Phamilton

Hi all,

Just installed a set of Marathon Winter Plus on my commuter. They are the heaviest, stiffest tire I've ever encountered. I read some reviews about them suggesting that they were difficult to mount and they were sort of a bear but not too bad. After riding them only the 12 miles to work this morning, studs aside these seem like extremely tough tires. Pumped up to full pressure, they don't roll noticeably slower than the same size Kenda street tires I had been rolling on despite being almost twice the weight. I don't mind changing flats but it seems like these would be pretty unlikely to puncture in the first place. It has me thinking about whether or not I should consider some non-studded Marathons in the spring, even though I'm accustomed to riding tires less than half the weight. I mean for being as heavy as they are AND having studs, I'm pretty impressed. I'm not worried really about speed, I generally tend to ride around 15-17mph no wind.

Any other commuters rolling Marathons, non-studded, during the other 3 seasons? Especially over long distances? What kind of lifespan might one be able to expect? Are they a good all around tire? Seems like you could almost put them on, check the pressures once a week and otherwise just forget they're there. I've only been commuting for a little over a year but generally ride about 100-150 miles a week.

Thanks in advance.

mcours2006

I'm going to steal a page from Jim from Boston's playbook and quote myself from a couple of other threads regarding Schwalbe studs that are pertinent to your query:

Phamilton

Thank you! It IS pertinent to my current tire and I'll consider the pressures. My query is about the non-studded Marathons, but I can see how that may not have been 100% clear in my OP. (edited now to clear it up)

noglider 

The Marathon is a line of tires. There are the Marathon, Marathon Plus, Marathon Supreme, and more. Do some research.

I'm mostly a Panaracer man, myself. I like Continental and Vittoria tires, too.

I do understand that Schwalbe has made some breakthroughs in making tires more puncture resistant while keeping the ride quality sacrifice minimal, and that's impressive, but I am not very interested in those compromises. I'd rather have a good quality ride and fix my occasional punctures. I'm good enough at fixing flats, and it doesn't take me long.

A friend of mine says the Marathon Supreme particularly impressed him. I think it's their Marathon model with less puncture protection and better ride quality.

mcours2006

My take on the Marathon studs is that they are heavy and roll terribly. Despite having them pumped up to almost the max they are a pain to ride on bare pavement. I'd only ride them if completely necessary. I don't run non-studded Marathons, but compared to my second set of wheels outfitted with Conti Cityride tires I say that I'm a good 10% slower with the studs. With non-studs you don't have to worry about the metal spikes wearing through to the inside of the carcass, so in terms of lifespan I'd say you'd easily get 10,000 km.

Phamilton

I am doing research, I'm asking for firsthand experience with non-studded Schwalbe Marathon tires from bike commuters. Since you have none, I'll take your reply as a thread bump. I can't seem to find a smooch smilie.

noglider 

Hey Dollface, I gave you some information, which ain't nothin'.

(Moderators, we are friends, and that wasn't a real insult. He will attest.)

Paging @KonAaron Snake who made the comment about Marathon Supremes.

Phamilton

You HOPE I'll attest! But I do. But only my grandma calls me dollface.

fietsbob

when I break out the studded tire bike, I'm not Ice racing , just trying to get across town , so what if its slower going..?

Phamilton

That's sort of what I'm saying. I expected the studded Marathons to roll way worse. I would think that a non-studded Marathon might roll pretty well. I don't know about how they'd handle. The studded ones do not inspire confidence on dry pavement, but that's not their purpose. Personally, I'm not racing whether there's ice or not - just trying to get across town. I don't think a tire is going to make much of a difference in average speed. But FWIW Strava tells me there's very little difference between these and some cheaper non-studded tires. Maybe 1 mph. A windy day slows me down more than that.

Andy_K 

Not long ago it seemed like about half of the regulars on this forum were using Marathon Plus tires. I mounted a set on my wife's bike because she wanted to do everything possible to avoid flats. She didn't ride it enough for me to have feedback. It's a still and heavy tire. I wouldn't use it.

I do have 700x32 Marathon Supremes on my primary commuter. I think they're a great balance of fast, durable, and puncture resistant (price being the obvious place where you make a trade-off). I've gotten significantly more miles out of them than I do from a pure road tire. I couldn't tell you how many more exactly. I had a set of 700x35s that I gave up on after ~3500 miles because I had a run of frequent flats, but I kept them because the tread still looked good and have had no problems with them in limited use on a 'B' bike. My current 700x32s are at 3300 miles. I had five punctures between 1400 and 2300 miles and almost gave up on them, but I kept using them and haven't had a flat in over 1000 miles. Apparently, I need to re-think my theory that a tire is worn out when it starts getting frequent flats.

The Marathon Supremes aren't nearly as supple as a "race" tire like the Conti GP 4000 or even the Conti GP 4 Seasons, but they don't feel terrible on the road.

hockey

I use the Marathons on my touring bikes including my tandem. I even purchased a set for my Trek roadbike when riding rough chipseal. Heavy, yes but never a single flat in thousands of miles.
I also used the studded winter tires for many winters. Loved them.
I use gatorskins for my roadbike on good pavement. The Marathons are one of the fastest rolling touring tires.

PaulH

I've been using Marathon Plus since they came out. I put equal mileage on my car and bike, and the car gets flats more often. I find the Marathon Plus good for around 10,000 miles. Incidentally, the Nokian W106 is a more durable tire than the Marathon Winter, but the Marathon is better on icy ruts and rolls with a good deal less effort.

