For commuting I use 25mm Marathon Plus--they are far lighter at 580 grams than 28mm or 32mm at 800 grams. They roll OK and so far no flats over heavy glass. On weekends I play on another bike with 25mm Gator Hardshell with 23mm Vittoria Zaffiro Pro inside as liners. These roll better than the Marathons and are just as puncture proof (so far anyway). They do get cuts however so I watch the road ahead.

Here is how my liners look inside the Gators:

[QUOTE=fredbyte;15016362]That's why I use smaller 23mm tire inside my 25mm tire as my liner--it's continuous with no edges to cause abrasion on the tube. You can choose the thickness/protection you want by selecting the type of tire of course. From super light and thin racing tire like a 23mm Vittoria EVO to 23mm Ultra Gatorskin--these will fit inside a 25mm Gator Hardshell or Marathon just fine.

I use 23mm Vittoria Zaffiro Pros inside 25mm Gator Hardshells mostly. They are cheap ($20) and work very well--heck if you have/find a pair of old worn racing/training tires laying around they are free.

Continental SportContact with pre-slimed tubes. Last puncture was in 2006. If you don't ride Contis, you're a dork. A bike-dork, but a dork nevertheless.

[QUOTE=fredbyte;15016362]Just checked my records on one of our Schwalbe Marathon Pluses, in this case, one my wife has been riding on. She rode on it for 23 months and 6202 miles with no flats. After that, she started to get a few flats, five over a period of 32 months and 8668 miles. So, as the Marathon Plus ages, it becomes more susceptible to flats. These flats were caused by long slivers of glass or tacks/nails. I am going to try the lightweight Mr. Tuffy liner on her tire because, believe it or not, the treads are still good--only pockmarked.

Hello, we are a family of four biking across America. I am interested in this thread, because we bought Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires to replace what we were riding on. We replaced them in Pensacola, FL, and have had several flats on them coming west. A few were my fault, due to walking our bikes through goat head thorns (ACCIDENTALLY)!

We have had several due to the small truck tire wires. I was under the assumption that Schwalbe tires by themselves would do the trick, but they haven't. In fact, I am running one Walmart Kevlar, and it has held up better than the Schwalbe's!
I know this sounds blasphemous, but it is the way it has happened.

Please give advice!

Singlespeed: Vittoria Rubino Pro Tire's had 3820 miles on them before they had to be replaced. Not a single flat tire.
Fixie: Panaracer T Serve, 2 flats from a nail and a thorn, both rear, at the 2000 mile mark
Commuter: 26'' kenda kiniption, 1 flat (front) from a large glass shard (1'') at the 300 mile mark

Other tires I've tried: Vittoria Open Pave (~2500 mile mark first flat), Continental Gator (no flats before having to be replaced)

I've been running Schwalbe Marathon Supreme with Stan's tubeless sealant in the tubes for a while now - no flats as yet.

After fiddling around with liquids/slime which had great results concerning flats; and horrible results concerning weight, clogged valves and overall tube life, I've settled on a combination of Maxxis Overdrive tires (kevlar reinforced) and Michelin's new square self healing tube called Protek Max which is heavier than normal tubes but much lighter than anything liquid filled.

I've done around 700 miles without a single flat and the rate of air loss is so minute that I check my tires only twice a week with a maximum loss of 5-8 psi / week; this with daily 28km commutes.


Maxxis Overdrive (700c x 40 / 622-40)



Michelin Protek Max (700c 32-42)




Note: Of course since I'm writing this post, I expect the tire gods to punish me and will probably have my first flat today!

I have run over something that cut a Marathon plus almost right across,except the bead.SO now i have a Marathon 368 Kevlar 26x1.75,with the bead cut off inside a continental town and country 26 x 1.9.Rolls OK,no flats for a year.We also have sharp flints that go straight through conti touring plus rubber belts.Works out about 1.4kg for front tyre

I put liners in my tires: Tire liners.
I barely notice the difference in weight, but my commuter isn't exactly light to begin with, and I'm far from a weight weenie. :0

I've only had one thing ever go through one of these, they have pretty much eliminated puncture flats for me since I've been using them in both my road and mtn bikes.

that and being 406-47 20"; thorn resistant tubes are not too much a weight penalty..

