# Marathon Plus's on a road bike....RESULT!



## BlackPanther (16 Apr 2011)

My Dawes hybrid has done over 5,000 puncture free miles on Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres (35mm). A month ago, I bought my first ever road bike (Specialized Allez 16) and thought I'd try Schwalbe Durano Plus's (23mm) to keep the weight down a bit, but still have some puncture protection. Unfortunately, I suffered a puncture after under 100 miles, a 1cm tear all the way through! Anyway, I ordered a couple of M+'s in 25mm. I thought I'd try one just on the rear of the Allez to see if they slowed me down much. If they did, I'd just fit both the 25mm M+'s to the hybrid.

I've just been out for a 5 mile blast on the Allez. Physics dictate that more mass=more effort to move, but I really cannot tell any difference in the acceleration or top speed, and the handling/ride seems better if anything......come Winter time, I may even stick an M+ on the front as well.

I suppoes if I'd kept the Allez as a light weight machine instead of commuterificating it with panniers etc etc, then maybe the extra weight of the Marathons would be noticeable, but as it seems to have made no difference (maybe it's because I'm super strong?), I think I'll stick with this set up for now. I know that the Dawes is a heavyweight against the Allez, (almost 10kgs heavier), but it's made me wonder. Can a few extra grammes really make any difference to a bike used solely for commuting? Is weight against performance more in the head? The peace of mind the Marathon Plus's provide, easily outweigh any miniscule deterioration in performance in my mind anyway.


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## david1701 (16 Apr 2011)

I think the point of tyre weight is its on the outside of the rim, so the weight has a greater effect on acceleration ect


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## corshamjim (16 Apr 2011)

Thanks for the review. I haven't suffered a puncture on my Trek (700x25) yet as I haven't ridden it very far, but as soon as I do I'll have a go at M+ too. I'd much rather not have punctures than go a teeny bit faster.


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## GrasB (16 Apr 2011)

Lighter weight tyres & rims are quicker to accelerate however they don't hold as much energy as heaver tyres/rims. Until you start climbing this means you take a little longer to get up to speed but once there the energy stored up in the tyre will help you keep a more even speed assuming you're doing a shortish ride (say sub-40 miles). Where you'll actually notice it the most is on long rides, the extra weight & worse rolling will slowly eat away at you & you'll end up slower at the end of the ride compared to running heaver weight tyres. 

IMO you were just unlucky with your D+ tyres, I've got a marginally worse record with 700x28c M+ than 700x25c D+ tyres (about 2100 miles/puncture on M+ & 2400 miles/punture on D+)


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## zigzag (16 Apr 2011)

what i noticed that some folk like to emphasize the significance of grams as if they were elite racers. i agree, lightweight tyres are a bit faster, a bit more supple and if i raced i'd certainly use them. however for commuting, social riding, even audaxing m+ tyres are hard to beat (imo) and trying to keep up with the "fast boys" makes me stronger in the end.


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## BlackPanther (16 Apr 2011)

GrasB said:


> IMO you were just unlucky with your D+ tyres, I've got a marginally worse record with 700x28c M+ than 700x25c D+ tyres (about 2100 miles/puncture on M+ & 2400 miles/punture on D+)



Of course you're probably right, and I was unlucky. I can't help thinking though after seeing the damage to the tyre, that the M+ would have just shrugged it off. As I need to get to work on time (then again don't we all) I just want that added protection on the rear wheel. 

Interestingly, no-one's commented on me mixing a 25mm Marathon Plus rear, with a 23mm Durano Plus front.......which I'll take to mean that there's no problem with this set up.








zigzag said:


> what i noticed that some folk like to emphasize the significance of grams as if they were elite racers. i agree, lightweight tyres are a bit faster, a bit more supple and if i raced i'd certainly use them. however for commuting, social riding, even audaxing m+ tyres are hard to beat (imo) and trying to keep up with the "fast boys" makes me stronger in the end.



I agree 100%. After all I started commuting on the bike primarily for fitness, so a bit of extra weight helps my cause. That said, since I got my road bike, the hybrid has sat in the garage without turning a wheel for the last month 'cos it's so damn heavy in comparison . If that seems like I'm disagreeing with myself, I do find that I work a lot harder on the road bike and 'sprint' a lot more on it (especially on the way home). 

The hybrid is just a 1 level effort machine.....around a steady 75-80% effort for the complete ride. I ride the road bike at around 90%, with the odd visit to the 95%+ range! I'm sure I'll bring the hybrid out of retirement for the Winter though.


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## DrSquirrel (16 Apr 2011)

zigzag said:


> what i noticed that some folk like to emphasize the significance of grams as if they were elite racers. i agree, lightweight tyres are a bit faster, a bit more supple and if i raced i'd certainly use them. however for commuting, social riding, even audaxing m+ tyres are hard to beat (imo) and trying to keep up with the "fast boys" makes me stronger in the end.



