Totally agree with Schwalbe tires!
 

I have an Izip E-3 Dash and I had two flats in my first 10 tens or so. I got a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Greenbelt (e-bike ready) tires off eBay for $78 delivered to me in Tampa, FL. One year and over 3800 miles later I have had no flats, and the tires still look new. I keep them at 50 psi, and the ride is smooth. They seem to roll just as fast as the Kenda tires that were on there.

Yes, I'd expect rolling resistance to matter less with an ebike.

Nope. I'm sitting in an easy chair enjoying my central heating. What do I know about bikes?

The things on Rugby Road looked like cobblestones to me - much worse than brick!

I have used Marathons and then Marathon Pluses for a fairly long time, both on my Bianchi Volpe tourer and on my Bike Friday New World Tourer. The Bianchi does a fair bit of commuting, the New World Tourer sits in a basement in Sweden for 10 months a year and then gets ridden between 1,000 and 6,000 km in the remaining 2 months. In 2004 I started out with a puncture proof set of Contis (can't remember the exact name) on what turned out to be a 6,300 mile ride on the Bianchi. At about mile 5000 the tread wore through to show the Teflon barrier beneath it: the tread was not bonded to the Teflon. Within about 60 miles the entire tread had separated off and shed itself by the side of the road. This happened in the middle of Newfoundland, and in those days I was carrying about 45 lbs of gear plus 220 lbs of me (now, unfortunately, its 240 lbs of me and 25 lbs of gear - yer just can't win at my age!). The other Conti tire failed in rural Alaska a couple of years later about 600 miles into a 500 mile ride. I should explain that I'm a cheapskate and ride tires down to the canvas: I also rode the 2nd Conti for darn near 1000 miles knowing the sidewall was split - I just carried a spare ready for the day it died. The problem was that my hands were frostbitten when it died (due to another cheapskate episode - riding 30 miles fast after dusk in freezing temperatures to avoid having to pay for a cabin or camp). I had a terrible time getting the old tire off and the new one on.

The Marathon Pluses on my Bianchi have been ridden at least 10,000 miles each (basically from Alaska to Mexico and from Gibraltar around the coasts of Europe to Belfast and Sczezcsyn (Stettin), Poland. One is now threadbare but just won't wear out. I had two punctures on one tire within 20 minutes on the road to Homer, AK: clearly I failed to find the source of the first one. I had one puncture on the other as I was riding into Houston on I-59: the wire from a shed truck tire went right through the puncture-proofing: the only thing that will kill a Marathon Plus! They've been on the bike for about 8 years: the rubber in the sidewall is a bit cracked, but no sign of impending failure (unlike the Coti, which I admit I probably pumped too hard at some point). They been over all sorts of cobbled roads in Europe, and pushed/ridden along forest roads in Portugal made of the butt ends of pine logs packed together and buried in sand. I got caught in a 'orrible thunderstorm on the Top of the World Highway 40 miles out of Dawson City in a year when the entire thing was ground up for re-surfacing. The abrasive grit tore all my clothes to shreds and caused the brake shoes to practically wear through the rim of my rear wheel (it's a 5,000 ft descent), but the Schwalbes did not show a sign of wear.

The Marathon pluses on the Bike Friday have been to Germany to Georgia, Germany to beyond Moscow and back to Scotland and then Sweden, from Sweden to Sicily and from Greece to Italy up the Dalmatian Coast: about another ten thousand miles. I have replaced one tire with a ?Chinese brand (the Schwalbes were not available in remote France), so one has done over 10,000 miles and the other did about 8,000 miles. It was on the rear for some punishing roads in Belgium and France, and some off-road riding along the banks of the Volga in Russia. I have had one puncture, in France, when in a hurry to get to a hostel by the deadline (this is the reason why I hate punctures: they always happen at the wrong time - when you're illegally riding a freeway, or on the gravel Alaska Highway miles from anywhere at nightfall, etc). As people have said, the Marathon + is hard to get off a wheel, ESPECIALLY a 20" wheel - I broke 2 tire levers on the change in France.

Before I bought the Friday, I rented a Brompton to tour the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, to see whether it was better than the Friday. It's a great Bike: you have a relatively low center of gravity when the winds howling off the Atlantic at 70 mph. There are two problems: one, don't even THINK of riding across a cattle guard on a Brompton, and two, it cost me 3 tire levers and two hotel spoons to get the @!#$% tire off that 16" wheel when I got a flat. The Brompton tires were some brand I didn't recognize. So I think the difficulty of changing a tire is mostly related to the wheel size.

