Schwalbe Marathon Almotion 700c Tire (HS603)

First the negative, the price is too high to call it a steal despite it being a good tire, you can find car tires for the price of this tire!

I needed a set of tires for my touring and light gravel bike, I had Schwalbe Marathon GreenGuard tires but found those to be too heavy and made the bike fell sluggish as if I had more weight then I really did; next I tried a set of Kenda Drumlin, these gave the bike a similar sluggish feeling but they flatted more than the GreenGuard's did despite being heavier, and they didn't last near as many miles as the Greenguards did; so then I figured I would push the expense level and bought the Almotion tires.

The Schwalbe Almotion tire is a lighter tire than the others I had which concerned me with regards to flats and wear, but so far flats have been zero, and the wear at 1,200 miles appears to be less than the Drumlins and about the same as the GreenGuards. But the big news is that these tires do indeed have noticeably less rolling resistance, now is that from weighing less or does the tread compound have something to do with that? I don't know, I'm not a tire scientist, all I know is that they coast better and take less energy to keep them rolling with a load, so that after pushing 50 miles with a loaded bike I don't feel as tired afterwards as I did on the other tires. The other good thing with these tires is that they grip wet roads really well, but in the gravel they are not quite as good as the other tires but the difference is very small. They also feel a bit softer riding then the Greenguards or the Drumlins did, that could also be some of the less fatigue I get from riding on them.

Not sure how long these will last yet, they still have low mileage on them, they look like they could go maybe 5,000 miles? I'm at 1,200 miles right now, so I have to report back later if they wear out too fast. Also being fairly new they haven't been tested long enough for flat resistance, so far I've had no flats, but what will happen over the next 3,000 to 4,000 miles is the big question.

So the tricky part, are they worth the money? well in my opinion $80 for a bicycle tire is nuts, while I did get mine on sale, it's still a very high priced tire, had the tire been around $50 or so then I would say that would be a great deal, or a steal, I would have never bought them at full retail price! So time will tell if whether or not these tires are worth it...at the discounted sale price.

Before this tire I has tried several other high end tubeless tires and was about to abandon the concept altogether due to multiple punctures that sealant could not fix forcing me to use those tires as clincher tires and eventually give up on them due to frequent flats( teravail and Continental). The problem with most tubeless tires is that they lack puncture resistance in the casing and over- rely on the tubeless sealant to cover for their inability to resist puncture. In my Tucson AZ commute, that translates to an almost constant oozing of sealant out of various small holes until a larger object prematurely ends the tubeless life of the tire. This has not been the case with these tires so far. I even picked up a nail which was deflected out the side without penetrating the casing or causing any leak. Easy set up ( I am new to tubeless amd had no trouble getting a bead to seat). Hard to mount. ( make sure you get the bead on the mounted side to the center of the rim before attempting to squeeze the othe bead over the other side of the rim). Very minimal wear after my first 500 miles ( I would say the tread looks like a brand new tire where my last two tires already showed significant wear prior to failing at this point). I keep the sealant topped off but so far have never seen evidence that the thorns glass metal and cactus that litter the route I use have ever penetrated the casing. Easy rolling amd fast fir a super durable tire. Very comfortable ride at 50 -56 psi set up tubeless going fast over terrible roads. I had to wait a long time for this tire amd it is currently my favorite- lighter and faster than the marathon plus with a much softer ride at lower pressure, very stable width without much rolling resistance ( the teravails is we�re terrible) with the added security of tubeless. Quite possibly the perfect touring or commuting tire.

Got these tires to swap out my 30 mm road tires for a loaded touring set up on my gravel bike. Was not comfortable that the 30 mm tires would work well on rough roads with the added weight. These have worked well. Could almost use as standard gravel tire if traction is not a big issue. I was a bit surprised at how tough they were to mount on Reserve wheels - never an issue with other Schwalbe tires. It was a struggle. Maybe because the sidewall is tougher. They ride well - take all the aggravation out of rough roads. Did fine on mixed surface rides even where rocks were on the sharp side. A little plodding due to weight. Might try a size down if available and was only doing roads.

Smooth rolling, great riding tires. These are replacements for the two Schwalbe Almotion tires I've ridden for the past 10K miles without a flat.