Schwalbe Marathon on a Downtube?

[mulleady]

I currently have Kenda tyres front 20 x 1.5" and a more MTB 20 x1.75" rear on a Downtube VIII H

I was wondering if the Schwalbe Marathon 20 x 1.5" below would perform better or any other suggestions? I mainly use the bile for commuting (around 80%) and some trail riding (around 20%)


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-X-SCHWALBE-MARATHON-20-X-1-50-TYRE-TUBE-FOLDING-BIKE_W0QQitemZ130115050143QQihZ003QQcategoryZ27954QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

[SesameCrunch]

I have them. They're nice, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they're necessary unless you have reason to be wary of punctures. The stock tires have a nicer tread for dirt and they certainly do well enough for general purpose riding.

Still, I understand the urge to splurge on a new bike :). Been there, done that :o.

[mulleady]

Thanks Sesame. I do find the Kenda stock tyres performed very well on the canal towpaths off-road when I used the bike there.

[DVC45]

Is $20 a piece a good deal for this tire?
http://store.airbomb.com/Itemdesc.asp?Cartid={79DEVEREST2CE2B-3C39-4091-AE56-D18EC75ED407}&ic=TR5330&eq=&Tp=

[mulleady]

Is $20 a piece a good deal for this tire?
http://store.airbomb.com/Itemdesc.as...=TR5330&eq=&Tp (http://store.airbomb.com/Itemdesc.asp?Cartid={79DEVEREST2CE2B-3C39-4091-AE56-D18EC75ED407}&ic=TR5330&eq=&Tp)=


Wow compared to UK yes!

[EvilV]

Wow compared to UK yes!

I've just been looking at the UK prices - £15 for the marathon and £25 for the marathon plus.

[psykoocycle]

SES: Was considering the marathon race or plus for the DT... in your opinion, do they have siginificantly better rolling resistance than the stock Kenda (just the normal marathons you've got on)?

(I am assuming you used 1.5s and not the 1.75s)..

[Bacciagalupe]

I have those Marathons on my Dahon. Hate 'em.

Slow, heavy, noisy on turns. They are bullet-proof though.

[EvilV]

I just put two on my new Pashley Moulton TSR30. I really like them. When I bought it, it had on Stelvios. I rode less than ten miles on those skinny f***ers and pssssssssssss - puncture. brand new tyres, less than half an hour of riding, and there I am stuck on a red hot day with a flat. I looked at it, and it was about as tough as a condom. I mended the puncture, and it blew again, only this time, the tyre was starting to come apart just off the main running band in the centre of it. I couldn't mend this one and had to walk about seven miles on a red hot day.

Arriving back at my hotel, I changed the tube and blew it up. The hotel had let me keep the bike in my room since, having paid an arm a and leg for it, I didn't want to leave it overnight in the car, even though this was the heart of the Cotswold's, and not some urban hell-hole. During the night, I was woken by a most unexpected BANG as the tube found its way through the damaged carcase. I can't tell you how p*ssed off I was at this, quite apart from having been woken by a sound like a pistol - which I was rather bewildered at. Soooo - in my book, no matter how fast your tyre, if you can't ride the bike on ordinary roads without ending up stuck and looking down at a pathetic ripped condom of a tyre (Stelvio) it really ain't that fast in the end. Get a Marathon or some other kevlar reinforced tyre. Believe me, it's no fun wheeling your bike for two hours in the hot sun, when you'd really rather be spinning along enjoying the breeze. The old fable about the tortoise and the hare comes to mind. Punctures really slow you down remarkably badly...

[mulleady]

I looked at it, and it was about as tough as a condom

Wonderful line EvilV

You've had problems with Stelvious and I've had problems with bursting condoms :)

Tell me do you find the Marathons fixed your puncture problems to some extent and secondly do you like the roll on them?

[SesameCrunch]

SES: Was considering the marathon race or plus for the DT... in your opinion, do they have siginificantly better rolling resistance than the stock Kenda (just the normal marathons you've got on)?