Aren't M+ tyres close to the 1000g mark? Where a light tyre will have you under 200g


700x25c are 590g, some go above 1000g each... (looking at schwable's site).

Basic Schwable Lugano 700x25c is 280g, half the weight. Half a kilo per set and these aren't even lightweight ones. Maybe 0.5kg doesn't make much difference either, but it's hardly what I would call "grams".

I use vittoria diamante pro 195g).


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## asterix (16 Apr 2011)

As this is a 'Commuting' topic, surely it is not a race we are discussing? I have Marathons on my tourer and it is still quick enough.


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## potsy (16 Apr 2011)

BlackPanther said:


> Of course you're probably right, and I was unlucky. I can't help thinking though after seeing the damage to the tyre, that the M+ would have just shrugged it off. As I need to get to work on time (then again don't we all) I just want that added protection on the rear wheel.
> 
> Interestingly, no-one's commented on me mixing a 25mm Marathon Plus rear, with a 23mm Durano Plus front.......which I'll take to mean that there's no problem with this set up.



Can't see a problem mixing tyres or sizes like that BP, some sets are even sold like that.
As I said on another thread, the D+ will do me as a compromise between weight and durability, I know they are not a patch on M+ but I can live with a flat every 1000 miles or so.

I always aim to get to work 30mins early, this gives me time for an unexpected repair or more usually a chance to cool down/get changed etc. Only been late once since cycle commuting in 2 years, that was because of a double puncture on the way in (1 front 1 back) those were the stock tyres that got binned the next day  (Had another on the way home for a 3rd in one day)


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## corshamjim (16 Apr 2011)

Some young fool overturned a car on a road on my route to work last week. There was lots of glass on the road. On my M+ equipped commuter I simply rode over it without a care in the world.


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## GrasB (16 Apr 2011)

zigzag said:


> what i noticed that some folk like to emphasize the significance of grams as if they were elite racers. i agree, lightweight tyres are a bit faster, a bit more supple and if i raced i'd certainly use them. however for commuting, social riding, even audaxing m+ tyres are hard to beat (imo) and trying to keep up with the "fast boys" makes me stronger in the end.


Front wheel + skewer + tyre + tube on my road bike = 912g
Rear wheel + skewer + tyre + tube on my road bike = 1062g
tyres + tubes on my commute bike = 1794g

So the Marathon + tyres & relevant tubes weight under 200g less than my road bikes wheels ready to roll! Now shall we mention the 2.45kg wheel set before disc & skewer? We're not talking grams here we're talking kilos. Also remember this is happening at the furthest point out from the hub possible which means that you're dealing with the most inertia as well. As said, on the flat this is kind of neutral as you're putting power into the wheel/tyre maybe 5 min before it's used, however when climbing it's extra dead weight & all those little extras add up.


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## the_mikey (16 Apr 2011)

asterix said:


> As this is a 'Commuting' topic, surely it is not a race we are discussing? I have Marathons on my tourer and it is still quick enough.





I've never tried M+ but I've been using continental gatorskins, 700x25's on my road bike, the only thing I've really noticed is a little more rolling resistance over 700x25 race tyres, and better grip over the race tyres I was using previously (kenda Kriterium)


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## zigzag (16 Apr 2011)

i didn't notice the op changed to disc wheels as well  i thought we are talking about tyres here. so let's say m+ tyre is heavier by 320g (than half decent 25c tyre with p-protection). that's 640g extra where it matters most. matters to who? probably not me, as i will be getting another set at the end of this year.
i've got lighter tyres on another bike, but i don't use it for commuting.


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## al-fresco (16 Apr 2011)

5,000 puncture free miles??? I'm congratulating myself on doing 250! (Damned hedge cutting.) I'll have to look these Marathons up.


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## MarkF (16 Apr 2011)

Nice to read the OP's post. I too put M+'s on my hybrid, 35mm's, been to Spain twice and in over 3 years, not one puncture. I was plagued with them before. I am a leisure, touring, commuting & utility cyclist, I don't care about grammes.  

I have a Ridgeback Horizon audax on 23mm slicks, lovely weather the past week, spoilt by 2 punctures, they put me off riding the bike, been thinking about M+'s on it.


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## 661-Pete (16 Apr 2011)

I'm fairly early on into the lifetime of my Duranos, and so far it's been OK  _(don't tempt fate! )_

The main issue for me, on my road bike, is clearance. Marathons come only in sizes from 25mm up, and I must have no bigger than 23. I once fitted 25mm's (Armadillos) by mistake: the front was touching the fork crown and the rear was almost fouling the seat tube - a little bit of dirt on the tyre and it would make contact. So for me, Marathons are no-go on the road bike.


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## BlackPanther (16 Apr 2011)

661-Pete said:


> The main issue for me, on my road bike, is clearance. Marathons come only in sizes from 25mm up, and I must have no bigger than 23. I once fitted 25mm's (Armadillos) by mistake: the front was touching the fork crown and the rear was almost fouling the seat tube - a little bit of dirt on the tyre and it would make contact. So for me, Marathons are no-go on the road bike.




