Two punctures in one week on Marathon Plus, after 3,000+ miles getting away with it

[Manc33]

I run Marathon Plus tyres and thought this would never happen, then it happened twice, about one week apart. Both on the rear wheel of course.

First one was this beauty... it needed pliers to pull it out of the tyre...




Next up, a heavy duty staple that managed to puncture the inner tube twice, about 15mm apart. I still fixed it with one patch, positioned diagonally. If it goes flat again I'll ditch the inner tube and put a new one in. At first, I thought this puncture happened due to something managing to get through the previous hole the nail left behind but no, it's a new one...



I was convinced these tyres would never get a puncture.

Even M+ can't do much about the above.

Both were fixed with self adhesive Park Tool GP-2 patches so let's see how long they stay pumped up.

[mattsccm]

Whilst 3000+ miles isn't a huge amount , it may be that the tyre is past its best. Even if the tread is still deep it may not have the same features as new. Carcase as well.

[Manc33]

No, I meant I have continuously used Marathon Plus tyres, these are my 3rd set after swapping around trying different widths and swapping from 700c to 26" etc, my overall mileage on this brand and model has been about 3,000 miles. First set were 700x25c brand new and did ~1500 miles, 2nd set were 26"x1.35" and didn't get used much, then this set are 26"x1.75" and have done the other ~1,500 miles.

The Land Cruiser Plus tyres have a smooth center on the tread so I tried them and got a puncture (thorn) within the first 30 miles so I swapped back to the Marathon Plus as soon as possible.

I'm just going to get those solid Tannus tyres, at least on the rear anyway.

It's a PITA taking the rear wheel off, because it's a hub motor with a torque arm bolted through the rear caliper bolt, plus I don't like taking those axle nuts on/off/on/off/on/off due to them having flats on the axle and needing to be at 40Nm on an M12 axle. With a Tannus solid tyre on it, I'd never need to worry about it. On the front... who cares, it's immune to punctures, it's only ever the rear that punctures.

[Jamesh]

No, I meant I have continuously used Marathon Plus tyres, these are my 3rd set after swapping around trying different widths and swapping from 700c to 26" etc, my overall mileage on this brand and model has been about 3,000 miles. First set were 700x25c brand new and did ~1500 miles, 2nd set were 26"x1.35" and didn't get used much, then this set are 26"x1.75" and have done the other ~1,500 miles.

The Land Cruiser Plus tyres have a smooth center on the tread so I tried them and got a puncture (thorn) within the first 30 miles so I swapped back to the Marathon Plus as soon as possible.

I'm just going to get those solid Tannus tyres, at least on the rear anyway.

It's a PITA taking the rear wheel off, because it's a hub motor with a torque arm bolted through the rear caliper bolt, plus I don't like taking those axle nuts on/off/on/off/on/off due to them having flats on the axle and needing to be at 40Nm on an M12 axle. With a Tannus solid tyre on it, I'd never need to worry about it. On the front... who cares, it's immune to punctures, it's only ever the rear that punctures.

Also with motor assistance your not so concerned about rolling resistance?

Cheers James

[PH]

Either you have some unusual extreme use or that's exceptional bad luck. It happens, I sometimes go months without a puncture then get several close together, unrelated and on different bikes. It would be wrong for you to draw any conclusions from this other than a punctures are a possibility even on M+.
I you don't like removing the wheel, there's several strategies avoid it, amongst them: If you're patching, it ought to be possible to pull the tube out of the tyre with the wheel still fitted. Or have a tube attached inside the frame rear triangle to swap. I've also seen the seal and inflate cans used successfully, though was initially sceptical, this one

https://www.zefal.com/en/repair/175-repair-spray.html

[Manc33]

That's one good thing about M+, when you get a puncture, it has to be from something like the above 2 examples, which you can easily spot poking out of the tyre, making it easy to do the repair without taking the wheel off (I nearly said "in situ" then but didn't want to sound like a bit of a ponce).

It's amazing how fast and easily you can repair a puncture when not taking the wheel off, using those self-adhesive patches and one of those battery powered gizmo's to pump the inner tube up again. I reckon it was done in under 5 mins.

The best bet is to never have it happening at all though so I'll grab one of those Tannus Aither tyres for the rear, that's coincidentally the same width I already run.

[simonineaston]

Ouch - bad luck.

[drossall]

This was my worst-ever puncture. I use Marathons a lot. Don't think this was one, but I'm not sure it would have made any difference.

puncture_small.jpg (32.97 KiB) Viewed 1251 times

[bikepacker]

A few year back I tried a pair of solid tyres from the Greentyre company. They lasted about a week on my Mercian, it was like cycling through treacle.

[Manc33]

A few year back I tried a pair of solid tyres from the Greentyre company. They lasted about a week on my Mercian, it was like cycling through treacle.

Yeah I heard the Tannus drag a bit, but I've got a motor on so it can deal with that problem.

The only other thing might be the harsher ride but, I'll just have to see what it's like.

Getting a Tannus off to put a new spoke in is another thing that would be a lot harder than on a normal setup.

[PH]

As a halfway house, you could try those Tannus inserts, I have no experience and always thought them a bit of a gimmick, but such things seem to be taken seriously in the MTB world
https://tannus.co.uk/armour-homepage#to ... eg-desktop

[Jamesh]

Or Kevlar tape?

Hold it in place with spray on contact adhesive?

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Panaracer-Flat ... V_EALw_wcB

Cheers James

[andrew_s]

Yeah I heard the Tannus drag a bit, but I've got a motor on so it can deal with that problem.

You don't get owt for nowt, so the extra drag is going to come off the battery range

[Manc33]

I keep changing my mind. I wanted to get those Tannus inserts until I saw this:

(press 5 on the video, he takes 4 mins to get around to what he's pointing out)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfx6UbycifM

That's a bizarre wheel he's running.

Others have said (on normal wheels) their 15mm Tannus Armour compresses to about 9mm then it settles at that.

Others say deflate your tyres after every ride and pump them up again when you want to use the bike... err, no.

With just Marathon Plus alone, when you get a puncture, it has to be something big enough that you're going to see it poking out of the tyre, as was the case with the nail I got and the staple in the first post. I fixed both without taking the wheel off and it was a very quick repair. Tested the PSI tonight about 3 days after pumping that rear to 60 PSI and it came up at 59 PSI. It's not leaking... yet. Let's see if those Park Tool gummy patch things hold up.

[RickH]

Punctures are a somewhat random event. On my old bike I had a glass cut that wrote off a Conti Gatorskin after about 3 weeks from getting the bike new. But, after that, I only had one other puncture caused by something penetrating the tyre (gatorskins eventually replaced by GP 4 Seasons) in the subsequent 9 years.

Rear punctures are more common, IMHO, due to a number of factors. It is easier to swerve the front wheel round something that you spot at the last moment. Most sharp objects (shards of glass, nails, thorns) are unstable & will generally lie flat on the road/path but may be kicked up by your front wheel & not have fallen over again by the time you run over them with your rear wheel. There is generally more weight on your rear wheel so there is subsequently more force driving anything you do run over sharp side up into the tyre.