Racing on Virginias rail to trails.Very durable and tuff. Hard to install and both sets I have installed seem to be a little bit out of round.
I love these tires. I've been using Marathon Plus's exclusively on my commuter/touring/everything bike for the last five years. In that time, I've had about four flats. I once ran over half a whiskey bottle at 20mph and didn't even find a cut on the tire afterwards. Just a couple weeks ago I pulled an inch long chunk of metal out of my tire on the side of the highway. The tire had deflected it from the tube, and is still doing fine.
It's true that they are heavy tires, so you might not want them on a racing bike, but they are excellent for commuting in town and touring. They do fine on gravel with a fully loaded bike, too.
My only complaint is that they are sometimes murder to put on or take off a rim. Using a zip tie to keep the beads in the rim when beginning to seat the tire does lessen the murder in putting them on though. Luckily, they rarely flat, so you won't have to deal with this often.
The only tire Chuck Norris uses to ride to work. Incredibly tough, it's hard to mount on the rim but once you get it there, it will help you ride through glass, metal shards, and get over relationships with no flats! I have about 400 miles with it so far, and no problems whatsoever!
I had been looking for a tire like this for a while. It hardly rains where I live so none of the bike shops around here carry any road tires with tread. I have used the gatorskins and the armadillos (700x25) many times but I was not happy with the wearing out of the tires. Both of these tires have weak sidewalls and start getting flats when they start to wear out. I am at 5000 miles on this set of schwalbes and should get at least another 3000. I have not got any flats with these tires. I ride every day to work (27 miles) on some pretty bad roads. I bought a set for my son and will be getting a set for my back-up bike. Price is the same as the gator and armadillo. The tires are a lot heavier but not getting flats easily offset this.
I use these tires on my commuter bike. 1 flat in 6 months! I normally have 2-3 a month. I can't say enough about how effective these tires are. Relatively low rolling resistance.
I rode these tires on a tour in Canada this Summer. At first I was worried about the notion that being a flatless tire would mean that I'd feel like I was riding on big hard-to-push sponges or something. Not so. The first thing I noticed about these tires was how they ironed out the road any time I ran into less than ideal quality road surface . . . which is most of the time. I also use Schwalbe Marathon Racers on the same bike, and so I can speak directly to the issue of rolling resistance. The Racers are great on to be sure, but I'd say the Marathon Plus tires outshine them when it comes to rougher roads. If you've ever run on a coated running track, these tires feel just like that, they just take the edge of bumps and vibrations that tires with higher rated rolling resistance do, and I think this results in a slightly smoother and more efficient ride over the long haul.
However, even though the rolling resistance is pretty good on these tires, at the end of the day, there rolling resistance places an exceedingly small roll in the overall resistance a cyclists feels and it would be frankly absurd to even worry about this for anything less than competition . . . Schwalbe as a nice chart on their page that compares the percentages of the different kinds of resistance that someone experiences when riding.
Grip excellent. I have a few different bikes and run Conti 4000s, Schwalbe Marathon Racers, and these tires, and in all honesty, there's no discernible difference in any condition other than racing. However, no one buys these for racing, you buy them because you want a tough fast city tire, or a rugged touring tire.
Flatless I cannot comment on this feature as I've yet to have a flat tire. Reviews are meaningless when they rate a tire's vulnerability to puncture based on how soon after purchase someone received a puncture, or how they've ridden one set of tires for ages without a puncture, then bought a different set, road the same course and suddenly got a puncture. Tire punctures are caused mainly by random events, things falling off cars and trucks and some road construction, etc., and then, by some extremely high level of chance, turns out the offending object fell directly into the tiny piece of the road your tire covers, AND just happened to be positioned in such a way so as to jab through the rubber. It's frankly surprising anyone gets punctures. Still, they happen, to everyone, at random intervals. The Schwalbe tires simply put a whole lot of stuff between your tubes and the road, and at the end of the day, that's all anyone can do.
Great tire for protection against flats, a little heavy, and are pretty tight fit,,,, so if you do get a flat they are a struggle to get off and on, But I buy no other tire but these,,, I love them...
I had evaluated a variety of tires for my 2008 Surly Long Haul Trucker, which I have been building up for camping trips this summer. When the Schwalbe's went on sale, I grabbed them. I recently took the bike and a 45 pound load on a three night camping trip and was very pleased with the performance of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. An aborted attempt on a steep gravel road over the mountains covered 20 bone-jarring miles, but the size 35x700c tires handled great and gave me confidence well beyond my expectations. They are likely heavier than the competition, but with a combined rider and load weight of about 250 pounds, I won't trust anything less. They roll fast and solid.
After puncturing monthly, weekly, even sometimes daily, for over 30 years of performance/utility riding, I read about these Marathon Plus tires in a British cycling magazine. I used a set in the 26 x 1.75 size for over 2 years - not one flat. Currently I've got over 3 years of hard daily use on a set of the 700 x 38's. Plenty of tread left . . . and not even one flat (hope I don't jinx myself, but I am positively evangelical about these tires). Your bike will wear out before these tires do - and punctures will be something you USED to have to hassle with!
