Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 700x34
 

I installed a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 700x34 tires on my Mavic T519 rims yesterday.

I love that I can mount and dismount them easily with no tools. Just my hands are enough.

I loved the ride. I weigh 260lbs, and am riding a steel frame SOMA DoubleCross bike. I inflated the rear to 80lbs and the front to 60lbs. Rolling resistance was excellent, and the ride was plush.

I think they are funny looking tires, but I can live with that. They're also way too expensive, but that's behind me now.

Rode them 20 miles yesterday, and overall I am very pleased so far.

I wish you nothing but great rides with those tires. I found them to be magnets for goathead and thorn punctures and dumped mine on eBay after 3 months. So, just offering some free advice: Stay away from goathead zones and carry spare tubes.

My friend got 22247 miles out of this 700 X 32 Schwalbe Marathon Plus with No Flats.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=229769

I guess we'll see about the Goat Heads. I am riding the Iron Horse Trail in the East Bay this weekend, and it's famous for Goat Heads. I'll bring three spare tubes and a patch kit and pump.

Marathon Plus is an *entirely* different tire. The only thing it has in common with the Marathon Supreme is the "Schwalbe" and "Marathon" on the side, and even then they are an entirely different font. ;-)

I have a set of Marathon Plus in 700x28 that I have had for years. I usually can't stand riding them for more than a couple rides before I take them off and replace them with something else. Super heavy, dead-feeling, and very very difficult to mount and dismount.

I did still get a flat in the rear on one of those too, although it was a big old nail that would have punctured *any* tire. Problem was, I couldn't get the tire off when I got the flat and had to push the bike back home. That makes Marathon Plus tires (at least on the rims I have) a non-starter for me.

Go luck with the goat heads.
Keep it touch about how the tires hold up.

BTW, I liked everything about Texas when I lived there except for the gawdawful nasty weather.

Yep....Sunny up to 55* today

You're going to love them. I have approximately 5000 miles with no flats on mine, including 1000 + in Baja.

That's impressive! I had not heard of that kind of mileage on the Supremes.

I know you loved the heat with the humidity.
Then add the winds and chip seal roads.....Yuk.

Ok. Let's say I loved the people and the food. ;-)

I had a pair in 700x50. I used them for 1500 miles before selling the bike they were on. At 1500 miles, they showed virtually no signs of wear.

I got a pair of Marathon's. They are a little heavy for me and not easy to mount/dismount. They have a thick padding in the tread I think that is supposed to help prevent punctures.

Doesn't do squat against a 16penny nail though.

I use mine for commuting, and change them out if I'm CX'ing. Cross tires wear too quickly for the amount of road riding I do.

Th only other thing I could do without would be the reflective strip on the sidewalls. I just don't like them.

This thread is about the MARATHON SUPREME tires, not Plus. Why is it that every time someone starts a thread about Marathon Supremes people jump in to talk about everything BUT Marathon Supremes?

I have two sets of Supremes. They're good tires, but I find the soft compound (which is GREAT for traction), wears out pretty quickly (by "pretty quickly" I mean about 5000 miles... which is about half of what other Marathons do). So cost/mile is pretty high compared to other tires. They also stretch a bit over time. My well worn 700x32s are about the size of a new 700x35 now. They still feel great, though, and I've only had 1 flat with them in about 9000 miles. BTW, this tire doesn't come in 34, but the 32s and 35s are close enough.

Ahhh, you finally caught it! Yes, I know it's marked and sold as a 700 x 35 and 622/37, but mounted on my Mavic T519 touring rims, they measure just a hair under 34mm wide at the widest point.

I have been running a set of 26 x 2" Marathon Supremes on my primary bike for the past year. I have about 2000 miles on them with zero problems. They replaced a set of plain Marathons and I noticed a significant improvment in the ride and my speed went up by a miles per hour or so. I found that they had even less traction in loose gravel or mud that I run into once in while compared to the plain Marathons.

So in summary, as long as I don't have a mud puddle or small loose gravel to ride through, they have been the best tires I have used so far.

I've had Supremes on my commuter for over a year now. I have gotten a single flat, due to a very small sliver of glass getting through the tread. I still have faith in the tires though. I do a lot of urban riding and encounter a lot of glass, nails, etc. If I'm on a bike with Marathons (either Plus or Supreme), I don't worry about those things.

I think the Supreme is lighter and has lower rolling resistance, but slightly less flat protection, as compared with the Plus.

Guessing most don't the difference in Schwalbe Marathon tires. I don't.
I had a bad experience with Schwalbe tires. (way to many flats)

You can teach us.

Some of us know the difference :-).

I do think that it could be a bit confusing to the end consumer when we have one tire named "Marathon" and then a bunch of tires that are named Marathon with descriptor surnames. Of all the tires in the Marathon line, the Supreme is probably the most divergent from the others.

To the OP, they are expensive tires but as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. After you've ridden them for several hundred miles, you'll like them even more especially for the confidence that they inspire, they are very grippy tires.

10 Wheels has a point. Not everyone is an expert in tires. Schwalbe doesn't make it easy, either. By my count, there are 9 kinds of "Schwalbe Marathon" tires: marathons (with no descriptor), Cross, Dureme, Extreme, Plus, Plus Tour, Racer, Supreme, and Winter. Then there's the XR which was discontinued, and the Mondial which is coming soon. Sheesh. It would be like Continental naming all their tires Gatorskin something or other. It's pretty confusing to people who aren't OCD about bike stuff.

Agreed. My personal opinion (which doesn't count for much) is that if there is going to be a Marathon Line of tires there should be 3-5 tires in that line. Anything that doesn't fit a defined purpose (in my mind durability, longevity and puncture protection) should be named something else. The Supreme really ought to be in another category, same with the Marathon Racer and the Marathon Cross. For the time being, the people who make these decisions are probably happy to leverage off the succuss of the Marathon.



For 2012 it stands as follows:

Marathon
Marathon Plus
Marathon Plus Tour
Marathon Plus MTB
Marathon Racer
Marathon Supreme
Marathon Dureme
Marathon Mondial
Marathon Winter

I have a set of Supremes in 700x28 (coming from 700x25 Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase). So far I am enjoying the Supremes in all conditions (wet, dry and frosty). They were quite expensive, hopefully they'll hold up for many commuting miles.

One thing I noticed is that the Supremes transition really smoothly into corners, they feel a lot like good motorcycle tires in that respect. I'm sure it's due to the very round profile and the way the tread merges seamlessly around to the sidewall. Very nice feeling tires! I was having so much fun with them yesterday I dragged a pedal, and I don't recall ever doing that before! Need to remember to keep the inside pedal high with these things.

The only problem is that I can't figure out which one of them is Diana Ross.