Bluejohn

I've settled on Marathon Plus (700x28) on my dependable plodder (no punctures in 2 years) because much of my commute is on single track gravelly stuff and narrow country lanes which have plants/grass growing down the middle of them and are full of nails/thorns/stones etc. They're not for everyone but I just want to get to work unscathed every day and they do that for me. On my road bike which becomes my occasional summer commuter I run Zaffiro Pro's (700x23) which I think most regard as a winter training tyre but again they deal with the country lanes here fairly well with just a couple of punctures a year.

arupaka

Michelin Protek Cross 700x35c for me

Trueblood

+1 - Yep, I posted upthread about these. They have been rock solid.

macattack71

Continental Gator Hardshell folding, 700x25. My boss won't like me not showing up because I got a flat.

irwin7638

Panaracer T-Serv Protite.

aliasfox

So I just replaced a tube on my sister's commuter bike, and noticed that she was riding on a Marathon Plus in the front, and a Marathon E (e-bike variant?) in the rear, 38-40mm. Upon taking the tire off (front, Marathon Plus), I noticed that it was a) wire bead, and b) ridiculously heavy.

Her commute is ~6mi each way on flat pavement.

If I could find a Marathon with a folding bead, I imagine I could immediately save 600-700g off her bike by just swapping those in. That said, would swapping to something like a folding Gatorskin 32mm be an improvement overall? She's about 110lbs, and likes keeping the 38mm Marathon Plus pumped up to 60psi, so I'm not sure ride quality is too much of a consideration here - rather, puncture protection is paramount, and reasonable efficiency is desired.

I'd suggest switching her to the same GravelKings that my wife is on (saved 500g per tire over the original Kendas!), but I wouldn't want to be blamed for making her late to work...

sggoodri

I'm doing most of my commuting on my new gravel bike with Panaracer Gravel King semi slick 700x38c tubeless tires. They are super comfortable - the most plush ride I've owned - yet very light with low rolling resistance. So far no flats in six months on fairly clean roads. I am gearing up for tubeless maintenance which will be worth it for this bike since I ride it so often. My other less-used bikes, including my previous favorite vintage commuter, will stay tubed.

pdlamb

Unless she's complained about the tire weight, or a tire is wearing down, I'd suggest if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Next suggestion, order a pair of straight Marathons ahead of time. You can save her maybe 400 g on the set, and she'll still have plenty of rubber for flat protection.

If you want to go with the Gravelkings, I'd go with the biggest Panaracer makes -- I think they're available in 35? Don't skip down two sizes or you'll be hearing about how rough the ride is.

All IMHO, of course.

aliasfox

I have no particular affinity for GravelKings, just that they seemed to be a nice upgrade on the wife's bike - but her commute is only ~2.5mi, so if she flats, she's never going to be more than 30 mins away from somewhere on foot. And most of her ride is on a bike path, so less chance of there being hard debris.

As for the Marathon Pluses... I don't intend to swap out perfectly functional tires, but there will be a day when those wear out or get a gash. At that point, it might be nice to have something that's a bit of an upgrade, for less than full freight (apparently, $100 per Marathon is the going rate locally?).

campfire

You didn't say what rim size you're using, but they shouldn't be more than $30 or $40 apiece...
https://www.tradeinn.com/bikeinn/en/...c3632631bb1f7e

Here's the straight (greenguard) Marathon that pdlamb mentioned:
https://www.tradeinn.com/bikeinn/en/...c3632631bb1f7e

I've run greenguards for years with no punctures. My only complaint is one tire is cracking between the tread lugs after 3 years of commuting. Slow? Yeah, a bit. But that's ok for a commuter bike.

aliasfox

I'm just going by what she told me - $100 for a tire + installation at the LBS. She's using a 700x38. You're right, she doesn't need to be fast on the commuter, but I'm hoping to find something better than a 900g, wire bead tire.

George P

I rode in the summer on gator skins 28c, in the fall I put vittoria roadrunner 32c, in the winter schwalbe 30c with spikes. All 3 tires I can recommend

costel

I prefer 700x32 (Schwalbe marathon, Specialized RoadSport). I ride/commute on city streets and gravel trails. I've also used 35 and 30 which came with my bikes but I replaced them with 32s when they wore out.

ilchymis

I love Schwalbe Marathon Almotion tires for my commute. I've commuted thousands of miles on them without paying any special care to avoid glass or other debris, and never had a flat.

The rolling resistance isn't bad compared to other puncture-resistant tires, but they're still a harsher and less efficient ride than the René Herse Snoqualmie Pass tires I swapped onto that bike for RAGBRAI (and got a flat with).

prairiepedaler

Is that the same tire that Bikerollingresistance didn't recommend?

