Originally Posted by
knobster
Wow, that's impressive guys. Will, what's your general feeling towards these tires as compared to high pressure 23/25's? I'm really wanting to go this route myself to give myself a ride that I can truly disregard the surface conditions. I was thinking Marathon Supremes, but maybe the Duremes are the way to go.
If you are going on to bad roads, then the Duremes should be better than the Supremes because of their cornering grip. If you want to ride aggressively off road then I'd go for the Extremes - the tread isn't nearly as "extreme" as it looks in Schwalbe's pictures:
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/catego...eme-tyre-33781
Importantly, the tread teeth are square and so non-flexing - energy won't be used up in tread flex on the road and the teeth won't "squirm" under hard cornering on tarmac.
For what I think you want I'd put an Extreme on the front wheel, where grip is critical. Most rolling resistance happens at the back, where most of your weight is on the flat, so you could put a Dureme there and get most of the benefits of each tyre. (This is a classic tyre pattern - not my invention, alas.) Remember that braking and turning hard on gravel and dirt were not part of Will's very carefully designed spec; if they are part of yours then put that extra grip at the front.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#mixing
Bikes that are used some of the time on loose surfaces often benefit from a wider front tire, with a fairly agressive
tread, coupled with a somewhat narrower, smoother rear tire.
The wide, knobby front tire will provide the all-important front wheel traction. If your front tire skids, it almost always leads to a crash. For riding in soft conditions, such as sand or mud, a wide front tire is essential. If the front tire sinks in and gets bogged down, you're stuck. If the front tire rolls through a soft patch OK, you can generally power the rear through to follow it.
The narrower, smoother rear tire will have lower rolling resistance. Since most of the weight is carried by the rear tire, rolling resistance is more important on the rear than the front. If the rear tire slips, in most cases the worst that will happen is that you'll have to get off and walk.
The downside compared to two Extremes will be reduced climbing ability on loose stuff.
The best review I could find on Extremes is here:
http://www.bicyclesmile.com/reviews/...rathonextreme/
- This implied that Extremes will be a little slower on the some other variety of Marathon (unspecified, but after looking at other reviews on the site,
pr