contango 

So I'm looking for new tyres for my bike. The ones I have at the moment are 18-month old Schwalbe Marathon Plus - they have a zigzag down the centre which gives an extremely low rolling resistance, knobbly bits down the sides which give grip in the mud and are lined with plastic to give nigh on ultimate puncture protection. At least that's the theory.

In practise they roll like a dream on the road, seem totally indestructible as far as punctures go (I've pulled an inch-long thorn out of one tyre, which failed to penetrate to the tube) but it doesn't take a lot of mud before they lose grip completely.

So I've been looking at tyres with more grip in the mud, but which also give me a low rolling resistance because so much cycling I do is on the road. I'm looking at Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour and Marathon Extreme tyres. From what I can tell they are pretty much the same in terms of tread patterns, they both have good puncture protection etc. But the Plus Tour weighs 1100g per tyre and the Extreme more like 600g. The Extreme is more expensive but I can live with the extra cost if it's worth it.

The Plus Tour weighs about the same as what I have now, so I'd expect it to be harder to accelerate with a more mud-friendly tread pattern, even if not significantly so.

So the question - if I spend a little more and get the Extremes, is losing 500g on a wheel going to make a huge difference to acceleration? On the face of it I'm losing 50% of the wheel weight, but a total of 1kg on a bike/rider combo that's over 100kg seems trivial by comparison.

ed 

Well first off...since the internet is located in the USA...could you please refer to it as a "tire" instead of a "tyre"? Thank you.

500g per wheel rotating weight loss will be an astronomical difference on the road.

contango 

"Astronomical difference" sounds good. I'm not sure how losing 1kg off a 100+kg combination would make such a huge difference but I'm liking the sound of it so far

I tried but did tire of calling a tyre a tire. When I'm tyred out maybe a tyre will revert to being a tire, or the other way around. Or something like that Something about two nations divided by a common language?

contango 

Will it make the same difference if the front and rear tyres/tires are both lighter? If I use a lighter one on the back and a heavier one on the front, will that still give me most of the benefits since I'm turning a lighter wheel?

noodle

Unbeknownst to Al Gore, though he believes himself to be the creator of the Internet, it is not "located in the US"

As for spelling variations, many places outside the US use slightly different conventions Canada too EH?

As for your query- I've had exceptionally good luck with Schwalbe Racing Ralph's. In my experience, they roll surprisingly well and are on the lighter side of the spectrum. I run a 2.4 F and 2.25 R that are setup tubeless (Stans goo) which provide better mud traction by running at lower inflation pressures. Haven't had any puncture issues thus far. You may want to consider a snakeskin variant with thicker sidewall protection if it sounds of interest to you.

contango 

I know... I'm used to translating English to American on the fly when we're the other side of the water. Sometimes it's just down to how we say stuff, sometimes it's spelling, sometimes it's a totally different word. When I tried to rent a skip in the US nobody could tell me where I might find one or even what a skip was. It turns out they're called dumpsters over there.

Do they have puncture protection? What I like about the tour series (which includes the Marathon Plus that I currently use and the Marathon Extreme) is the way they seem to be all but bulletproof. I've cycled over thorns, broken glass, all sorts and not sustained a single puncture. You can even see a mark in one of my tyres where something sharp stuck in it and came right back out again.

I currently run 2" tyres - what difference would wider tyres make to handling on the road? I guess on loose surfaces they would help a lot, it's just that I'd rather retain as much of my performance on the road as possible.

noodle

My favorite English / American translation stories:

A gent that worked with me in London often said blimey. A US female colleague always seemed a bit uncomfortable when he said it. I finally had to ask why she seemed to squirm. She said she didn't know the Brits said "blow me" all the time

Conversely, a US colleague of mine was traveling in the UK. He forgot and item while exiting an airplane and loudly declared "I forgot my fanny pack". He immediately realized something he said must translate differently...

You are correct - a wider tyre would be useful in the loose stuff. I suggested an offroad variant with excellent rolling characteristics. Racing Ralph SS's are tough on the outside whereas the Marathon appears to be tough throughout with greater puncture protection. I've ridden with slime tubes on other tyres and generally do not like the result. After a few punctures the tyre ends up out of balance with gobs of hardened slime clustered inside the tube. It would be preferable for me at least to ride on puncture resistant tyres.

I ride non SS Racing Ralph's on the streets of Washington DC and surrounding areas (plus MTB trails of all sorts) frequently without issue. I tend to do more trail riding so MTB tyres are on my rides. If you do more tour/city riding, you may want to stay with that variety of rubber.

contango 

The Racing Ralphs certainly looked interesting in their tread patterns. I also looked at the Smart Sams on the web site. One reason I discovered my rear tyre is struggling to grip is that the knobbly bits are mostly worn away, so where they used to have a nice grippy edge now they've got nice smooth gradients. So I need to decide pretty soon what to get...

I still chuckle at the time I told an older female friend in the US that I'd bought myself a new jumper. The way she reacted I figured she called it something different. When she realised I meant a sweater she was obviously relieved - the best I could get out of her was that a jumper seemed to be some kind of female undergarment.

noodle

Might be worth trying one on the rear then... I think you will be happy. On sale, they typically run ~$43 USD. https://www.speedgoat.com/Catalog.asp...177&Prod=16294

As for a "jumper". In the states that loosely equates to a ****** or possibly someone who's about to commit suicide by jumping from a great height (bridge, building, etc.).

contango 

I'll have to see what my LBS wants for the Ralphs... I live in the UK so prices are different here.

It looks like the same compound as the Extremes and others, just a different tread pattern. I'll take a closer look and then figure which to go for.

hooligan

I personally do not support the LBS's in Canada since they are ripping folks off and they know it. They play dumb and hate if you buy from the internet but when the internet is 50% of the price AFTER CUSTOMS AND SHIPPING then you know the LBS is doing something wrong.

That said, I would check out Chain Reaction Cycles for prices...and don't forget to look at Continental Race Kings. Continental makes a lot of bad stuff but they got their "king" tires right. Super light, puncture free so far for me and ridiculous grip. RIDICULOUS GRIP.

I got them for like 20-30 a piece and they're what? 400-500g?

Also, 500g off each tire will feel like you dropped 5+ lbs off your bike. Rolling weight is super important to acceleration and just general feel of the bike.

contango 

My LBS seems to offer pretty good prices. They list stuff mostly at the RRP but generally cut me some deals because I bought my bikes and assorted bits from them. They also do other odds and ends, like when I wasn't sure what difference bar ends would make and was reluctant to buy expensive grips with built-in ends without knowing, they gave me a used set to play with to see if I liked them.

It's also reassuring the number of times the owner has said if I want something he'll sell it to me, but he thinks I'd be wasting my money on it.

Anyway, Chain Reaction Cycles looks like they do some good prices - thanks for the tip. If nothing else it's good to know how LBS compares to what looks like a good cheap online source - from what I can see they measure up reasonably well so far. At least close enough that I'd rather pay a small premium to make sure they're around when I need them. CRC's site is down at the moment, I'll check them out tomorrow - thanks for the tip!

ed 

Whatever, man...you come over here knocking on a virtual door at the US border and we are kind enough to let just anybody into our proprietary bandwidth...the least you could do is bow down to the genius named Al Gore (founder of Gore Ride On's BTW) and start spouting off words like "tyres" and "knickers". Daggum foreigners.

Dannihilator

Ed, the word knickers is used in the US, though mostly in road/ cyclocross circles.

cryptid01

I prefer "shants"

Dannihilator