Schwalbe 26” tyre query

[Thornyone]

I have a two-part query.

Firstly, I am currently using 26x2” tyres, mostly for tarmac use, though I will be back on towpaths and tracks too (nothing too technical) next spring.....
So, if I bought 26x1.75” am I likely to see much drop-off in ride plushness on my non-suspension Thorn?

Secondly, I am currently using Marathon Greenguard tyres. I have found them O.K.’ish, but have had a few punctures, probably from glass (of which there is a generous supply on my routes ) eventually working through the green layer. I find the tyres are reasonable to fit.

In the past I have used Marathon Plus, with the blue layer. I never had a puncture but I did find them impossible to fit, though it was on different rims. A bike shop put them on and I always dreaded a puncture miles from home because I’d have been stranded. However, I now think I might be able to fit them (even assuming my present rims had the same issue), having watched videos.

So, to cut a long story short, which tyre, and what size.

Dave

[geocycle]

I don't think you'd notice much difference going from 2 inch to 1.75 per se, but you would if you changed tyres. Personally, I'd not use marathon plus for anything other than glass strewn commutes. My preferred 26 inch tyre is marathon supreme which rides very well on most surfaces apart from grass. I use 1.6 inch. It is reasonably puncture resistant (I recall 2 in 10,000 miles). The thin sidewalls make for a comfy ride, you just need to be a bit careful on very rocky surfaces.

[Brucey]

I agree; unless you are carrying a very heavy load (on very lumpy surfaces) you ought to be able to run either tyre size at a pressure which either runs swiftly on smooth tarmac or makes for a plush ride. However the stronger/more puncture resistant a tyre is, the draggier it tends to get when you run it at low pressures; with some tyres 'plush' is not a word that ever enters my vocabulary.

I think one puncture every 5000 miles is perfectly acceptable (unless you are going to miss a train or something) and if the alternative poses problems (e.g. getting the tyre on and off, or basic slowness/nasty ride quality) I will put up with a higher rate of punctures than that.

FWIW I think marathons work really well on smooth-ish tarmac on bikes where you can run them at high pressures without the ride quality suffering too much. If you need to run low pressures for comfort, they are usually too much like hard work. This goes double for M+.

cheers

[Sweep]

Interesting brucey.

So would you recommend marathon plus inflated to the max indicated?

I have a plus on the back of the exped bike.

I don't find it too draggy, like the fact that I feel I can just jeep on rolling with little concern about punctures.

[Brucey]

provided you are happy enough with the comfort, yes, I'd usually inflate M+ tyres to as high a pressure as would be recommended (could be limited by tyre or rim). The arguments concerning suspension losses are moot if the tyre itself is stiff; to get appreciable comfort from those tyres the pressure needs to be set much lower than you might think.

IIRC the 'fietsbanden' tests carried out in Holland suggested that at the same pressure (say 70psi), M+ tyres were half as draggy again as (say) Vittoria hypers. However if you lowered the tyre pressure in the M+ tyres to get comparable comfort to the Hypers, the M+ tyres were about twice as draggy as the hypers; hard work!

Worrying about punctures and actually having punctures are two different things, and some folk prioritise differently. Once you have M+ tyres fitted, punctures can become even more dreaded, because they can be so difficult to deal with. If I can do I will use tyres that come off the rims easily (ideally without tyre levers at all). Punctures are usually but a minor irritation if the tyres are easy to deal with.

cheers

[simonhill]

Have you thought about getting one of those tools that helps with tyre fitting. I use a VAR and it works fine, but don't know if it would cope with M+.

Having it in my saddlebag eases my fear of a puncture.

[Thornyone]

I originally had Marathon Extreme (I think that was the name) fitted on the bike, 26x2”, and I seemed to go faster than I do now (but maybe because that was 6 years ago and I’m heading for my state pension now? ) and got a nicer ride. They seemed faster and more comfortable despite the more agressive tread, and I definitely preferred them off road (until I got a hawthorn puncture every so often).

Re the punctureproofness/comfort trade-off, I don’t generally mind mending the odd flat, but I hate it when I’m all set for a ride, maybe with limited time available, and discover that the bike has developed a flat overnight. Or like yesterday, when I had been for a swim and was dashing back home before going to the dentist and suddenly got that dread skiddy feeling when cornering. Fortunately the tyre held out on two pump-ups, but sometimes that last mile can seem an awfully long way.

I do 6,000+ miles a year on average and sometimes carry quite a weight in rear panniers. I don’t get a huge number of punctures, but inevitably they usually occur when it is least convenient.

[fausto copy]

We've got M+ 26 x 1.75 tyres on the tandem and find they ride fine.
We had Panaracer and Conti tyres prior to them and had all sorts of problems: tyre walls splitting, bulging in sidewalls and valves pulling out.
Our M+ are overinflated to prevent such problems and we've never had puncture in the 4,000 miles since fitting.