I use tough tires like Flack Jackets or Armadillos, Mr. Tuffy, AND slime. The combination is heavy for a commuter but works pretty well. I still get an occasional flat, though. I live in New Mexico and we have goathead thorns all over the place. They are simply evil. Hell, they'd even make an airless tire go flat.

Schwalbes and Gatorskins have been good for me. The Conti's look better with their ultra cool, NASCAR style lettering, though
I think the Schwalbes are better in wet and cornering, but the thing that some might find undesirable about the Conti's, i.e. stiff and unresilient, is a positive to me riding chunked-up, pot-holed streets. Im riding the 25's and they have taken a real beating but havent transferred said beating to my back and rims like other super skinny tires have in the past. Another useless opinion out of Kentucky

Not useless at all, I have 700 by 32 Conti's, and like I said earlier in the thread have not punctured since 2006 (knock on wood) and at 80psi they're a little harsh but not as bad as others I used to ride. My stretch without a flat is with urban cycling, too - very little "road" miles, almost all street/sidewalk/parking lot utilitarian cycling, dodging West Texas goatheads on dirty city streets

Of course now that I'm posting about a 6+ year stretch with no flats, I'm going to start having them daily until i cry "Uncle"!!

Has anyone had luck with tubeless? I've heard the sealant provides flat resistance and the ride feels like sew-ups. I'm planning to try a Stan's No Tubes conversion when my Gatorskins wear out.

well since we're reviving a three year old thread I'll give my take on the Armadillo Nimbus 1.5's after three years of use. I'm still using them. I'm getting about 5k out of them with minimal flats. What I mean by that is I'm getting perhaps one to two flats out of each tire. Excellent puncture resistance. I ride every day to work year-round. And I've ridden thru all kind of road debris. My last flat, I ran over a belt buckle that had been flattened out by car traffic and somehow ended up in my tire. But riding thru glass or other stuff just does not bother these tires. I was having a problem with one set where the rubber outer casing was coming apart and swore I'd switch to Marathons to see how they match up. But I haven't yet. Since, they have changed the design on the latest model that I've bought and they look to be just as durable.
The ride quality? I'm not the type of person to notice too many idiosyncrasies of riding on a bike tire. People say they ride too slow, or too heavy. They don't feel any different than any other tire I've ridden on other than the fact they last a long time and seem to be bombproof to anything I encounter on the road.

[QUOTE=fredbyte;15016362]The guy at my LBS does all the tire stuff for me. I seem to recall that he heats the ends of the Mr Tuffy to bevel it for a smoother fit. I'll be bringing in the bike to switch to studded winter tires sometime this month, and I'll ask him.

Fourtheroad,

Paul H says he has had really good luck with Schwalbe Marathon Pluses with original, I believe, Mr. Tuffy liners. As I stated elsewhere, in my experience, the SMPs are near bombproof when new, but after, say, 6000 miles, they become pockmarked and the rubber doesn't "bounce" road debris off as well as it used to. My wife's front tire has ~8700 miles on it and has had 5 flats in 32 months. The treads are good, though pockmarked. I just put on an ultralight Mr. Tuffy liner, no talcum powder and no beveling of edges, on her wheel. We shall see how this works. Remember that the Smart Guard is 5 mm thick in the SMPs. Anything longer than 5 mm will go through and puncture the tube. I tend to check my tires every week. I use a pick to pry out debris stuck in the rubber. Sometimes those small looking pieces are l-o-n-g when I pull them out. Oh, my wife and I biked the TransAm east to west in 1979, before the invention of SMPs. Tired of all the flats, in Pueblo, CO, I put in thorn resistant tubes in the rear tires. Never had another flat on the rear tires the rest of the trip. Good luck!