New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

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epa611
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New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by epa611 »

Anyone got any direct experience of these 2 tyres? Got M+ on both the wife and I's tourers, but need new tyres for the do it all bike in 26" and fancied a change from M+ to try the Conti's.

Anyone got them and have any experience compared to M+?

TIA... Paul
pq
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by pq »

Marathon plus are great for short urban commutes, but are horrible to ride. No way would I tour on them. Marathon racer are a better option if you won't be doing much off road. No idea about the Conti.
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Brucey
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by Brucey »

Conti Contact Plus are a fairly new tyre. I doubt many people will have tried them, not for any length of time.

They are also an E-bike certified tyre, which IME means that they are likely to be heavy and slow when compared with most touring tyres.

Conti are selling them as being 'distinctly more puncture resistant than a competitor's tyre' when subjected to a piercing/slashing test. One presumes (rightly or wrongly) that they compared with a M+ but they don't say that explicitly.

They also describe the tyres as 'comfortable'. Well, I have had comfortable conti touring tyres before, and they have variously been many things, but none of them were 'fast'.

BTW Conti sport contacts are nice tyres, but you will probably suffer the odd flat from flints etc.

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mjr
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by mjr »

Brucey wrote:Conti are selling them as being 'distinctly more puncture resistant than a competitor's tyre' when subjected to a piercing/slashing test. One presumes (rightly or wrongly) that they compared with a M+ but they don't say that explicitly.

Why presume that? They could be comparing with Schwalbe's older e-bike-certified tyres like the Big Apple and Big Ben which only have the nylon "raceguard" protection.
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Brucey
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by Brucey »

mjr wrote:
Brucey wrote:Conti are selling them as being 'distinctly more puncture resistant than a competitor's tyre' when subjected to a piercing/slashing test. One presumes (rightly or wrongly) that they compared with a M+ but they don't say that explicitly.

Why presume that? They could be comparing with Schwalbe's older e-bike-certified tyres like the Big Apple and Big Ben which only have the nylon "raceguard" protection.


it seems highly unlikely; by name, weight, puncture protection, tread pattern and repute, they are pitching squarely up against the Schwalbe M+.

Further to the above, a bit more digging confirms this hypothesis

https://blobs.continental-tires.com/www8/servlet/blob/1499280/0e0e5f326cc4b72d75135a13cda3d905/uebersicht-data.pdf

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mjr
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by mjr »

Brucey wrote:it seems highly unlikely; by name, weight, puncture protection, tread pattern and repute, they are pitching squarely up against the Schwalbe M+.

Further to the above, a bit more digging confirms this hypothesis

https://blobs.continental-tires.com/www8/servlet/blob/1499280/0e0e5f326cc4b72d75135a13cda3d905/uebersicht-data.pdf

Thanks. So in 47mm widths in both 559mm and 622mm diameters, the Conti is tougher, but there's not so much difference in the 40-622s.

Is it clear elsewhere that you've seen that those are current M+ HS440 and not a previous generation (HS348 I think)?

I know I'm wary but Conti's fabled Gatorskins seemed about as good as cheese against Norfolk flint.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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the snail
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by the snail »

Personally, I'd go for standard marathon or conti contacts over the plus versions - both have very good puncture resistance and ride better than the M+
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by yostumpy »

the snail wrote:Personally, I'd go for standard marathon or conti contacts over the plus versions - both have very good puncture resistance and ride better than the M+


when you say 'standard marathon' which one are you referring to? greenguard? I used to use the hs 308, great tyre, then the hs 368, anothr great, but slightly less so tyre, I have supremes at the mo 35mm but a tad slippy in the mush, was thinking plus's for winter, but not so sure now?
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by Brucey »

mjr wrote: Is it clear elsewhere that you've seen that those are current M+ HS440 and not a previous generation (HS348 I think)?


It doesn't say but a) it would be strange to compare with an older tyre, and b) it may not matter much anyway; IIRC the HS348 model has smartguard; this works the same way (and is about as thick) as greenguard. The latter is made via a different route, but is of comparable performance in terms of puncture resistance. Both appear to resist punctures primarily because the belt is very thick, rather than it being difficult for a sharp object to penetrate it; I'd imagine that the new Conti works the same way (which means that they may have chosen the test to portray their tyre in the best light...).

I know I'm wary but Conti's fabled Gatorskins seemed about as good as cheese against Norfolk flint.


Norfolk flints are a special case! :lol:

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mjr
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by mjr »

Brucey wrote:
I know I'm wary but Conti's fabled Gatorskins seemed about as good as cheese against Norfolk flint.


Norfolk flints are a special case! :lol:

I know you jest, but they tend to be an arrowhead shape that gets lodged in the tyre and won't rebound/flex out like glass does, so successive wheel revolutions then hammer them through most protection layers. The larger ones will even hammer through centre-tread of an M+, which is something that not even large metal spikes do. It's important to stop as soon as one hears/feels the distinctive tap-tap-tap - if you can over the buzz of too many chippings :(
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by nsew »

I can recommend Continental Travel Contacts in both 26x2.0 and 26x1.75. I’m still running a set that recently completed 5 months loaded 6k miles with rotation at about 3k.

epa611 wrote:Anyone got any direct experience of these 2 tyres? Got M+ on both the wife and I's tourers, but need new tyres for the do it all bike in 26" and fancied a change from M+ to try the Conti's.

Anyone got them and have any experience compared to M+?

TIA... Paul
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epa611
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by epa611 »

Went for the M+ as already known.

Thanks for the input.


Paul
Brucey
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Re: New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Conti Contact Plus

Post by Brucey »

mjr wrote:
Brucey wrote:
I know I'm wary but Conti's fabled Gatorskins seemed about as good as cheese against Norfolk flint.


Norfolk flints are a special case! :lol:

I know you jest....


only a bit; I agree that in some parts of the country the flints are far worse than others. Most of the punctures I see are caused by flints, but I don't think it is as bad where I am as in parts of Norfolk.

BTW I think it is to do with what kind of moraine there is underfoot.

cheers
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