I was wondering if it was worth the difference to buy the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, rather than the Schwalbe Marathon tires. the price is more than double at some spots and I was wondering if the money was well worth it? It would be for long run touring almost completely on paved roads, but their may be some minor hard pack.

The Plus, there is an added puncture barrier under the tread, thick enough
as stated, to not let a thumbtack penetrate..

so far so good , Ive got a pair of 26x1.75"

passing thru a German warehouse means the importer to the US has to buy Euros from the Bank , to buy tires.

Other brands just come across the Pacific, one less currency exchange ..

I looked at the Marathon Plus, but decided on the Marathon's. Lighter weight, lower price, and higher max pressure rating. The big advantage of the Plus (IMO) is the puncture-resistant layer built into the tire. I figure I can use StopFlats2 liners for this, save money, and reuse the liners on new tires (when needed).

It depends on how fussy you are about ride characteristics and how bad you want to avoid flats. I like a tire with a lively ride and am kind of fussy about extra weight especially on the wheels, as a result I wouldn't consider them. I did try them and took them off after a couple hundred miles.

The Pluses are very flat resistent, but are also very heavy (literally twice as heavy as many other tires in the same size).

To me fixing a flat once in a while isn't a big deal and a lively ride is a joy, so I ride on a light tire with a flexible sidewall and thin inner tubes with no liners.

The standard Marathon tires are heavy and slow. The Plus version is like towing a brick on a string behind your touring bike. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone who isn't getting a flat a day.

Something like the Marathon Supreme is a decent flat resistant tire that will roll along well enough not to be punishing. I would definitely pay the extra $$ to go from the standard Marathon to the Supreme.

I had a set of these and did not like them at all.They would not center well when I did get them to center at last they just went bump bump all the time and it was not my rims at all I went to Panarace TG and have had good luck with them so far.

You haven't stated what you value to balance the greater cost of the Plus. Like fletsbob says you pay a premium for Schwalbe tires compared to others . After that you get a heavier slower rolling tire with the Plus. So if your only criteria was flat resistance with cost and ride quality a low priority the Plus is just the tire. Unless there was something unique about your terrain that requires such flat resistance I'd look to other tires.

Depending on what size you want - Niagara might still have the 700X40 on sale for $28US. A heck of a buy on Supremes!

no kidding

they say "discontinued." Does that mean they don't have stock? The site lets you add them to your cart

I'm personally sold on the standard Marathon tires. In my part of the world, broken glass is common on road shoulders. I rarely get flats until the tread wears thin. Usually the tread will wear out on the rear tire after about 2000 miles. In my case, I see no reason to spend more for the Marathon Plus, and I don't like the fact that the Plus is so much heavier.

I did ruin one Marathon tire when I hit a broken beer bottle and got a gash that was unrepairable. I'm not sure the Plus would have helped prevent that though.

Maybe they aren't going to stock that size any longer - I'd go ahead and order - as a matter of fact, maybe I should order a couple more at that price, and shrink wrap them when they get here.

I have 3000 miles on a pair of standard Marathons and they look like they'll go another 2000 easy. I also have a brand new pair of Marathon Pluses waiting in the wings (biketiresdirect had a sale I couldn't pass on). I did not notice a weight difference, but now I'm curious. The standard Marathons are 26 x 2 and the Pluses are 26 x 1.75, so I'm hoping there isn't a big difference in weight. But whatever the weight, I doubt I'll notice it much. My bike (Hard Rock MTB) has never been light. For the first ten years I owned it I always rode it with the off-road tires, even on tour. Marathons are a huge improvement over that.

Biketiresdirect has Schwalbes on sale until Aug 17 - 15% off.

The problem with the Pluses is not simply that they are heavy. The real problem is that at touring speeds rolling resistance of your tires is a big part of the energy losses you experience and the Pluses are uber stiff and roll poorly. Unless you live someplace where a flat a day with normal tires is the reality you'll lose far more time to the Pluses over their lifespan then you will fixing the odd flat in a better performing touring tire.

Although they don't publish exact numbers, Schwalbe puts the Marathon and Marathon Plus in the same category regarding rolling resistance. I'm sure my Pluses will have more rolling resistance than my standard Marathons if for no other reason than the Pluses I bought are narrower. But how much more resistance? I guess I'll find out. Whatever it is, I'm certain it's still going to be lower than the knobbies I rode (and even toured on) for years.

