Continental Contact Vs Schwalbe Marathon Plus

[Stevewheel]

Hi again folks,
First things first...forum pre searched but surprisingly little on this topic.

My Ridgeback Tourer is shod with 700/32 Continental Contacts.Came supplied with the bike & looked a decent tyre, if a little "tready" & by that I mean the tread pattern seems to pick up quite a lot of stuff. On a recent club run through a local war zone (actually it's a new town close to here) the insurgents forced us onto less than ideal cycle terrain (custom built cycle paths) The surface was strewn with all manner of "I E D's" & I managed to pick up a large part of a Stella Artois bottle in my front tyre with the resultant loss of air pressure and forward momentum. We quickly got the wagons in a circle, posted sentries and set about a rapid repair. When done we were quickly on our way without further incident. My question is this. Given that further patrols in the afore mentioned area are likely what tyres will give me the best chance of shaking off the Stella Bottles, Stingers & Flints that will inevitably be laid in our path by the enemy? I know Marathon +'s are heavy but are they as good as people say? Before you answer, I also ride with a wide cross section of cyclists. Some will use nothing other than the Shwalbe product but others (and you will know these types too) have ridden 15,000 miles on tyres they made in their kitchen from dried butterfly wings, flour & water and drinking straws with cotton wool buds for valves. So what do I do? Persevere with the Conti's and put the incident down to bad luck or buy and extra couple of kilos of more German product (I can't get much slower - in a time trial last year my family turned up with sketch pads instead of cameras!)
As always, I defer to the greater knowledge of the crowd and welcome all comments.

[[XAP]Bob]

M+ will stop most things, but nothing will stop an IPD the size of a stella bottle.

I'd gang up on the road brutes if you can, you have every right to be there (unless it's one of those segregated car facilities (motorways))

[hubgearfreak]

Persevere with the Conti's and put the incident down to bad luck

that's what i'd do

[Mark Berry]

Persevere with the Conti's and put the incident down to bad luck

that's what i'd do

Quite agree. I have a love/hate relationship with my M+'s - as well as being heavy they just don't feel right, especially in the wet. But 18 months commuting without a puncture is a record. So it's horses for courses. I wouldn't fit M+'s on a bike I used when out for pleasure with mates, even in hostile territory.

[fatboy]

I use marathons and I used a local cycle underpass over a year ago and pulled a huge chunk of glass out of my front tyre expecting it to immediately deflate which it has never done.

Personally I would stick with the tyres you have got and put it down to experience, but try to avoid the usual glass spots. In new towns certain underpasses/paths are more favoured than others.

[smnewton]

Re punctures and the IED's littering our paths and tracks,
Hoefully in these times of budget cuts the great un-washed and their matey oiks will be forced to
resort to booze busters 5 litre cider which is made of plastic and hopefully inflicts less damage to passing cyclist.
Re Schwalbe tyres, its a good job they are p******e resistant because once they're on they are staying on.

[flat tyre]

My marathon plus (both tyres) were recently p*&ed by 3 blackthorn thorns, as I only had one spare inner with me I had to suffer the ignominy of a taxi ride home.

[belgiangoth]

I've had punctures on my M+s, though I also survived some very large glass shards picked up but not puncturing. I'd advise not going for a narrow M+ as they are extra bone-shakery and puncture more ime.
I'd stick with the Contis unless you are happy to have the constant lack of comfort in exchange for the reliability (which for me is more of a commuting thing than a fun rides thing).

[Chodak]

Sorry to be a bit late with this post!

In the past year and a bit I've done 2,000 miles on Conti Top Contacts, 3,500 miles on Schwalbe Marathon Supremes and about 1,500 miles on Marathon Pluses in the past year all in similar circumstances.

The Contis are middling weight, but pick up lots of debris and I have had two significant punctures - one with a thorn just off-centre where the tread is thinnest and one with a bl**dy great chunk out of the centre tread where a glass shard just went straight through the central tread where the rubber is thickest, ripping a chunk out of the rubber in the process.

The Supremes are the lightest and easiest rolling tyres. I may have been lucky but they haven't picked up any nicks, cuts or punctures. They're gone so far that the tread is fairly worn now and they've still had no damage. I'm seriously impressed, but as I say I may have been very lucky as they don't seem to have anywhere near the puncture protection of the pluses. Having ridden these I would never touch a conti Contact again, though I do rate the Conti GP 4 season on my audax bike.

The Pluses are by far the heaviest and feel 'dead' and unresponsive by comparison to the Supremes (not far off the Contis for ride quality), but they are unmarked and puncture free after a year and a half. The tread hasn't worn much and I'd use these without question on my town bike and on a hub-geared bike where I don't want the hassle of changing an Alfine hubbed rear tyre in winter.

