Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
Kings Lynn dave
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Joined: 29 Jan 2023, 7:45pm

Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by Kings Lynn dave »

I have just had a flat tyre on my rear wheel of my bakfeits cargo trike. I had marathon plus tyres on the back wheels. As I could not repair the flat I was forced to walk the bike home 2 miles on the flat tyre. When I repaired the inner tube and tried to place the tyres on the rims the tyres kept falling of the wheel rim as a applied pressure in the tube.. On further inspection the tyre was noticeably stretched bigger and was no longer tight to rims. I guess I damaged the side walls of the tyre by pushing it 2 miles. But how does that explain the stretching bigger of the tyrRe?(
Can anyone explain this. In addition the tyre are only 6 months old. Have preformed badly as they have had 3 punctures in that time. ( Only 2 punctures in the previous 6 years) and the tyre have been performing badly in the minus 6 temperature early cycles in the morning. Noticeably not flexible and very rigid.
In addition what other puncture resistant tyre are suitable for heavy cargo bikes.
thirdcrank
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Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by thirdcrank »

Kings Lynn dave wrote: 29 Jan 2023, 8:14pm I have just had a flat tyre on my rear wheel of my bakfeits cargo trike. I had marathon plus tyres on the back wheels. As I could not repair the flat I was forced to walk the bike home 2 miles on the flat tyre. When I repaired the inner tube and tried to place the tyres on the rims the tyres kept falling of the wheel rim as a applied pressure in the tube.. On further inspection the tyre was noticeably stretched bigger and was no longer tight to rims. I guess I damaged the side walls of the tyre by pushing it 2 miles. But how does that explain the stretching bigger of the tyrRe?(
Can anyone explain this. In addition the tyre are only 6 months old. Have preformed badly as they have had 3 punctures in that time. ( Only 2 punctures in the previous 6 years) and the tyre have been performing badly in the minus 6 temperature early cycles in the morning. Noticeably not flexible and very rigid.
In addition what other puncture resistant tyre are suitable for heavy cargo bikes.
Welcome.

I'm confused by your post but I'll try to cover a couple of points.

In the ordinary course of events, a tyre - or rather a tyre bead - will not stretch significantly. If the tyre(s?) come(s) off the rim when it's (they're?) being refitted - ie previously fitted OK - then it's not being refitted properly. With the weight off the tyre on the rim, inflate it just a bit then check all round to ensure the tube is not trapped under the bead then gradually inflate a bit more, guiding the tyre if necessary into place. There's usually a line along the tyre sidewall that should help and in any case, with a tyre previously fitted on the same rim, it should be obvious where it was positioned before the puncture or whatever. Once you have it (them?) positioned correctly, inflate hard. I say "with the weight off the tyre" to make it easier to get the tyre into position.

Repeated punctures may be bad luck but it can be the result of not dealing with the cause of the puncture before refitting the tyre. This may be something like to tiny shard of glass, flint in Norfolk, embedded in the bottom of a tiny cut, or something like an unprotected spoke head or a bit of debris trapped inside the casing.
nirakaro
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Joined: 22 Dec 2007, 2:01am

Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by nirakaro »

I've had exactly the same problem with a Marathon tyre that I had to bin. It was so loose that a child could have fitted it without using levers, and it came off the rim as soon as I inflated it.
thirdcrank
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Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by thirdcrank »

Re my earlier post: I take it all back.
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simonineaston
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Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by simonineaston »

I just came across an interesting article all about tyre use on heavy cargo bikes. Right at the end the auther recommends two tyres.
https://jasonandthecargonauts.com/tyre- ... rgo-bikes/
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
hemo
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Joined: 16 Nov 2017, 5:40pm
Location: West Sussex

Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by hemo »

I stopped using over rated scwalbes after having two similar experiences. One a puncture and ontrying to refit the tyre at home it would simply pop off the rim, originally tight to fit with tyre levers then latterly easy to thum on.
Second was a winter spike tyre after removing whenwinter was over, come the next winter it would no longer fit/sit on the rim properly.

