The Smokester

I use Continental Travel Contacts in 26 x 1.75" on my LHT and have had good experiences with them. They have a smooth patch for pavement but the sides are knobby for when you hit the gravel. I would recommend these but also wonder about the various Schwalbe Marathons, with which I have had no experience, and am thinking about trying them out as an alternative next time.

Has anyone used both, or otherwise have an opinion comparing these tires? I know Marathons come in many different versions so what would be good.

antokelly

i use both and find the conti's a much better tire ,i reckon the puncture guard in the marathon plus give you no feeling of the road if you know what i mean.i tried the marathon supreams also but only after a few hundred miles the side wall split not a happy camper.
for the winter i'm going to try a set of maxxis slicks 600x1.5, i will tour with the conti's.

fietsbob

Still had lots of miles left on the Conti TC when I removed them for marathon plus
hard to tell after the fine lines in the center bands edges wear off

nobody comments on how worn out my Knobbies are anymore..

Marathon K a closer comparison perhaps,

the under tread built in Mr Tuffy band on the pluses does add some weight ..

I got the marathon K for my Brompton..

skilsaw

In late August this year I bought a Miyata WT with Conti Travel Contacts. They are a very tough looking tire and probably provide lots of puncture protection in the center of the tread. I found them very slow, when compared to the Schwalbe Marathon Race tires on my other bike. I swapped the Conti's for a pair of Schwalbe Dureme tires and am very pleased to have light rolling resistance. The Dureme's don't have the puncture protection of the Conti's so I might add Mr. Tuffy tire liners

Tourist in MSN

I have not used the Travel Contacts, but I wrote my opinions on the Schwalbe Dureme a few days ago at this link in posts 7 and 22:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...athon-XR-tires

The Smokester

Thank you for the comments. I am wondering if the Duremes are the ones to try next? It seems that they may have better rolling resistance than the Conti TC's. Any experience with their puncture resistance? I mostly do pavement but do not want to shy away from packed dirt and gravel.

tourer78

If possible ( I am not sure of the sizes/availabilities in the usa ) try anything from the vittoria randonneur range. I use standard randonneurs on my commuting and touring bikes, and my spare tube and levers have not seen the light of day for nearly 12 months - on road/off road, whatever weather or conditions these tyres have proven to be indestructible.

The Smokester

Interesting. You prompted me to read so reviews. At the least perhaps I should try a set on my randonneuring bike.

martianone

Early in 2010, my partner said she wanted to replace the tires on her bike- a pretty well worn set of 32 mm regular schwalbe marathons but wanted to "try something else". The LBS has conti travel contacts, which she indicated she "like the looks of". So we got them [also marked 32 mm] and put the set on her touring bike. The marathons measured about 31 mm, the travel contacts almost 29 mm. After a couple hundred km, she said she wasn't so sure about the new tires, liked the feel and ride of the marathons better. I think we were about 700 km into a trip and she had a flat on the rear - a dark green glass shard. It was her first flat in quite a while. The tires now have about 1200 km on then, good tread yet - however my partner suggested getting a set of those marathons this winter to replace the tires on her bike for next summer. I think my college son is going to get those contis.