Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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Sweep
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by Sweep »

Bmblbzzz wrote:One of the benefits for the manufacturer of having so many variants is that customers start thinking "Which variety of Marathon?" rather than "Which tyre?"

Disagree - as indicated above, you may possibly despair of making a choice and just go elsewhere.
The marathon folk should put their tyres on tindr.
Sweep
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Sum
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by Sum »

mercalia wrote:One difference I see is the the Tour dont have a bottle dyno track where as the Plus does, and Schwalbe claim the Tour is better off road? Interestingly they say the standard marathon has better off road performance than the Plus one.

Has any one used the Tour version?


The HS-404 Marathon Plus Tour (700x35) I've got on the back of the Summer Commute Bike does have a dyno track.

I can't tell much difference between it and the standard Marathon (the GreenGuard version) on the Winter Hack Bike in terms of off-road handling but then I don't think I've really tested either to their limits in that regard.
simonhill
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by simonhill »

It's not so much the large choice of Marathons that's a pain, it's going in and out of each variant on the website to compare things like weight, size, etc.

It would be good if some kind soul could put all the data into a single spreadsheet. Something for those long cold winter evenings?

Trouble is that it would need updating every year in line with the new releases.

As an aside, I still love the way they call one of their tyres "the original". I've ridden at least 3 different Marathon originals.
mercalia
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by mercalia »

Sum wrote:
mercalia wrote:One difference I see is the the Tour dont have a bottle dyno track where as the Plus does, and Schwalbe claim the Tour is better off road? Interestingly they say the standard marathon has better off road performance than the Plus one.

Has any one used the Tour version?


The HS-404 Marathon Plus Tour (700x35) I've got on the back of the Summer Commute Bike does have a dyno track.

I can't tell much difference between it and the standard Marathon (the GreenGuard version) on the Winter Hack Bike in terms of off-road handling but then I don't think I've really tested either to their limits in that regard.


well the picture seems to show none?

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/marathon-plus-tour

hard to see with those side nobbles it could have one?

is this the one you have?

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/marathon-gt-tour
mercalia
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by mercalia »

Sweep wrote:
Bmblbzzz wrote:One of the benefits for the manufacturer of having so many variants is that customers start thinking "Which variety of Marathon?" rather than "Which tyre?"

Disagree - as indicated above, you may possibly despair of making a choice and just go elsewhere.
The marathon folk should put their tyres on tindr.



Here you are only a few to chose from.

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour

No wonder people stick to the standard one

I cant believe there is much difference other than between the smoothies and the roughties?
RobinS
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by RobinS »

We have used both the Plus, and the Tour Plus on long heavily loaded tours. Wear levels similar, ride comfort similar, the Plus is possibly smoother rolling on smooth tarmac, the Tour Plus gives better grip on grit and other non smooth tarmac surfaces. My preferred choice now is the Tour Plus.

(and incidentally, between the two of us, in over 15000km of touring we have never had a single tyre penetration puncture using either of these models.)
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Sum
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by Sum »

mercalia wrote:well the picture seems to show none?

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/marathon-plus-tour

hard to see with those side nobbles it could have one?


The picture you linked to is a cutaway illustration and not a photo. Here's a better image from the Chain Reaction Cycles website:-
Image
It looks the same as mine.
Phil Fouracre
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by Phil Fouracre »

mercalia wrote:
Phil Fouracre wrote:I know it’s for mtbs, but, I’d swear by the Marathon plus - absolutely bullet proof. We’ve just bought two Scott E mtbs, had a load of punctures on the tyres that came with them. Just changed for plus tyres, oh joy, no more punctures.


well if you look at my comment above, from the Schwalbe notes, the Plus dont rate as high off road as the Tour or standard Green, so maybe the Tour would have been a better choice for your mtbs?


Thanks for that! Had a long trawl through all their bumpf before deciding. Had a selection of their tyres over the years, and its amazing how much they vary. Definitely made the right choice, with these - apart from being a slightly more ‘knobbly’ tread, running them on the lower end of the pressure range, they seem to stick like **** in pretty much any conditions!!
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Bmblbzzz
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Sweep wrote:
Bmblbzzz wrote:One of the benefits for the manufacturer of having so many variants is that customers start thinking "Which variety of Marathon?" rather than "Which tyre?"

Disagree - as indicated above, you may possibly despair of making a choice and just go elsewhere.
The marathon folk should put their tyres on tindr.

Yes, that's bound to happen with some people. Think of it as the commercial equivalent of the Overton window.
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Sum
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by Sum »

Phil Fouracre wrote:Thanks for that! Had a long trawl through all their bumpf before deciding. Had a selection of their tyres over the years, and its amazing how much they vary. Definitely made the right choice, with these - apart from being a slightly more ‘knobbly’ tread, running them on the lower end of the pressure range, they seem to stick like **** in pretty much any conditions!!

I suspect you and mercalia may be talking about different tyres perhaps? The MTB version of Marathon Plus (Marathon Plus MTB) is much different to the road version that mercalia had originally linked to.
NetworkMan
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by NetworkMan »

It may or not matter but if the carcase is the same then I'd expect the 'tour' version to have significantly higher rolling resistance. Those individual tread blocks which help with grip on unmade roads and mud are each free to move around and that will absorb energy. It's the opposite extreme to a bald tyre which will tend to roll best, everything else being equal.
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mjr
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by mjr »

Absorb energy? When does it get released again, then?
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Bmblbzzz
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

As heat and sound? I don't think 'released' is quite the word, more like converted.
Mike Sales
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Re: Marathon Plus or Marathon Tour?

Post by Mike Sales »

Bmblbzzz wrote:As heat and sound? I don't think 'released' is quite the word, more like converted.


Knobbly tyres are noticeably noisy.
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