Quick question for fans of Marathon Plus tyres...

[biggs682]

keep looking at them to go on our tandem that is mainly used for pavment and cycleway useage , but not sure other option is city slicks

 

[Piemaster]

They are quite a heavy tyre and I would think have a bit more rolling resistance than the city slicks but wouldn't have thought it too have been much as much of an issue on a tandem.
Dunno if its any more difficult dealing with a p****ure on a tandem, but then having a good chance of NOT having to do it can only be a good thing. Indeed I rarely bother taking any repair patches with me on the bike that has them fitted.

 

[Downward]

Anyone got these on a Road bike ?
I have some 32C on the Hybrid but the Road Bike has Bontrager 25C all weather tyres. I like the M+ but are they going to slow down how the Road Bike rides ?

 

[MacB]

Anyone got these on a Road bike ?
I have some 32C on the Hybrid but the Road Bike has Bontrager 25C all weather tyres. I like the M+ but are they going to slow down how the Road Bike rides ?

How long's a bit of string? I originally had 700x35 M+ on my Giant hybrid and switched, daringly in my mind, to 700x28 M+. Went on a ride that included Aperitif and was mentioning my new tyres, at this point he hadn't realised what I'd switched from. So there's me thinking how streamlined and light it all was and he said, M+ 28's, yeah great for puncture protection but feels like you're pedalling in treacle.....thankfully he was at least partially right so it was only me, and not my tyres, that were deflated. I think this was the same day I got a comment from Dell along the lines of how it wouldn't be cycling for him if he had to propel along a tank like that(referring to my bike). The next tyre change was to 700x23 Schwalbe Lugano tyres but I find it very hard to quantify speed improvements, at that time I was cycling a lot, losing weight rapidly and trying all sorts of bike kit. I can say that the 23's were a noticeably harsher ride and that bike is now shod with 32's, though not M+.

Also I was doing a 40 mile a day commute then and my regular beast was my Surly, with hub gears, M+ 700x35, full guards, rack and panniers. This weighed in at approx 35lbs, excluding panniers, and the Giant came in at about 23lbs in stripped down mode and 23mm tyres. My comparative stats from that period indicate an average speed difference of 1.5-2mph between the two bikes over a 40 mile distance or about 17 minutes, using the 2mph variance. At my speeds, the 16-18mph range, that equates to a difference of about 25 seconds per mile, a 3min 20 sec mile compared to a 3min 45sec mile. Both bikes had butterfly handlebars at this time and the Surly was a bit more upright in its setup and I reckon the difference in tyre weight accounted for about 3lbs of the overall difference in bike weights.

So, there you have it...more confusion You will see a loss in speed equivalent to a time increase of between 0 and 25 seconds per mile. If all you're changing are the tyres then I'd be amazed if it could make more than a 10 second per mile difference.

 

[potsy]

I briefly changed from M+ 28mm to gator skins 28mm expecting a huge difference in speed which just didn't happen, at best I'd say 0.5mph but 2 flats in the first couple of weeks had me switching back to the M+.
Only thing I'd be worried about is the thinner the M+ the harder they are to fit.

 

[zacklaws]

Anyone got these on a Road bike ?
I have some 32C on the Hybrid but the Road Bike has Bontrager 25C all weather tyres. I like the M+ but are they going to slow down how the Road Bike rides ?

Oddly enough I have got the reverse of what you are asking, I had Marathon plus on my road bike and never noticed them slowing me down much, maybe at my level, a few seconds or minutes does not make much difference, but I did not like the thought of fixing a puncture in inclement weather or late in the day as they took me too long to fit. Marathon plus, I never punctured with, unlike the normal Marathon which I did have a couple of punctures, but one day I might on the "plusses".

So I looked for an alternative, settled on Specialised Armadillo's, which punctured reguarly and got badly cut up on my rides, I was lucky to get 700 miles out of a tyre, so looked for another alternative and settled for the Bontrager all weather which the LBS recomended to me and I've not looked back. Very tough tyres, only punctured twice on them, and I can get 3500 miles out of a tyre before they wear out.

There is two different types of "All Weather" I see, the type I use are the "Hardcase"

 

[Moodyman]

A couple of weeks back a roadie commuter blasted past me up a steep hill ( I was on my rigid MTB with M+).

Two miles later, I saw him beside a lampost fixing a flat. I offered help, but he was prepared.

I carried on smugly.

Yes the M+ are marginally slower, but you're almost guaranteed not to puncture and they're damn durable. 3000+ miles on the rear and still more than 50% tread left. I ain't no lightweight either at 17 stone and two panniers.

 

[- Baz -]

Interesting info on the M+ mileage there, Moodyman. Thanks for posting.

Incidentally, whereabouts in Bradford are you? I only arsk 'cos I'm originally from Queensbury then Fairweather Green (too many years ago to think about!)

Baz

 

[BlackPanther]

I decided to have my LBS fit a couple of marathon plus’s on my Kona Sutra, as an impulse I also requested green slime tubes as well.
Collected the bike, got home and thought……..
As I understand it, if the tube is punctured the air activates the green slime to “heal” the puncture.
Well, with this in mind, how do you top up the air in the tyre? Is it easy or will it be complicated by the activation?

Please advise a numpty who acts without thinking

I too have the Marathon plus/slime inner tube combo. I believe this means that if Dirty Harry scored a direct hit on my tyre, I could keep going! The main thing to remember with a slime tube is to make sure the valve is at, or very near the top of the wheel when inflating or the gunk can block the valve. That said, if it does gunk up you can always remove and clean the valve.

Talking of slime, before I fitted the Marathon plus I had Slime inner tube/Slime tape combo. WARNING! If you use slime tape and don't fit it completely smooth, or leave an overlap/kink in the tape, it WILL COMPLETELY DESTROY YOUR TUBE! When I got a puncture, I found a 3 inch slit where the tape had a bit of a fold in it. O.K. my fault for incorrectly fitting, but I could've sworn it was smoothly fitted when I did it.

 

[john12]

Anyone got these on a Road bike ?
I have some 32C on the Hybrid but the Road Bike has Bontrager 25C all weather tyres. I like the M+ but are they going to slow down how the Road Bike rides ?

Yes - I run a 25mm M+ on the back of my road bike for daily commuting this time of year...have not had a puncture on it...I can't recommend the trye more - it has transformed my cycling...which was getting bad from a puncture standpoint using gatorskins..combination of being a big fella and crappy roads on my commute.

I will have a look at the bontrager hard cases when the spring comes as the M+ is a heavy tyre but I can still cruise at a good average and keep with my mates on our sunday morning rides....so for me the m+ is worth the weight hit.

Getting the M+ on first time was hard.
Since then I've taken it off and re-fitted just to see and it was much easier the second time....i used a velcro strap at one point to hold it in place as in the video posted up.