Lars Halstrom

I recently had a blowout on my Specialized Sirrus' OEM Nimbus FlakJacket rear tire. I replace the tire with the Schwalbe Marathon Plus of the same size on the rear. I've been noticing that this tire seems to slide side to side whenever I may hit a rut in the road surface and especially when wet. Tire is inflated to 100lbs. I weigh 205lbs. I mistakenly mounted the tread pattern backwards when I replace the blow out tire. Can this be the cause or maybe something else.

Lars

Jimi77

Mine doesn't slide around, so I'd try reversing the tread before replacing the tire.

dynaryder

The direction of the tread isn't going to make the bike handle any different on the road. Maybe if you were in snow or sand,but just rain isn't going to be noticeable. I can only guess the rubber compound is designed more for durability than traction and that's why you're noticing a difference.

Lars Halstrom

Yah, reversing the tread is easy to try first. I'm running a 28 width tire. It slides when I ride parallel into a seam or crack in the surface. I wonder if reducing the pressure would give more traction.

dynaryder

Don't do that. Try to cross them at as much of an angle as possible. Plenty of riders have crashed from seams,trolly tracks,and other things like them. Wider tires will help if they're wider than the gap,but you should always cross at an angle.

contango 

Interesting, I used 700x32 Marathon Plus tyres for some 5000 miles and didn't have that problem. They were squirrelly on muddy grass but on the road they gripped at least reasonably well - the only time I slid noticeably was when I hit a patch of wet leaves on the road on a bend.

ETA: I weigh around 240-250 and ran the M+ tyres at 80-90 psi.

Lars Halstrom

I do try to cross them that way. These are the ones where you have no option because they either show up quickly or that they are too numerous you can't ride in a straight line in traffic.

Lars Halstrom

Is that 80-90-psi on your Tricross Sport with the 700x32 tires?

Delmarva

You may want to consider a bigger tire run at something lower than 100 psi. If you haven't refer to the tire pressure chart or online calculator to attain a 15% tire drop when loaded.

contango 

If that was for me, yes it was. Tricross Sport Triple, 240-250lb rider, Marathon Plus in 700x32 inflated to 80-90psi. Now I use Durano Plus in 700x25 inflated to 90-100psi.

digibud

yes, it is due in part to the tire. Tires that are more thorn proof are by their nature harder. Harder casing, harder rubber, harder flat protector inside. It translates to a harder ride and less tendency to grip. They will also be more slippery when wet than a soft rubber road tire which will in turn have less flat protection. Good flat protection is a trade off against soft, gripping, easy ride. I would not corner on Marathon Plus the way I corner on Conti 4000s. It's just the nature of the beast and you learn to live with it or try another tire.

Lars Halstrom

Riding home the other evening about 8pm my Marathon Plus tire blew out with a bang. Luckily I only had a mile to walk home. I looked on the road for something I could have run over and found nothing. When I got home I looked at the tire and there was a 2" split in the middle of the tread. The tube only had a half inch cut. The tire is only 2 months old with 500 miles on it. I took it back to the store and told them the tire did not hold up to the flat protection I expected. The salesman said it was not a tire defect and that I must have run over something. However, I insisted that I didn't and I inspected the road surface for any sharp objects and found none. He said he would not replace the tire and would I like to buy another one. I said I would not buy another one from this store. So he took the tire to his manager to see if they would do anything. After about 5 minutes of waiting, he came back and grabbed the same tire off the rack and said they will replace mine with a new one. So when I got the tire back home, I installed it with the tread going the right direction this time and took it out for a test ride this morning. I purposely rode over sidewalk and road seams parallel to see if the tire handled any differently. It sure did. I'm now confident in the ride handling safety of this tire. I'm also happy that the bike store stands behind their customer satisfaction statements and will return to it for more purchases.