A bought some Schwalbe Marathon Pluses and mounted them along with thorn-resistant inner tubes on my tour bike. I swear that was like putting tracks on a tank. I hope I never have a flat. I know this combination makes the wheels a little heavier than your average bear but I do like the way they roll.

Now I'm second guessing whether I needed the thicker inner tubes but I'll be darned if I'm going to take those tires off unless it's absolutely warranted. So is this overkill?

Really only one way to find out. Keep us posted I'm curious.

You don't need the tubes.

I've only ridden thorn-resistant tubes on a borrowed bike, but I'd rather fix flats than put up with that heavy, clunky ride. It was like the tires were carved out of wood.

Were you getting lots of punctures before you went with the armor clad rim covers?

That's just the thing. I had great success with my original stock tires but not with the replacement tire, which flatted repeatedly in a short period of time. It kept picking up flint and tiny shards of glass. I purchased the innertubes first, but later decided to go with the Schwalbe's when I realized that there would be several event rides coming up over the next couple of months.

Now you just need to fill the tubes with Slime.
No air, just Slime.

Okay, I get it. You had the thorn-resistant tubes, then bought the armoured tires. n this case, overkill would be filling the tubes with Slime, and putting Mr. Tuffy liners in the tires. Right now, you're only at a 'belt and suspenders' level, not total overkill.

Thge Swalbe tyres are in comparison to others- not too bad a tyre. Bit heavy but the rubber is good and they roll reasonably well. Whether the puncture resistance of them is better than even some of the performance tyres- Conti 4000s and Michelin PR's- is up to you. But those thornelss tubes- They are heavy. Far too heavy for any use in my opinion as they still will not stop a determined thorn that is going to work it's way through the Tyre and eventually the tube.

I recently fitted one to a neighbours kids BMX. It weighed more than my tyre-tube and wheel on my road bike. And it did not stop the snakebite that occured when he ran into a kerb at full bore.

Check this out, I came across it in a thread over at bentrideronline...https://thelazyrando.wordpress.com/20...-to-fit-tires/

EDIT: Oh yeah, here's the thread also. It's a pretty good read. https://www.bentrideronline.com/messa...ad.php?t=63369

By the way, I'm running Marathon Plus tires on two of my bikes and though they can be a bit squirlly at times, I like the ride.

Thanks, Cranky. That was a helpful video. I didn't mention in my post that I haven't ridden the tires other than a spin around the block after the install last night. I'll do a real test ride in just a few minutes. That will determine whether I want to change the inner tubes immediately or sometime in the future.

No such thing as a "thorn proof tube" - at least not around goatheads. I don't quite know what "thorn resistant" means - does it just take longer for the thorn to work through?

The "thorn proof tube" works the same as the Marathon Plus;
It just puts more distance between the outer surface of the tire, and the inner surface of the tube.

The only tube I have ever had that would give me any "Protection" against Thorns was a Thick Latex tube. The thorn would still penetrate the tube but the latex would semi-seal around the thorn. The puncture was still there and would give me a slow puncture- but pump it up and it would last till I got home. Or I would get home without realising I had a puncture and it would go down a couple of hours later.

Ha Ha. I don't know the answer to that question. I do know that after I mounted those tubes with the Schwalbe's my son felt the tire and remarked that it felt pretty hard. I laughed and said just wait until I put some air in it.

Anyway, I rode about 35 miles on the tires today and the overall ride "feel" wasn't much different than the Vittoria's I had been running. However, the extra weight got noticeable after mile 15. So I'm going to gird my loins and take them off this afternoon.

So says the Thorn Magnet!

How much "extra weight" is involved here? A pound? Two pounds? Twenty pounds?

Probably about 100 pounds.

By the end of the ride it felt like 20. Maybe its the oppressive heat and humidity that still plagues south Texas.

Would estimate that the thorn proof tubes are between 3 and 4 lbs. and that is right at the extremity of the wheel. The hardest place to get it to accelerate- but once up to 30mph- it will assist on speed.

Stepfam, I bet you're estimating for a mountain bike. These are 32s and they weigh in at 15 ounces as opposed to my regular inner tubes, which are about 5 ounces.

It wasn't a road tube but 15 ozs for a tube still seems a lot. Put that along with a tyre that weighs appreciably more than say a Folding tyre and you will feel it .

Indeed I did and that's why I'm getting an extra slice of pie today.

Rode My touring bike and it's camping load from south western Ireland to Northern Scotland and stayed about 6 months ,
Never had a puncture the whole trip, on Thorn Resistant Tubes, 622-40 tires.

Well if the combo adds, say, 4 pounds to the bike but works that should be motivation to take 4-6 pounds off the rider. Net gain is less weight to power and probably a bit healthier.