The Marathon Plus is very built up right in the middle, but tapers off as you move from the center. When you are cornering, you are riding the plus on a thinner layer of protection than you are while riding straight, and I presume that this is amplified by having thinner versions such as yours, Jur.
I currently own standard Marathons, Marathon Plus, have experience with the Marathon Supreme and am now waiting for my new set of 20x1.6 Marathon Supremes to arrive.
Kamtsa:
The Marathon and Marathon Supreme are both very well rounded tires.
The standard Marathon has a good blend of everything, but does not excel in anything. In its price range, I *really* like the Marathon. Good all around tire. A little above average in weight.
The Marathon Plus is exceptionally puncture resistant as they claim, they are the most resilient tires I have owned. There are no incredibly advanced materials in the plus, rather its resistance comes solely from its design with the thick rubber belt and kevlar. The rubber makes these tires less comfortable than the others in my opinion, and is where all the weight comes from.
The Marathon Supreme is a fairly normal thickness, it uses some high end materials, which results in that high end cost. But, it is very light, quite fast rolling, very puncture resistant and what won me over - very comfortable. Almost as good as Big Apples, I think. You can get the Marathon Supreme in the same size as the 2.0 Big Apples, but lighter, faster, stronger!
Personally, I enjoy the Marathon Supremes a lot, and their benefits are worth the price to me for long distance riding. If I were doing some gravel trails and such though, I think the regular Marathon would be my pick, it has a nice tread for that kind of thing. The Plus would be my choice for inner city riding, due to the high puncture resistance.
Last edited by Abneycat; 02-17-09 at 10:41 PM.