RubeRad

Currently I've got about 7000 miles into a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 700x50, they need replacing pretty soon.

I'd like something cheaper and butcher, but still plenty flat resistant, I'm willing to compromise on fast-rolling/supple/weight. The 50mm is really stuffed into the CrossCheck frame, it's a pain to take the wheels off (especially the rear, which must be deflated for the axle to clear the dropouts), so I'm thinking of dropping size a bit.

I'm considering:

Hurricane 40-622(700x40)
Marathon GT365 40-622 (700x38)
Marathon Cross 40-622 (700x38)
Marathon GT 40-622 (700x38)

Thoughts?


Further details: yesterday I'm riding to work, I get about a mile out, my rear tire is squishy and wallowing. I get off, pump it up, make it only another quarter mile and again it's basically unrideable. So I flip the bike, yank the wheel (after deflating the rest of the way, see clearance issues above), take out the tube, swap in my spare, pump it up, put it in the bike, I'm putting things away and FUMPssss, the spare blows. At that point I decide to walk home and drive for the day.

So in my patchfest last night, it turns out there were THREE punctures in my tube, made slow leaks I guess because I had also injected a dose of tubeless sealant into the tube. There was a bit of sealant mess inside the tire, but not much. I patched the tube thrice (using up the last 3 patches from my older VP-1 patch kit), and it seems ok now.

The spare that failed, turned out it was 26"! That explains why I had to stretch it around the rim to get it on! Massive jagged blowout. I'm surprised though, is it expected for a rim to assplode if it's stretched to a larger size like that? It wasn't all THAT difficult to stretch it onto the rim, I wouldn't think it would be stressed that badly.

I washed the tire inside and out to get rid of the sealant residue, didn't find any residual sharps, but found a small sidewall tear, a puncture that had made it all the way through to the inside, and a few cuts in the tire that did not make it all the way through. I booted the tear and the one puncture with some gorilla tape, and mounted it all back up.

But the tread is pretty worn down, and quite spidery, if you know what I mean, so I think these tires are about done. I first mounted them 2014-04-04, which is just over 3 years ago, I guess that's good life for a tire?

RubeRad

Great prices on Schwalbe at starbike.com, plus 30 euro shipping, but minus 19% vat

Mabye I"ll just Supreme again, 700x42 "tubeless-easy"?

Darth Lefty 

I'd stick with slicks, and not four-season for you

7000 miles for $23? Seems pretty good to me

RubeRad

$23?

A pair of marathon supremes from starbike would be 33.90x2 - 19% + 30 ~ 82 euros ~ 90 dollars. Which is about the MSRP of one of the tires I have on right now. A little less for x42

Darth Lefty 

I was looking at the GT's and forgot VAT. so I'm a bit off. They're $19, for total $65.72. That shipping is a buzzkill, eh? The total for two of those with "free shipping" from Chain Reaction is $72, pretty close.

Scroll to the bottom of the page on Starbike and click the American flag and uncheck the VAT check box.

canklecat

7,000 miles sounds pretty good, so if you're happy with Schwalbes stick with those.

But if you want something a bit narrower than you've been running, but wider than 40c, take a look at Michelin's Protek lineup. I've ridden a set of Protek Cross Max, 700x40 nominal but closer to 45 wide. They also have several Protek models in 700x47 -- those used to be listed as 700x45, so I'm guessing Michelin redesignated the size to be closer to the actual width.

Cross Max is their heaviest in that width with thickest puncture shield and tread. I've ridden them for about 18 months and they seem bulletproof and wear very well. I ride an area with a lot of broken glass, construction debris, roofing nails, staples, you name it. They've been slashed down to the yellow Aramid fiber shield in a couple of places, about 1/8" to 1/4" slashes, but nothing penetrated the shield. I filled the cuts with Shoe Goo and it's held. The rubber compound seems grippy on wet and slick pavement, and grabs gravel, grass and open prairie and pasture land well.

Occasionally I'll pluck out grass burrs, bits of glass and metal shards, but nothing penetrates. The sipes or voids between the chevron pattern tread resists trapping debris -- I seldom ever find pebbles or other debris trapped between the tread blocks. Very different from the Continental Speed Rides that I like on my Univega -- the file/diamond pattern is very tightly packed with tiny sipes/voids and it tends to trap little pebbles that I brush out periodically.

I like 'em well enough that I'd consider the lightly treaded Protek Urban for a city bike.

RubeRad

Thx, that sounds interesting, but I'm a pretty diehard Schwalbe fanboy

RubeRad

Got a flat yesterday, exactly where I booted the sidewall tear with gorilla tape. That rear tire is now out, moved front to back (although it had spent 3-4000 miles on the back originally), and found a not-too-worn-out Conti CountryRide 37-622 to put on the front for now. My rear tube now has six patches on it! (My spare is brand new, I should put it in and get a new spare!)

RubeRad

Pulled the trigger on a pair of Mondials from bike-discount.de.

I saw another bike in the rack at work yesterday I had never seen before, it was wearing Mondials and I thought they looked pretty good.

shinybike

have you considered Nashbar tires?

RubeRad

No, since this is my commuter bike and it gets a lot of use, I figured it's worth it to spend for Marathon and get the very best.

I do like Nashbar 26" Slick City, and I have a pair of those on a beater mtb, but we're pretty much done with 26" now.

Cigarguy

Good call RubeRad. I find it always pays off to spend a bit more on quality tires. It's the only thing (hopefully) that's making contact with the road. I notice a huge difference in ride quality and enjoyment between even a mid-range tire and cheapies.

RubeRad

Received the Mondials from bike-discount.de, rode them first time this morning.

I find them a little alarming in cornering, after turning/leaning a little bit there's a point where it seems there's a sudden drop in turning radius (increase in turning sharpness). Maybe it's transitioning from the center tread to the side 'knobs'?

There's a little whirring from the tread profile, but they seem to roll plenty fast.

And they look Boss. Hopefully I'll take some pics and post them later.

rumrunn6

from that list, I'd pick the Marathon GT for the smooth tread

Darth Lefty 

You get this a lot on motorcycle tires. There, it's a balance of both the shape of the tire, and maybe also loss of traction going from slick to tread. I found it a bit different between my bikes. The Pilots on my crotch rocket wanted to turn in but the Tourance tires on my dual sport wanted to slide out. A worn tire with a flattened middle has been rounded out a bit and does it less.

There are some Gold Wing and Harley guys who use car tires on the back of their bikes to get more mileage and cooler running tires. Can you imagine how that corners?

canklecat

That's the same feel I get from tight cornering with the Michelin Protek Cross Max and, to a lesser extent, Continental Speed Rides. When I roll over to the side tread blocks on the Michelins and vestigial knobbies on the Contis, the ride feels a bit squirmy. I got accustomed to it with practice.

RubeRad

thx for the confirmation, good to know I'm not crazy
That's my old Supremes for sure!