Phamilton

KonAaron Snake 

I don’t think I’d want the marathon supreme for most bikes...I have them on the tandem, and they’re GREAT for that application. They’re definitely heavy, but they ride well considering...and the puncture resistance is first rate.

winston63 

I currently run standard marathons on my touring bike, which also sees a great deal of commuting time. I put them on just over a year and a half ago, after getting numerous flats in a short period of time with another tire.

They certainly aren’t the lightest tire out there, but they roll reasonably well and I’ve had zero flats so far. When they wear out, I see no reason to switch to anything else for this bike.

I should note that I don’t know how many miles I’ve got on them as I switch up my ride periodically, but I’m very happy with their performance so far.

JanMM

We had Supremes on our tandem for about 3 seasons. No punctures in about 4,000 miles. Replaced them with Marathon Racers because Supremes no longer made in 20"/406 which is our front wheel size. So far so good after one season/1400 miles. No punctures.Racers on my commuter 'bent, too. 3 punctures in about 3 years. Very little winter riding on either bike and especially avoid ice/snow.
As has been said by others, Racers are not racing tires.

Nightdiver

I've used and continue to use a variety of Marathon models including the standard Marathons, Supreme, Racing, and Plus. They are all solid tires, and they all feel different, but I think width plays a bigger role in ride feel than the difference between models.

The 42mm Supreme is my favorite in terms of overall ride feeling, with Racing in 35mm being quite nice as well. Standard Marathons in 25/28 feel a bit harsh to me, but in 50mm they're pretty similar to the Big Apple which I think are great tires. I've found all Marathon models to be very durable and puncture resistant. But I think puncture protection can only be evaluated on a statistically relevant sample size and not anecdotal reports from individuals.

I tried the Plus model on my commuter but it felt "dead". I continue to use them on my cargo bike though because they seem to be about as tough as you can get and messing around with a flat when loaded up with kids/cargo/etc is not something I ever want to deal with.

Bizman

acidfast7

Why is KonAaronSnake on my ignore list? Sorry, I have sorted that out now.

acidfast7

Anyways, Schwalbe Marathons (any level) come on just about any decent IGH-based German bike as people never want to take the rear wheel off. They're quite good for puncture resistance.

I bought one Schwalbe Marathon Original in 23-622 as I was tyred (hahaha) of getting flats and having tyres (not tubes) blow out. They were on sale for £15 each, so how could I say no!

I guess I live in the ghetto as shown by other photos (highest concentration of pubs in Britain ... 181 on the island of slightly over 10mi2), so they're a ton of glass always on the street (no deposit in the UK or residential kerbside recycling for glass) thus a ton of bottles end up broken on the streets.

I had a flat recently (the first since I installed the Schwalbe Marathon Original about 1000 miles ago) and when changing the tube, I had about 3 extreme cuts down to the green guard that probably would've destroyed most other tyres. I'm not so excited about the treadwear, but I think that the British roads are much tougher than anywhere else. I do a fair bit of riding on bricks, for example. As we don't get smooth asphalt like you have in the states.

I have attached a photo of the one that lead to a blow out.

noglider 

It strikes me odd that people talk about how good a tire's grip is. I can't imagine how you can do that without being at the limit of grip as the tire begins to give way. Presumably, you change your stance so you don't wipe out, and that's fine, but isn't that a little reckless on a two-wheel machine?

Phamilton

I don't know how other people talk about grip, but that's not how I'd describe my experience. I don't ride aggressively really at all, for lots of reasons but mostly it just hurts. Because I commute the same 25 miles every day, I don't really have recovery time between rides so slow and easy wins the race for me. So when I perceive loss of traction, it's usually going from one surface condition to another, or in some cases just riding on wet roads in general, especially when turning. It's hard to give a brief synopsis of all the tires I've used in all conditions, but generally speaking the ones that rolled the fastest and had best grip on dry roads didn't do so well on wet roads or when dealing with things like loose sand and gravel, which I see a little of every day, and more sand in the winter. I may be harder to please with tires because as I travel pretty much exclusively by bike, commuting around town for errands and stuff is a completely different environment than being out on the open road. Sometimes it feels like my life is one big long bike tour punctuated by work and family life.


Side note: I had a real nice set of old 28mm skinwalls with a file tread that came on a used bike I bought - they were the fastest tire I'd ever ridden and pretty comfortable and had good grip on wet and dry pavement but zilch on sand or dirt or grass. I couldn't avoid a sharp rock on my ride home one day that destroyed the sidewall on the rear tire. I weighed them after I replaced them, 300g/pc. But even being the fastest tire I'd ever ridden, my average commute time wasn't consistently or appreciably shorter - i.e. made zero difference. However many watts I save by going with lighter tires I end up giving back to the wind anyway. On the other hand, a tire too heavy and slow and the cumulative effects of fatigue start to set in after several days. I don't mind changing flats, but if somebody makes a tire that lasts a long time and doesn't puncture as much and rolls nearly as well as a lighter tire at the same price point - may as well also not puncture? I guess that's the logic I'm exploring.

acidfast7

Skidpad test, my man, I can pull 0.9g on my worn Schwalbe Marathon rear tyre before I lose grip.

Phamilton

Careful with those g forces. If your vision starts tunneling, squeeze the leg, squeeze the butt, and breathe.