From my perspective, I'd score the Supremes as best of the crop for all round performance, and place great confidence in the Pluses, but would never waste money on the expensive and relatively poor performing Top Contact again. They're not good rollers, they don't have much puncture protection, they pick up lots of debris, they're expensive and just don't seem to do anything in particular that well, but that's just my experience.

[Quaker Mike]

I have Marathons (no supreme or plus - I'm a cheapskate) on two bikes & a trike, and have done for at least three years. All I can say is the solution in my toolkit is drying up, my patches are curling up and my spare tubes are wilting, all for lack of use. If it wasn't for the whatever-they-are's on the Brompton, I'd have forgotten how to use a tyre lever

[Joe.B]

Hi again folks,
First things first...forum pre searched but surprisingly little on this topic.

My Ridgeback Tourer is shod with 700/32 Continental Contacts.Came supplied with the bike & looked a decent tyre, if a little "tready" & by that I mean the tread pattern seems to pick up quite a lot of stuff. On a recent club run through a local war zone (actually it's a new town close to here) the insurgents forced us onto less than ideal cycle terrain (custom built cycle paths) The surface was strewn with all manner of "I E D's" & I managed to pick up a large part of a Stella Artois bottle in my front tyre with the resultant loss of air pressure and forward momentum. We quickly got the wagons in a circle, posted sentries and set about a rapid repair. When done we were quickly on our way without further incident. My question is this. Given that further patrols in the afore mentioned area are likely what tyres will give me the best chance of shaking off the Stella Bottles, Stingers & Flints that will inevitably be laid in our path by the enemy? I know Marathon +'s are heavy but are they as good as people say? Before you answer, I also ride with a wide cross section of cyclists. Some will use nothing other than the Shwalbe product but others (and you will know these types too) have ridden 15,000 miles on tyres they made in their kitchen from dried butterfly wings, flour & water and drinking straws with cotton wool buds for valves. So what do I do? Persevere with the Conti's and put the incident down to bad luck or buy and extra couple of kilos of more German product (I can't get much slower - in a time trial last year my family turned up with sketch pads instead of cameras!)
As always, I defer to the greater knowledge of the crowd and welcome all comments.

Love it, defiantly made my morning.

For a short stretch of my commute I use a cycle path that cuts by a sports field and a branch of Asda, it too is a mine field of bottles and shopping trolleys as board youths congregate there in the evenings.

Although I used to suffer frequent punctures since stretching my wallet to a pair of Marathon Plus tyres last summer I’ve had not a single problem.
That said a pal who rides in on Continental Gatorskins has also been puncture free since fitting them.

[Edwards]

I do not know if the contacts have Kevlar or similar protection, I use normal Marathons and have not had a problem. Try the tyres one more time and see if the IEDs or similar get you. Although I do not stay into such remote and hostile places as your good self.

Could the answer to this problem be a skirmish party to descend upon the insurgents and take no prisoners or at the last resort a sniper to get rid of the cause of the problem

I love the way you have with words and the description of such a harrowing event.

[Cove Scout]

Rear M+ Just approaching 1 year, 8000 miles, used nearly every work day no visits from the .............. you know the thingy fairy. I'm not saying it! They hear you and visit! So I'm a Schwalbe man but to be honest I have never used Contis so do not have information to compare them.

[BryterLayter]

I cycle around the roads of Birmingham nearly every day (Do not have a car, get around quick enough) on my Thorn Club Tour, commuting, carrying heavy panniers of shopping etc and have to deal with some pretty dire road surfaces. Since changing to Marathon Plus 3 years ago I can honestly say I have not had one single puncture, these tyres are as near to bomb proof as you can get. I admit they are a hard ride and certainly not the best tyre I have used in the wet, but these niggles are more then made up for with piece of mind knowing I am more than likely going to get home without having to fix a puncture at the side of the road with two heavy panniers in the middle of winter.

My only concern is when I do finally get a puncture I will have forgotten how repair it.

Oh, also not fun trying to get the damn things on and off. Zip ties and strong hands needed.

[ross980]

I've followed this topic with some interest as I've also got a Ridgeback Voyage with Contis. I suffered my first puncture last week (I think the likely cause was a piece of glass), I'll definitely be getting some Marathon Plus at some point, the question now is which size? (currently have 32mm but I'd happily sacrifice weight/rolling resistance for something more robust and better able to cope with rougher roads/tracks, would I notice a different with 35 or 38mm?)