Dureme (folding) 26 x 2 scarcity

[in4]

I've an email alert set up with SJS re these tyres. A quick search seems to indicate quite widespread shortages of this particular tyre. What's your next best option for an all round touring tyre? The rigid version of the Dureme? Mondial? Marathon plus? perhaps a Panaracer or a Continental?

[Matt2matt2002]

Marathon Plus have served me well for all of my tours abroad.

[RonS]

 I have decided to retire my 9 year old Continental Contact IIs. Even though there is lots of tread, the rubber itself is becoming all cracked, and I'd rather not risk having problems on the next tour. At that age they don't owe me anything. I would have replaced them with the same things, but I couldn't find stock that was deliverable to Canada at a reasonable price.

 I wound up ordering the 26x2 Marathon Mondial folding. They should arrive next week. If you're still shopping then, I'll give you my first ride impression.

 I had Panaracer GravelKing tires on my other bike in size 42-584 (650B). I see they come in 26x2.1. The price at SJS is as low as I could have bought them for in Japan. They are wonderfully fast and smooth riding, but they are lightweight and I don't think they would be the best choice for loaded touring.

[martinf]

Marathon Dureme 26" x 50 mm, both folding and wire bead, have been out of production for a number of years, but SJS had a few batches made specially for them. I don't think they have any left. They were a very good compromise for mixed riding on tarmac and tracks and paths.

Marathon Supreme production stopped more recently, they still seem to be available on at least one French website in the 26" x 50 mm size.

I prefer the Supreme for use predominantly on tarmac roads, where rolling resistance is less than the Dureme but the Supreme isn't quite as tough and not quite so good as the Dureme on tracks and paths. Puncture resistance isn't too bad, I average about 1 puncture every 5,000 kms.

For off-road use the Marathon Mondial is good, this is tougher and heavier than the Dureme and should last a bit longer, it is the current Schwalbe offering for long-distance expedition touring. But it has more rolling resistance than Dureme or Supreme on tarmac. Still available in 26" x 50 mm in folding (the ones I have are the folding version in the discontinued 26 x 55 mm size) and wire bead versions (cheaper and slightly less puncture resistance). Not yet had any punctures with this tyre, according to Schwalbe's ratings puncture resistance of the folding version is supposed to be better than Dureme, and not much worse than Marathon Plus.

The Marathon Plus is heavier still, and IMO not as good as the Marathon Mondial off road. Rolling resistance on tarmac is IMO slightly worse than Marathon Mondial, but I have never yet had a puncture with the various Marathon Plus tyres I have used (not huge distances, mostly on visitor bikes where I don't want visitors messing with the rear wheel after punctures). I'm not a fan of Marathon Plus, in a given size to me it feels less comfortable than the other models I have used. 

No recent experience of Panaracer tyres.

Continental have the Continental Contact Urban. In the 26" size this is available on German websites in at least 3 widths, 47 mm, 50 mm and 55 mm.

I have the Contact Urban in the 16" size on one of my Brompton folders, it seems to have quite low rolling resistance on tarmac and is reasonably puncture resistant. IMO rather similar to the Marathon Supreme but with wire beads and therefore significantly cheaper. 

There are other Continental tyres designed for off-road and mixed use with 26" size options, but I have no experience of these.

 

 

[in4]

They’re back in @ SJS
FWIW
I’ve been running rigid Mondials for circa 5000kms now. Some of you will recall my whinging and moaning about seating them correctly. Also, my first and hopefully last dunk in a canal on my first Mondial ride.
I’ve had a few punctures with them and my gut feeling is they’re not as puncture resistant as Duremes. That said I don’t have enough data to be certain of that.
They ride well on most surfaces (except the wet, grassy edges of canal paths) and are long lasting.
They appear to have a smaller er footprint/ profile than Duremes but I’ve ridden them over various surfaces and in varying weather conditions ( from the beastly wet and cold of Altnaharra, Scotland to the arid Alentejo in Portugal. )

If you are certain you’ll be riding on a lot of broken surfaces the Duremes might be a better choice. If you’ll be riding on mostly sealed surfaces the Mondials will  be a good option to consider.

[martinf]

They’re back in @ SJS

Interesting. But not yet offered on their website when I looked yesterday.

I’ve been running rigid Mondials for circa 5000kms now. Some of you will recall my whinging and moaning about seating them correctly. Also, my first and hopefully last dunk in a canal on my first Mondial ride.
I’ve had a few punctures with them and my gut feeling is they’re not as puncture resistant as Duremes. That said I don’t have enough data to be certain of that.

There are differences between the wire bead and Kevlar bead versions. I have had no problem seating the Kevlar version, which is also supposed to be very good as puncture resistance is concerned.

If you are certain you’ll be riding on a lot of broken surfaces the Duremes might be a better choice. If you’ll be riding on mostly sealed surfaces the Mondials will  be a good option to consider.

My own experience is the opposite. I reckon Duremes are the best all-rounder tyre for tarmac with a significant amount of track and path riding. If mostly riding on tracks and paths I prefer the Mondials, but that might be because I have the Kevlar bead version in the wider 55 mm size.

[RonS]

The Marathon Mondials arrived on Thursday and I got them put on during the weekend. I managed to get out for a 44 km test ride today. Here are  my first impressions.

Ian, if you're still looking for tires and the Duremes are not available, I think you will be happy with the folding Mondial. The rolling resistance was less than I was expecting. I went back in my Strava and checked the last four trips I have done, all approximately the same distance. Three of them were on the Raven and one of them on my “go slightly faster” bike with 650b X 40 G-One Allroads. My average speed on this trip was faster than the last three on the Raven with the Continental tires and just shy of my average on the 650b. I know that one ride does not a scientific test make, but they definitely feel faster than the Continentals.The only negatives I could find are the noise (they buzz like knobbies), and they were a little squirrley in the corners, although this could be because the slippery mold release compound has not worn off yet. With the pressure set at 36PSI/2.5bar I found the ride to be fairly compliant, too.
At this point, I would not hesitate to recommend.

My inner geek took a few measurements in case anyone wants to know. When I received them, I threw them on the kitchen scale. One of them came in just under the advertised weight of 740g at 737g. Surprisingly the other one was only 705g. I put the heavier one on the back, assuming that the 32g was extra rubber. I measured the width when I got back from this trip so they have been on the rims for four days and have had a few kilometres put on them to let the sidewalls relax. They were both 48 mm wide at 36 psi on Rhino light rims, which are on the wider side, I believe 25 mm internal.