I thought we had M+ on all our other bikes and between them haven't had puncture in over 20,000 miles.

Last week, Mrs.Copy had a front wheel puncture
In repairing it I realised it was only a Greenguard tyre and the culprit was a drawing pin.
When was the last time you saw one of them

[Thornyone]

We've got M+ 26 x 1.75 tyres on the tandem and find they ride fine.
We had Panaracer and Conti tyres prior to them and had all sorts of problems: tyre walls splitting, bulging in sidewalls and valves pulling out.
Our M+ are overinflated to prevent such problems and we've never had puncture in the 4,000 miles since fitting.

I thought we had M+ on all our other bikes and between them haven't had puncture in over 20,000 miles.

Last week, Mrs.Copy had a front wheel puncture
In repairing it I realised it was only a Greenguard tyre and the culprit was a drawing pin.
When was the last time you saw one of them

I think you’ve pretty well convinced me to go for the 26x1.75 M+ especially as we’re now into winter and the thought of mending a flat in the semi-darkness with freezing cold hands and glasses steaming up (or even just taking the rear wheel out and replacing the inner tube) is less than appealing.

p.s. I’d forgotten that drawing pins existed.

Dave

[bikerta]

I really like the schwalbe Dureme 2" on my Thorn Sherpa. Great for rolling on tarmac, but cope very well on tracks and gravel. Only thing not so good at is mud. I have not had any punctures on mine in 8,000 miles. They are still available at SJS cycles and I will replace them with the same tyres when the time comes.

[simonhill]

I wonder if sidewalls are getting stiffer/tougher since they became ebike compatible.

I use so few tyres, I can't make detailed comparisons. I used to use the previous 2 versions of the Marathon Originals. Liked them both, the later version was a bit better. When greenguard replaced them (how many originals can you have?), I found the ride much harsher. I tried inflating hard and soft, but never got a good compromise for different surfaces.

Now on 1.6 Supremes which are great. The 1.6 is quite balloon-y, so not thinking of going bigger. Three punctures in nearly 2 years, with lots of touring. Surprisingly 2 on the super clean roads of Japan, one a shard of off-cut metal that would have gone through anything and yes, a drawing pin.

Nonetheless, I think in your circumstances I'd go M+ and get a tyre tool. For me, the smug feeling from no punctures outweighs a slight loss of speed.

[iandusud]

Just to add that I fitted 1.6" Supremes to our tandem earlier this year and really like them. We probably weigh about 150kg between us, plus the weight of the tandem, and we run them at 60psl, at which pressure they roll very nicely. On Monday we ended up on a steep track that was just rocks and mud and to my amazement the tyres gripped just fine. The only thing they didn't like was a stretch of wet grass, after I had crossed a ford, when my wife had walked on ahead so there was no weight over the rear wheel!

Ian

[Ivor Tingting]

Hi, I have used 1.3, 1.75 and 2 inch SMP+ on 26" wheels. I found 1.3 inch tyres very harsh, the 2.0 quite heavy but dropped the pressure down to 60 from 75/80psi which made them a bit more comfortable to ride but then a little harder to pedal as higher rolling resistance. The 1.75 inch tyres were the best combination but the tyre walls felt a little wooden as I think they are now rated for eBikes which probably means they are thicker as most Ebikes are going to be heavier than traditional bicycles and their riders heavier. I have never had a puncture on a SMP+ tyres. Grip has been ok as well. Mainly road riding. I did try some Specialised Armadillos a few years ago in 1.6" width but once they had a few thousand miles on them they started succumbing to a lot of punctures. The worst was 18 in one week. After this I said enough and bought SMP+. I have yet to have another puncture nor one wear out even after 15k miles. I'd say I could get 20k miles out of a SMP+ rear tyre.

After a recent tour this year where I fitted some Schwalbe Marathon XRs I had kicking around the garage I am enjoying their ride as they are quite supple compared to the wooden SMP+ tyres I previously had on, so have kept them on my bike for the time being. I have them in 1.6 and 2.0 inch widths. I haven't had any punctures with these, yet, after riding on the 1.6 tyres for about 5,000 miles. Grip is good as well. They were the tyre that all cycle tourists used to use and then I believe Schwalbe stopped making them for the Mondials.

But I would say 1.6 - 1.75 width is going to give you a balance of responsive handling without being too heavy or high rolling resistance, for road riding. You could still ride 1.75 on trails but 2.0+ inch width tyres would be better.

HTH.

[Brucey]

18 punctures on armadillos? Is that a record???

I've disliked them for lots of other reasons, but I wouldn't have guessed 18 punctures as being likely in armadillos; were the tyres themselves somehow causing them?

cheers

[francovendee]

May be all in the mind but I went from 2" to 1.75" some years ago and wouldn't change back.
At the pressures I run, 40 psi rear and 30 psi front, they felt as though they offered less resistance but still comfortable.