On the subject or riding comfort and speed: I had the Friday with Marathons up to 47 mph riding a brand-new freeway past the site of Stalin's birthplace 4 years ago - slight downgrade, and totally estupido of me, I know. I haven't noticed any difference between the Marathon+ and the Chinese tire on the Friday. I've got a Trek with racing tires, and though they are completely different I wouldn't say they "feel" faster - if that means anything. They just get a heckuva lot of punctures - like one every 200 miles. I'm getting old enough (77) now that uphill is uphill with any kind of tire or bike, and fiddling around with a wheel in a crouched position by the side of road is just agony! But I LOVE my Schwalbe Marathon pluses: sorry it's taken so many words to tell you that!

The Marathon Touring tires (Greenguard) are an excellent commuter. I have used these for the last few years and gotten excellent treadwear as well as great puncture protection. The last set on my main commuter gave me about 5,000 miles on the rear tire, and 8000 on the front tire. In that time, I believe I had one flat on the rear from a nail. Rolling resistance on these tires is minimal, and they are a smooth riding tire as well. The touring version of the Marathon Tire is available in many sizes as well. I also run the Marathon Winter plus tires in the winter, and when I switch back to the touring tires in the spring, it feels nimble like a race bike!

Yes, those are cobblestones. Sorry mate, too early!

I went down on wet pavement once right after a rainstorm and got bad road rash on my elbow. I had just bought a new expensive biking rain jacket, and actually lucked out that somehow the sleeve pushed itself up and I got road rash (which healed on it's own) rather than making the jacket useless by tearing up the sleeve.

New bike, stock tires with the bike, slightly aggressive riding (though not overly so). After that I threw out the tires and put on gp4000's, and it was very obvious in riding that they had a lot more grip on wet pavement.

Thanks for being tolerant, Phamilton

I agree. 1" - 3" is the sweet spot. & ruts stink, for sure. I'll take the right tire track of plowed smooth paved road over that for sure.

Brown sugar - that nasty mix of snow/salt/sand - no bueno. I doubt there's a bike tire out there that would excel in that stuff. The MWPs put forth a valiant effort and indeed I still haven't fallen, but that brown sugar stuff is nasty. I'd recommend avoiding whenever possible.

Adding the puncture protection reduced the tread wear-;life because it displaced the outer layer thickness..

I guess we shall see. I only have about 200 miles on them so far. I suppose at the price point I could feasibly replace them every few years.

Just going to throw this out there again, but why aren't people trying super skinny tires in the snow? Yes, I can understand the need for studs on ice, but for regular snow the conventional wisdom is as skinny as possible.

I recently put some 23mm tires I had lying around on my foul weather bike, and when it snowed last month some guy (with an accent) said, "I see you have your snow tires on." I wasn't in the mood to chat, so I only nodded, but I was thinking, 'Ok, this dude has a clue...' They worked very well given the conditions.

I agree. my 1st studded commuting tires were 32mm. I think that's as narrow as they come. they were more than adequate. reminds me also of Wifey's '84? Toyota Tercel which had "pencil thin" tires. she lived on a hill when we met & I distinctly remember having to move her car for alternate side of the street parking & it never got stuck w/ those regular 13" highway tires

So, what's the verdict a month or so into the Marathon Winter Plus?

Believe my friend, believe it. There was little to no discussion last time, with the whole fat bike thing leading some to believe that bigger is somehow better...

Because running 23mm slicks during winter would be stupidity, there are way too many road hazards, including huge cracks and potholes in the pavement.... The smallest tires I use is around 30-32mm touring tires or cx tires with aggressive tread or a 38mm tire with studs when the conditions are very bad....Speed isn't a priority during winter...the priority is safety.

I run 23-622s year 'round and thankfully there's no snow/ice in southern England. But I purposefully ran 50-559s in Germany on my MTB that I ran in the snow. As you state, it just makes a lot of sense due to getting sucked into urban hazards. Tram/streetcar tracks, gaps between sheet metal / cracks, etc... running 23s on anything but smooth tarmac is a recipe for disaster.

Usually I agree with with [MENTION=465722]robertorolfo[/MENTION] states, but this is slightly weird and (s)he is an urban area (metro NYC), which makes the comment even more strange.

Perhaps it's too early in the morning.

What do you mean your 25mm tires don't hold up? Are they blowing out often? Are your rims getting damaged often? I have a set of 25mm Vittoria Rubino Pro Controls that have been pretty darn tough so far (knock on wood).

And my initial comment was in response to a couple of suggestions that riding in snow more than 3" or so deep was a limit. My comment revolved around the idea that you would want something to cut through fresh snow, and thinner tires are good for that. Yes, it assumed you be riding on pavement underneath that snow, as I figured most of our commutes were on pavement.

I also don't understand all the comments showing concern about 23mm tires in general. There is the implication that they are super sensitive to the slightest road imperfections, but I'm not sure if this is the case. Also, I don't know about you guys, but I generally become familiar with the road surface characteristics of the routes I regularly travel (such as a commute). When my commute used to involve tram tracks and slick cobblestones, I always made sure to plan in advance for my approach and preferred path.