(I am assuming you used 1.5s and not the 1.75s)..

I like them. I haven't had problems with them at all. They feel like they roll well. No complaints. I can say with some certainty that they roll better than the stock Kendas. For one thing, the tread patterns are quite different.

I also have a set of Primo Comets and those feel very fast to me. Of course, these are all subjective reactions...

[SesameCrunch]

EvilV: Sorry to hear of your bad luck! I hope the experience didn't sour you on the new Moulton!

[EvilV]

EvilV: Sorry to hear of your bad luck! I hope the experience didn't sour you on the new Moulton!

LOL - well it certainly wrecked my plans to cycle the Avon and Kennett canal tow path (I had travelled to the South West to get the bike at a huge discount £1000 instead of £1450 because it was ten days old...) I couldn't buy a suitable replacement tyre in either Evesham, Cheltenham or Bath, which are the only sizeable urban areas around those parts. So since I couldn't ride the bike around Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, there was no point in paying hotel bills, so I phoned my local bike shop three hundred miles away who had a choice of Marathon tyres, standard, slick, and I just drove straight to the shop and he fitted the 1.75 marathon. They work really well. I think the bike handles more predictably and it is fast. Could be not as fast as with a half inch wide stelvio, but pushing the bike for miles at three miles an hour with a flat ain't really all that fast either, is it?

I'll write more about the bike later - I LOVE it. Very different to the Merc and to my mountain bikes. The suspension is REALLY nice - very adjustable and handling on rough broken surfaces is very good.

More later......

[EvilV]

Wonderful line EvilV

You've had problems with Stelvious and I've had problems with bursting condoms :)

Tell me do you find the Marathons fixed your puncture problems to some extent and secondly do you like the roll on them?

Ooops - your problem might have longer lasting consequences than mine.

:)

Well, I've only ridden about thirty five miles since I fitted them the evening before last, and I haven't had any puncture problems, but I really wouldn't have expected any yet either. The really cheap kevlar tyres on my Merc (£6.50 each) have had no punctures at all in about 2500 miles of usually urban riding, and that's the standard I'm expecting. I can't tell you how much broken glass I've run over on those Merc tyres. I hope the Marathons will be the same. They certainly seem to roll well, but I'd had so little use from the stelvios that I don't think I could do an honest comparison of their rolling resistance vis a vis the Marathons, except to say the stelvios were quick. The Stelvios really made the steering very twitchy by comparison. I rode twenty four miles yesterday and averaged 17 miles an hour on the marathons. I'm not a young man at 56, so take that into account. On the Merc I probably would have averaged 12 - 13 miles an hour on that route in the wind conditions that were present. I find the roll on the marathions more than acceptable, but it will depend on what you are comparing them with. Stevios will be faster for sure if you can keep the air in them - personally, I couldn't wait to get them off and I gave the perfectly good rear tyre to the bike shop man who put the new tyres on. He said he could give it to his mate.

If you're wondering why I had the shop man put on my tyres, it was because neither fo us new whether the standard marathon would fit on under the brake caliper.... The bike is set up for race / touring and the calipers are close to the tyres. It just fitted with 3mm to spare. I might have needed the 1.5 marathon slicks. He was happy to test it out without me paying for the new tyres. The slicks are probably quicker rolling than the 1.75 ones that I got. I just felt I needed MAXIMUM puncture protection after the stelvio experience.

[lecky]

Regarding the Stelvios; I had flat after flat with them until I checked my tyre pressure and realised it was too low, since maintaining them at 110psi I've had no problems. They're good, if a bit harsh on bad surfaces.

[EvilV]

Regarding the Stelvios; I had flat after flat with them until I checked my tyre pressure and realised it was too low, since maintaining them at 110psi I've had no problems. They're good, if a bit harsh on bad surfaces.

Interesting. Mine were at about 100 psi. Anyway - water under the bridge now. I'll never use them again. I didn't enjoy that walk back to the car. One the way, I came bast a large, swollen dead male badger (he was on his back and he was OBVIOUSLYT male). What a terrible stink. I was almost sick, and I normally have a pretty strong stomach. The gut wrenching stink of putrid corpse followed me for about forty yards.

