frogman

What pressure do you run in your Schwalbe Marathon's ? I am getting a pair of Marathon Plus tires and want to find the most comfortable ride with the lowest pressure I can use. Our streets are in bad shape, I need the beefy tread.

rumrunn6

Don’t have those but fwiw my 2" marathon winter tires are rated 35-70 & I have them at 50 front 60 rear. but I think on unpaved dirt I will lower them to 40 front 50 rear. They have rather stiff sidewalls

Leisesturm

Pressure is tied to the tire size. A 28mm tire is getting sploogie at 80posi. A 35mm tire at 80psi is just fine. What size Marathon Plus do you intend to use? Why do you want to use the lowest pressure you can use? With a tire that has such a high rolling resistance as the MP you should want to use the highest pressure you can use. That pressure is printed on the sidewall. If you want a more comfortable ride, get a more compliant seat or seatpost. For tires to make any difference to comfort you need 2.0+" tires with 25psi to 30psi. Do MP's come in 50mm?

frogman

Thanks for the info.
The tires are 700 x 32's
I found that on my 700 x 32 Gatorskins I lowered the pressure to 60 psi and had a noticeable improvement with a softer ride on our rough pavement in our area. I would like to run a little lower pressure on the MP's too. I know I can't get too carried away but there is a happy medium there somewhere. Curious what pressure others are using with these tires.........................

pdlamb

If you're happy with 60 psi, that's a good place to start. You may need more pressure if you tend towards clydesdale weight -- somewhere between 70-75 psi is where I start noticing tire drag.

noglider 

It depends on the construction of the tire, the width of the tire, the condition of the roads, and total weight of rider+bike+cargo. After you do some experiments, your favorite pressure might be very different from the pressures people recommend to you. I'm only 160 lbs (73 kg), and I find myself being comfortable at surprisingly lower pressures, mostly because I'm so much lighter than people I know.

One way to experiment is to drop the pressure to a noted level and then see how close you are to bottoming out on potholes. This comes with an obvious risk, but how else do you get negative feedback?

Another tip is that most people tend not to top off our tires frequently enough. So it's a good idea to overinflate at least a little to buy yourself some extra time between top-ups.

frogman

pdlamb,
I weigh 170 pounds. I'll experiment with the pressure and see where the magic spot is. Sounds like it might be around 70 psi
Thanks for the info, much appreciated !
Merry Christmas
Bob

Darth Lefty 

Marathons have pretty stout casings. You probably don't need all the pressure as you can cram in. You might need less than you do with a "supple" tire which we mostly groupthink agree is already a lot lower than what we used to run. 60 sounds about the right kind of pressure to me for a 32.

Leisesturm

I don't know. I think it runs the other way around. With a very supple tire you can run a lower pressure, as the increased flexing of the sidewalls will not convert as much rolling energy into heat. With the stiffer tire you don't want the sidewalls flexing so you max out the pressure to limit this. As stiff as they are, the sidewalls of a Marathon are still quite flexy under the average cyclists weight. I'm pretty sure that's how it works. At least it did until Rene Herse (who makes supple tires btw) convinced everyone to use high(er) volume tires at low(er) pressures which made everyone want to do the same, whether they were working with the right kind of tire for that kind of treatment or not.

Darth Lefty 

If you have a 32 Marathon you've already given up all that

Robert7659

I use Marathon Plus on all my bikes. 26x2.0, 700x28, 32, and 38.

I inflate to max pressure indicated on the tires in the spring and use them until October. By then they are way below minimum pressure and are sluggish.

I find that at minimum pressure and a bit below is best, around July August they fly and float.

storckm

I have the same tires and have run them as low as around 45 psi when I don't get around to checking the pressure. Lower pressure is a lot smoother on brick streets.

fooferdoggie 

I have 38s and have 50 in now. used to have 70 but the ride was really harsh. but 50 on our tandem same size is harsh

The Chemist

I run 700x35 standard Marathons with around 60psi. I find it to be a good balance between comfort and speed.

timdow

According to new data on rolling resistance, Ideal pressure is a lot lower than what I thought, and what I was running in the past.

Check out: https://silca.cc/pages/sppc-form
I get 58/56.5 for you for 200 lbs rider, bike, gear, 700c X32c, puncture resistant tires.

Additionally, the lower the pressure, the more comfortable the ride.

noglider 

Agreed though another thing to balance is time between inflations. The more likely you are to let it go too long before topping up, the higher pressure I would recommend. If I still worked in bike shops, I would inflate tires hard and tell customers to do the same, since most people are not attentive enough. The BF crowd is different.

Leisesturm

Just mounted a set of MP @ 26" x 2.0 on a tandem (50lb + 345lb team + 30lb+ load) and for the first ride I tried 60psi f/r and loved the ride. Anyone who thinks these tires are heavy and slow needs to try some Bontrager H2 in the same size! For the second commute I put an extra 5lb in the rear but there wasn't any reason why. Just for some added perspective. This tandem is used so a blind Stoker can get to work every morning. This means the Captain rides back minus the Stoker weight *cough* over 145lb and all the gear in their panniers. Do I re-calculate the tire pressures for the return trip? Absolutely not.

79pmooney

On top of all the above, factor in your weight. (May have been mentioned, I didn't read all the threads.) A poster above talks of 80 psi in a 35c tire. If that pavement isn't smooth, at under 150 lbs, that's a harsh ride for me. I go 70 max that large a tire. Edit: that's on a relatively smooth running, thinner casing Paselas. Marathons - probably lower.

riverdrifter

I weigh 160, and I ran my 700 x 28 Marathons at 60 psi.