Trueblood

Don't see it listed there, unless there is a special section for flippant rhetorical question tires. I do know that they have been trouble free for over 3000 miles pounding the streets of NYC. Then again, I have them on a comfortable touring bike, and am not in a race - but make very good time nonetheless. Might be different for an Anorak on a light weight road bike taking measurements and counting grams. I would think wind resistance would be a larger concern. Perhaps a handlebar mounted anemometer might be useful in that instance..let's see, subtract the avg speed from the bike computer from the wind speed reported by the device...then..you could....

prairiepedaler

My bad, I read the review of the wrong Michelin tire. Your whiteknighting on behalf of these Protek Cross, and the second nod from Arupka, probably makes them a tire worth exploring. When the current tires on my bike run their course of wear maybe I'll give the Michies a whirl. I'll have to see what a Protek in a 700 x 38 is in weight compared to a Marathon.

padeg

Currently, Vittoria Zaffiro 700X32 on Tricross. I feel good.
I think the next ones will be a bit wider (more comfort...)

George Abitbol

Maxxis Detonator 26 x 1.5 on my mtb Decathlon with drop bars commuter. Best road tires for mtb i could try in this price range.

George Mann

If they are rated for e-bikes in your speed range, they should be fine.

George Mann

Not the speed rating, no.

rekmeyata

I don't really have a favorite because I would ride with one of four bikes depending on my mood that day, and they all have different tires, no flats on any of them. one has Conti 4000s, one has Specialized Roubaix Pro, one has Panaracer Evo 4 race D, and the other has Schwalbe Almotion tires. The Almotion have the second highest degree of flat protection in the Schwalbe line, the highest is the Schwalbe Marathon E Plus.

Are those my favorites, all my bikes, except for one, I'll buy whatever tire I can find on sale that are a higher quality tire, I got the Specialized for $60 for the pair due to half off on the second tire sale, those do wear like iron though for a road tire, I had two pairs of these and never got a flat on them, but there was one problem, the rubber cracked pretty bad, though that bike was outdoors more than the others I felt they cracked to soon, the first set I had to discard with about 1/4th of the tread life still left, but I got over 3,800 miles on them. I got the Panaracers for $25 a piece which normally sold for $40 something. Then I found a pair of Conti 4000s for $20 each. The only tire I will use consistently is the Schwalbe Almotion because those go on my touring bike and I need high-level flat protection with low rolling resistance.

There are a lot of good tires these days, it can and will drive you nuts selecting one, just know what your priorities are for a tire, list them out in order of importance, and then find a few that match those priorities, wait until October to buy a pair because that's when a lot of tires go on sale, shop early for the best selection. April is another good month but that sale is mostly tires that didn't sell in October, so selection of what you want might be slim to none.

Need41speed

I commute on a EPX fixie (700x22 Giro), Dahon Mu P8 ((42-406 Contact Urban) & a highly modified Retrospec Spec/Judd (28-406 Contact Speed). As a faithful Conti rubber guy, I’ve replaced original brand tires and have never looked back. The EPX was a TT styled fixie that I built a Zipp 440 wheel set for & so, used Conti tubulars. The Dahon originally had Schwalbe tires which are very durable but, wanted to be safe & put new rubber for an Century last year. Lastly, the Retrospec folder had 47-406 Kenda w/ really poor quality wheels. I built a new wheel set for the thinner Conti’s to replace the deteriorating wheels. Of the three Conti’s I would have have to say, the Contact Urbans are my favorite. Have yet to get a flat (also run tire liners too) and the tires show minimal wear & provide a comfortable ride.

szachariah

I just started my second set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus (700x32) on a Specialized Sirrus 2.0. The first set got me 5,000+ relatively puncture-free, street-only, commute miles in rainy, hilly Seattle. (much, much better than the OEM tires and a Continental set I tried). At about 2,000 miles, I had one blowout when I rode over an up-pointed screw. Patched the tire with a boot for that one. Last month a 4mm piece of glass got through to the tube. Initially, I was going to patch it and get back on the road. But then I retrieved 5 more smaller pieces of glass embedded in the tire. The Marathon Plus seems to be *very* good at keeping glass from reaching the tube. Even though the tires looked like they had at least another 5,000 miles in them, I decided that I'd rather put a new set on than have to deal with another late-to-work commute. Other than going tube-less, Marathon Plus has my vote. (Even though they are quite a pain to get on or off)

Bluejohn

Completely agree - if getting to work unscathed is your priority then Marathon Plus are the way to go. They're not my choice for pleasure riding but that's why the formula for the ideal number of bikes = n+1