[mulleady]

Thanks EvilV useful info. I have the stock tyres on my Downtube (Kenda 20 x1.5 on the front and 1.75" on the back) and they seem pretty good so I'll see how they go. I tend to commute within central London after getting off mainline train so unlikely to get stranded or have to walk far. Mind you I do hope to do some more trail cycling along Gran Union Canal towpaths.

A 17mph average at 56 including hills on a folder is pretty good, plenty of youngsters couldn't do that as they are so lazy and unfit.

[EvilV]

Thanks EvilV useful info. I have the stock tyres on my Downtube (Kenda 20 x1.5 on the front and 1.75" on the back) and they seem pretty good so I'll see how they go. I tend to commute within central London after getting off mainline train so unlikely to get stranded or have to walk far. Mind you I do hope to do some more trail cycling along Gran Union Canal towpaths.

I think as long as you don't have huge chunky treads and soft tyres you'll go along just fine. Smooth higherpressure tyres roll best of course. These marathons are at 95psi just now. 100psi is the upper limit with them. I don't like to get too near the limit in case the pressure gauge on my pump is off.



A 17mph average at 56 including hills on a folder is pretty good, plenty of youngsters couldn't do that as they are so lazy and unfit.LOL - there were no hills of any significance or the average would have dropped smartly. I just rode 18 miles this afternoon from Cheswick to Lindisfarne Island and got sea water on the new bike (GRRRR - washed it carefully as soon as I got home. Then I raced my 23 year old son up a 7% hill at 17.4 mph.Glad to say that he was blowing about as hard as me at the top. He may even have been a bit redder in the face than I was too, although it wasn't a fair race since he was on a mountain bike with softish tyres - LOL.

[maunakea]

I suggest calling a flat Stelvio a "dead badger". MP would.

Too bad about abandoning the K&A canal path ride. The museum in Devizes is worth a visit.

[jur]

I suggest calling a flat Stelvio a "dead badger". MP would.

I was dithering between Stelvios and Conti GPs for my Swift; I went with the Contis despite the Stelvios looking better on paper. Now seeing EvilV's experience as well as LittlePixel's Stelvios falling apart, I'm glad I chose the Contis.

[maunakea]

IME, Conti GPs have been very resistant to punctures until about the half-life of the tread. After that point, even briars will flat them.

[invisiblehand]

I was dithering between Stelvios and Conti GPs for my Swift; I went with the Contis despite the Stelvios looking better on paper. Now seeing EvilV's experience as well as LittlePixel's Stelvios falling apart, I'm glad I chose the Contis.

Interesting, ... I have ~800 miles on my Stelvios with no issues. I just use them for centuries and long hilly rides; not commuting or errands. For this type of sport riding, I found them to be quite good plus they are folding tires.

[stevegor]

Interesting. Mine were at about 100 psi. Anyway - water under the bridge now. I'll never use them again. I didn't enjoy that walk back to the car. One the way, I came bast a large, swollen dead male badger (he was on his back and he was OBVIOUSLYT male). What a terrible stink. I was almost sick, and I normally have a pretty strong stomach. The gut wrenching stink of putrid corpse followed me for about forty yards.


In Oz where I live, it is not uncommon to come across a very ripe dead kangaroo, especially in 35+C deg in Summer. Depending on wind direction, you can smell it up to 500mtrs before you reach it, then it stays with you about the same, once you pass it......D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.

As for Stevlios and Contis I've used both and am happy with both, maybe you guys got a bad batch?

[jur]

I suppose if Stelvios were really consistently bad, they would gain the deserved reputation and eventually not sell.

[spambait11]

Non-kevlar Primo Comets still sell. Like IH inadvertently suggested, specialized niche tires serve their niches.

[invisiblehand]

Like IH inadvertently suggested, specialized niche tires serve their niche.

Hah! Quite true! :D