frogman

I have 700 x 32 Gatorskins on my road bike. I commute and ride thru poorly maintained streets.
Its time to replace the Gators. I am thinking about trying Schwalbe Marathon Plus and see how they compare. Whats your experience with these tires, disregarding ride quality, just best puncture resistance. Should I go with the Gators again ?

Random11

I have no experience with Gatorskins, but have been riding Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on one bike for more than three years.. I got them because I was having so many flats with the tires that came on the bike, and I've had very few with the Schwalbes. I'd buy them again.

frogman

thanks Random11,

​​​​​​The Schwalbes are supposed to be good touring tires. I'm not sure but I think the tread is thicker than the Gators.

canklecat

For a few years I've ridden 700x32 Conti Contact Speed on my hybrid. A bit heavier than comparable size Gatorskins, regular or hardshell. But bulletproof and grippy on wet pavement. There's a shallow file tread that works well enough. I've never had a puncture flat on those tires. Not my favorites, but adequate for casual rides and errands. Specs show the Contact Speed is comparable to Schwalbe Marathons (Plus, Green Guard, etc.), a touring/commuter type tire.

Michelin also makes comparable tires (formerly their Urban series, Protek, etc. -- not sure what they call 'em now). For about seven years I've run Michelin Protek Cross Max on my heavy duty errand hybrid, never a puncture flat, even when the thick tread was slashed down to the yellow-gold Aramid fiber type puncture shield. Massively thick tread and kevlar-type puncture shield. Tires weigh about 1,000 gm each, but the ride quality was quite good for that type of tire. Nicer than the Conti Contact Speed.

Between the lot, I'd just get the best buy in whatever is available. I doubt there's a big difference in ride feel and puncture resistance. I bought the Conti Contact Speed for about $20-25 for the pair from Nashbar when they were closing out their Tennessee warehouse a few years ago. For that price, I can't complain.

I preferred the Conti Speed Rides for my main hybrid, a variation of Conti's now-discontinued cyclocross tire for dry conditions. Diamond tread with vestigial side knobbies that offered a bit of grip when cornering on grass, so it was suitable for informal local cyclocross in the parks on grass. Pleasant ride, not at all harsh. It did seem to puncture fairly often, due in part to debris being easily trapped and embedded in the diamond pattern tread. But I liked that tire. Also discontinued, unfortunately. It was available only in 700x42, nominal -- actual size measured closer to 38.

For the road bikes, I'd prefer more supple tires and the risk of punctures. I've ridden with friends who prefer Gatorskins and they seem to puncture at least as often as I do, if not more so. It's possible they're disregarding road debris, thinking the Gatorskins are more puncture resistant. I'm pretty diligent about avoiding road debris so I get very few punctures. Maybe two in a year of 5,000-,6,000 miles between my three road bikes. One road bike has had Soma Supple Vitesse SL for a couple of years (total mileage about 2,500 miles so far since 2020), very lightweight, thin tires with practically translucent skinwalls. I had two or three punctures in 2020 right after the area roads were repaved with very coarse chipseal. Most of the punctures were from steel radial tire wires embedding in the tire, almost invisible. One was a tiny shard of glass. No punctures with those tires in 2021-2022.Sweet riding tires, especially with latex tubes. Well worth the risk of a few punctures for a nicer ride. I'll probably replace the rear tire soon but the front is still fine. And Soma often discounts the SL version of the Supple Vitesse to somewhere from $15-$30. The heavier duty KV version now costs about $69 each.

veganbikes

I think both are great tires. Having used a lot of conti tires and a few Schwalbes (which are in current use) over the years I think they both are great. Like canklecat I do prefer more supple tires these days at least on road bikes but for commuting I do run Schwalbes but then again these are Super Moto X tires so not exactly the same and a much different bike. Currently on my road bike are Vittoria Rubino Pros as I did want a little different tire for winter at the time I installed them and my Corsa G+s had a little non-tire ending cut in the tread (it didn't go through) but I decided I had these tires for such an occasion and winter was coming and those tires get dirty easily so I should go for these.

I like the graphene it gives me excellent grip in all conditions but I don't think I had more than a flat on my road bike in several years so I probably didn't need to swap the tires but I had already done it for one and said better do the other so they match.

I think giving Marathons a try is not a bad idea but either or are great or try some Vittoria tires with the graphene and those are pretty good too.

ratell

If you ride in the wet the Marathons will have better grip. The pluses will probably be a bit slower feeling than the gatorskins, but you get even better flat protection. Another option is the Marathon Supreme. It's less flat protection than the pluses but still very good and won't feel slower than the gatorskins.