Schwalbe has an interesting article on rolling resistance here.

Edit: To the OP - I have been very happy with the standard Marathons, and I have always run them with liners, but no inflatable tire is flat proof. I would not hesitate to buy them again. I only bought the Pluses because I got a really good deal on them. If they don't meet my expectations, next time I will go back to the standard Marathons.

I spent the extra for the supremes and couldn't be happier.

Supremes. Love them. I do have pluses on a fixed-gear commuter. D*** I wish I could wear those things out so I could replace them. Ultra tough, ultra heavy, pretty hard to mount and they feel deader than any tire I've ever ridden. They just don't feel lively at all, and they don't corner very well either.

I'll mount regular Marathons on the fixie because I only want to shell out the green for the Supremes for my "good" bike.

What size tire are you running on your fixie? I've got 700c x 28mm Conti Ultra Sports on mine...relatively cheap and decent performance/comfort. I had Specialized Fat Boy 26" tires on it when I ran 26" wheels and liked those a lot and they are quite low cost as well. My GF has the Fat Boys on her city mtn bike and really likes them.

Note Schwalbe, like all tire makers, uses a steel drum to measure rolling resistance. This results in flawed results. In the real world the road surface is not perfectly smooth and therefore tires which score well on the steel drum test often don't work as well in the real world. The Pluses are definitely in that category.

Well, as I said, we'll see. Interesting that if the Pluses and standards both score the same (or nearly) on the steel drum test, one would perform so much better in the real world than the other. Lots and lots of reviews out there for Pluses from happy customers, many more it seems than from those who say they're sluggish. As usual, it probably comes down to prior experiences and personal preferences.

Back to the weight issues, according to Schwalbe there is about a half pound difference between the two (230g). With my standard Marathons I've always run thick slime tubes and liners, and I'll use neither of those with the Pluses. So maybe the weight difference won't be noticeable for me. Time will tell.

Oops - forgot to take into consideration the different tire sizes (2.0 Standards vs. 1.75 Pluses). So for me, there's just a quarter-pound (120g) difference. Without the thick tubes and liners, I'm pretty certain I'm not going to notice any difference, at least weight-wise.

Every time I've tried to get in on a "heck of a buy" at Niagara, I never got the merchandise and Niagara only refunds the money when you ask for it back. Sometimes I think they're using these too-good-to-be-true deals as a way of managing their cash flow.

I ran the Marathon XR for 5000 miles across the country without a single flat, and they still look new. The XR is now discontinued, but I'd definitely spring for the XR-replacing Dupreme over the standard Marathon.

I would not buy the boat anchor known as the Marathon Plus.

I've always had good luck buying sale tires from Niagara. But, then again, I check their site often, and pull the trigger quickly. My current order for 2 more 40s, was accepted a couple days ago, so will probably ship. They have always been great to me - if you are willing to accept the fact that they are a little slower than most. They save me money, therefore, I'm willing.

I've gotten some great buys on Schwalbe Supremes, and have several in the basement, for when replacement is necessary.

I even sold a set of 35s to a friend, and he was tickled pink.

32s. I Think the plusses run a little small. They're better rollers than the cyclocross rubber I had on the bike for a while. Definite tradeoffs. I've yet to put a hole in one, and that's great for urban streets. I work right at the edge of town, so I get both broken glass and general debris and a lot of goatheads in summer/fall. But by the same token, the weight of the tires is most apparent when accelerating from a stop, which you probably do a lot of in urban traffic. At least you do if you're like me.

I, too, like the ride of tires that are larger than standard, so I run 32s all around now.

Thanks simplygib for heads up on the sale!

I'm seeing the discussion on the rolling resistance and the weight issue and I think I will stick with the choice of Marathon Pluses (I can't go with Supremes anyways because I'm riding a folder...). Years ago, I toured with a hybrid and encountered three flats in three days in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere meaning that by the third day I was checking my inner tube in a water trough after patching.

In any case, I went from those tires to the Pluses and did not notice any sort of rolling resistance and frankly on tour once you're that loaded I don't think it makes any difference.

What size wheel? The Supremes come in a 406.