Replaced my Conti Road & Country tires with these and so far they've performed as advertised. I Like the reflective sidewall feature as well. Cornering is adequate and grip in wet weather is ok. My trips on them are fairly flat, straight routes, but full of cracked concreteasphalt roads and plenty of debris and sprinkles of glass, screws, nails. No problem- nevertheless I've paired them with Slime tubes just in case. Good product. Excellent price.
I commute to work, 180 miles per week. This tire is strong & sticks to the road. Absorbs small stones & bumps. Never had a flat. A small downside, the puncture resistant material adds a little mush in the rear tire, although provides a very comfortable ride.
This tire provides tremendous puncture protection, grips well on wet surfaces, and allows for smooth rolling even when pulling heavy gear loads. It's the best road touring bike tire I've ever used. 4,000 miles without a flat has made me a believer!
Excellent puncture resistance and rolls nice and fast! The seem a little taller than standard size so I was able to go down a size and that worked great! Great wet weather traction and even running on some single track was able to keep me planted to the ground.
I use this tire on my recumbent which has 70% of my 210 lb weight on it as well as the 30 additional lbs. I carry on my rack, well, not my rack... the bikes.. Anyway, I have hit some major potholes on this tire and nothing seems to affect the tire. The one flat I got turned out to be a tube defect. The tire was not at fault.
I commute about 23 miles a day through some questionable neighborhoods.
Yes, a little pricey but for dependability, my ass is worth it. I ride a 700 x 32 on the back end by the way. I do have a Schwalbe 20 on the front which I'm sure no one cares about.
Excellent price compared to any LBS. Bought 25c tires to replace worn out conti contacts on my touring bike. Just ordered the 32?s for my commuter
In the last 2 years, I've replaced 8 chains, a set of SRAM Apex shiftbrake levers, 3 sets of derailleur pulleys, a pair of wheels, one front and one rear derailleur, two bottom brackets, a set of cranks, a rear cluster, casings and cables - welcome to commuting in the Northwest. Same set of tires all that time and there's tread left - minium of 40 miles per day at least 3 times a week.
In two years, only had a flat once - that was pretty scarey as it's practically impossible to remove these tires with plastic levers. Carry four nylon covered steel levers - you'll bend these, but only once every 2 years.
My wife and I bicycle about 3500 miles a year. We had tried other so-called puncture resistant kevlar tires, but they were a disappointment. We would still get a flat tire every month or so or even sooner. I got tired of fixing flats on the road. So, I bit the bullet and shelled out more money for a bicycle tire than I normally would for a car tire! The Schwalbe Marathon Plus is the best. It has that 5 mm extra strip under the tire's surface that helps prevent long punctures. (I once pulled out a 6 mm long thorn! It had not reached the tube.) The Marathon Plus, when brand new, seems to repel pointed rocks and glass shards. It must be the rubber compound. After a thousand miles or so, the rubber compound starts to break down and the tire is more susceptible to cuts and abrasions, but still offers great puncture resistance. After 5,000 miles or so, my wife's front tire started to get tiny nicks through the casement that would nick the tube. My solution? I bought a Mr. Tuffy Lite liner and put it under the tire on top of a Schwalbe tube. No more flats so far. My wife's front tire has over 10,000 miles on it. Sure, it has lots of nicks and cuts, but it still has more tread on it than my less-mileage rear Schwalbe Marathon Plus. (I carry more weight and pull a dog trailer with dog.) If you want to spend more time riding and less time on the side of the road, I highly recommend these tires. And, oh, I do inspect the tires once a week to pull out pointed debris.
Goat head stickers are a serious issue where i live, even if you stay in paved paths. I tried gatorskins first, had multiple flats on both tires. Total waste of money for me. The marathons are noticeably heavier and more difficult to mount, although i was able to put them on with regular tire levers. It's been a month now, no flats. I ride every day through stickers, glass.. there's no avoiding it. Today i picked about 10 of those stickers out if these tires. The rubber does not let them through. I don't even carry emergency flat stuff with me anymore. Great grip in wet conditions. I highly recommend, these tires are awesome!
I love this tire. I commute about 30 miles round trip to work on a regular basis. This tire has significantly reduced the number of flats I have had. The biggest cause of flats here in NM are these sun-hardened goat heads. I have tired slime, tire liners, and thick tubes but these tires are by far the best. They still are susceptible to side wall tears but they are more of the exception than the rule. Also, they last a very long time. I think I have put 2000 miles on my 1st tire and even though it is worn it is still serviceable.
Would buy them again. They have been on my wifes bike for 2 years and have been flat free and we travel in goat head (puncture vine) mecca. I'm riding a Rans bike Alterra 700x and have a set of 700x25 Continental Gatorskins on a set of A23 rims that I use when I want more speed, but for commuting to work, or just a slow ride with the family, I really like the Schwalbes. They're a bit slow and heavy compared to the 25c gatorskins, but I appreciate how well they protect me from flats. More retailers should stock them.