I use gravel kings or wtb's now and have no issue with grip or fitting on the rim following the odd puncture.
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531colin
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Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by 531colin »

Image012 by 531colin, on Flickr

Image003 by 531colin, on Flickr

Photos taken in 2016
a Schwalbe tyre where the individual wire beads are not embedded in rubber, so the tyre can "grow" in size...the wire slips!
These tyres would creak as you flexed the bead

As far as I was aware, schwalbe had fixed this! (a lot of people on this forum don't like Schwalbe tyres.....but in my experience any manufacturer can make a mistake. All my bikes have Schwalbe, mainly they are easily available to me....I still wouldn't use them if they were rubbish, because a bad tyre can spoil your holiday!

Edit...it occurs to me that is a wheelchair wheel I was fixing for somebody.
I retired in 2012, and it was a year or two earlier than that we saw a lot of bike tyres with dodgy beads

another picture of the same tyre.....quite a big gap!

Image001 by 531colin, on Flickr
Kings Lynn dave
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Joined: 29 Jan 2023, 7:45pm

Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by Kings Lynn dave »

Thanks for the information and feedback guys. Thought I was going mad when it happened. Even the bloke at the bike shop didn't believe me untill I showed him the Tyre and wheel
Also thanks for the article on cargo bike tyres. I will have a look for another alternative tyre as I don't wish the same thing to happen again.
nirakaro
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Joined: 22 Dec 2007, 2:01am

Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by nirakaro »

Kings Lynn dave wrote: 30 Jan 2023, 10:14pm Thought I was going mad when it happened. Even the bloke at the bike shop didn't believe me untill I showed him the Tyre and wheel
My experience exactly!
MarcusT
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Joined: 31 Jan 2017, 10:33am

Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by MarcusT »

What an odd experience. I've been using Schwalbe Marathons for years with no such disaster. I wonder if it's related to a particular production period or facility.
I wish it were as easy as riding a bike
pwa
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Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by pwa »

It has to be a flaw with the metal bead around the edge. That is the main thing that keeps the tyre edge exactly the right size.
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531colin
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Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by 531colin »

pwa wrote: 1 Feb 2023, 7:08am It has to be a flaw with the metal bead around the edge. That is the main thing that keeps the tyre edge exactly the right size.
In my photo, you can see the wire bead. Its a length of (multistrand) wire and it goes a few times around the tyre.....you can see 4 "passes" in my photo.
The fault (way back then) was that the wire wasn't embedded in rubber, so the wire could slip and the tyre bead "grows"
Pebble
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Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by Pebble »

531colin wrote: 1 Feb 2023, 7:49am
pwa wrote: 1 Feb 2023, 7:08am It has to be a flaw with the metal bead around the edge. That is the main thing that keeps the tyre edge exactly the right size.
In my photo, you can see the wire bead. Its a length of (multistrand) wire and it goes a few times around the tyre.....you can see 4 "passes" in my photo.
The fault (way back then) was that the wire wasn't embedded in rubber, so the wire could slip and the tyre bead "grows"
If the wire is a closed loop which I think it is, how does the wire go over the rim? I can understand the tire now detached from the wire stretching, but the wire?

I have been on marathon pluses (28c) for the last 40k and have never had this problem. One had a thorn so difficult to remove that I damaged the casing and the tyre developed a bulge at that point. Other than they have been a good robust puncture resistant tyre.
pwa
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Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by pwa »

531colin wrote: 1 Feb 2023, 7:49am
pwa wrote: 1 Feb 2023, 7:08am It has to be a flaw with the metal bead around the edge. That is the main thing that keeps the tyre edge exactly the right size.
In my photo, you can see the wire bead. Its a length of (multistrand) wire and it goes a few times around the tyre.....you can see 4 "passes" in my photo.
The fault (way back then) was that the wire wasn't embedded in rubber, so the wire could slip and the tyre bead "grows"
Yes. I've never had that. With any tyre brand. And I've had quite a few Schwalbes. I'm guessing it is quite a rare fault, and if others haven't had it happen to them either, perhaps the OP would be wisest to stick to the same sort of tyre if it is ticking all the other boxes. The chances of getting another with the same fault must be very small.

I have had a duff Schwalbe tyre in the past, a malformed Durano in my case, but I must have had at least 20 Schwalbe tyres since then, all of which were fine. I've also had the odd duff tyre from other major brands, including Continental. If we cease buying from a brand after one rogue tyre we will have no brands left to buy from.
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531colin
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Re: Marathon plus tyre failure after puncture.

Post by 531colin »

We saw lots of Schwalbes with no rubber binding the bead somewhere between 2007 and 2012, by my reckoning.....bike tyres, not wheelchair like the one in my picture.
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