Really? I reckon I could go another 5mm wider on the Allez. Not that I'd want to though! Besides, the Crud RR2 mudguards are limited to 25mm tyres.


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## GrasB (17 Apr 2011)

zigzag said:


> i didn't notice the op changed to disc wheels as well  i thought we are talking about tyres here. so let's say m+ tyre is heavier by 320g (than half decent 25c tyre with p-protection). that's 640g extra where it matters most. matters to who? probably not me, as i will be getting another set at the end of this year.
> i've got lighter tyres on another bike, but i don't use it for commuting.


I was using real measurements with the kit I've got. While I'm willing to pop the wheels & of the road bike & my spare weight a tyre + tube I'm not going to start removing discs to get comparable weights. That's why I only gave the weight of the tyres & tubes + the list weight of the wheel set.


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## 661-Pete (17 Apr 2011)

BlackPanther said:


> Really? I reckon I could go another 5mm wider on the Allez. Not that I'd want to though! Besides, the Crud RR2 mudguards are limited to 25mm tyres.


Yes - the 12-year-old Bianchi steel road frame that I have, is pretty unfriendly towards fatter tyres. The bike originally came with 700x19c tyres. When time came to replace those, I decided that 19c is just stupid, for me at any rate, your range of choices of tyre, at that size, is severely limited. So I experimented and found that 23's fit OK, but no bigger.


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## Sapper (17 Apr 2011)

I have a pair of M+ tyres that I use for the winter (and still using now)

The only problem is resistance..

There is one hill, when on my Pro-3 tyres I could reach 38-40 mph. On the M+ I am lucky to reach 33 mph!!

Adrian


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## smokeysmoo (18 Apr 2011)

I run Durano+ 25's on my Langster Steel and Marathon 28's on my CX bike that's set up for general road use. Touch wood, never had a puncture in any of them, love 'em to bits.


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## thelawnet (19 Apr 2011)

I use Continental City Contact, significantly lighter than Marathon Plus while still being heavy-duty (no punctures in >1000 miles) and also faster.


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## Tynan (19 Apr 2011)

Yes M+ have a rep as being the toughest tyres available, great

But there's shades of weight/toughness all the way down to the gossamer racing tyres, it's not a binary argument


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## 400bhp (19 Apr 2011)

Well no, but in a theoretical world it would be great to plot a utility curve of tyres.

weight on y axis (measued heaviest at lower points/lighest at upper points)

puncture susceptibility on the x axis ( zero = crap puncture resistance).

Mark each tyre with a cross. Pick tyre furthest to the right (probably 45 deg angle).

Jobs a good un.


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## nomdeplume (16 Nov 2012)

I recently bought a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres for about £30 apiece in order to avoid punctures. This afternoon I got a puncture from a thorn thrown onto the road by a farmer using a flail mower to trim his hedge. I met a Canadian a few months ago who used tyres reinforced with a chain mail material, unfortunately I forget the name- any info?


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## mrandmrspoves (16 Nov 2012)

nomdeplume said:


> I recently bought a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres for about £30 apiece in order to avoid punctures. This afternoon I got a puncture from a thorn thrown onto the road by a farmer using a flail mower to trim his hedge. I met a Canadian a few months ago who used tyres reinforced with a chain mail material, unfortunately I forget the name- any info?



I think his name was liam.....it's a very popular name in Canada..


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## Tynan (16 Nov 2012)

gah, these threads are meaningless

we all see so many sorts of riders, plenty trundle along and for them any tyre will do

it's not just weight is it, there's feel and effect on the handling of the bike etc etc

and talk of punctures is almost meaningless, everyone has a different bike, is a different weight, rides a different way over different roads a different distance each day/week/month


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## nomdeplume (17 Nov 2012)

mrandmrspoves said:


> I think his name was liam.....it's a very popular name in Canada..


 Thinking more of the name of the tyres !


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## mrandmrspoves (17 Nov 2012)

nomdeplume said:


> Thinking more of the name of the tyres !


 
Well Liam was just an educated guess!
http://www.hancox.co.uk/biketyres.html


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## clarion (18 Nov 2012)

There used to be a tyre called a Wolber Invulnerable in the 80s which had a metal mesh. Not sure how that would stop something as slender as a thorn, though.

I use M+ for everything (actually, that's not quite true. Because of a blowout of the old Avocet tyre on my new old tourer, I could only get Marathon Racers, so it's shod with those). I tried Durano Plus, which were great, but they're not quite as 'fit & forget' as the M+. Because the rubber is softer, it can pick up flints and glass which won't immediately puncture your tyre, but, if you don't check & dig them out regularly, they work their way in and cause failures. Still loads better than e.g. Continentals.

Back when protected tyres were a rarity, I went the other way in the weight stakes by using latex inner tubes. Never got a flat, but had to top up the tyres a bit every day. Worth it, I'd say, as I had a track pump next to the front door. Not so good for touring, mind.


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