SchwalbeMarathon 26" Tire HS420(Return to Product Page)

From what I hear, these are pretty much the gold standard for long haul touring tires, so I was super stoked to get the 26x2 version for $43 per tire here on BikeTiresDirect. I got them as the 4th set of tires on a long haul (over 11,000km total) bicycle tour and they carried me and my very heavily loaded Surly LHT the last 2000km of the journey without showing much sign of wear at all and not a single puncture despite riding over quite a lot of road debris. I'm looking forward to these tires lasting a good long time, and when the time comes to replace them, I expect I'll be getting the same thing. Definitely the go-to tires for those of us on 26" Surly Long Haul Truckers!

Schwabe Marathons are the only tire I put on my touring bike. The inner belt may add a little weight, but not to be plagued with so many flats is great. I cycle for fitness and fresh air, a few grams here and there are not the biggest of my concerns. I will continue to use Schwabe Marathons, they're the best.

I will use this tire primarily for touring, but also for pleasure rides. It is ideal for these purposes. I also like that the 26" tire makes for a lower gear ratio and lower gear inches, facilitating riding up steep hills with a load.

Testing these tires for the first time after riding Schwalbe Marathon PLUS tires for two years. These tires are a little less expensive than the PLUS tires, so I though I would test a pair for a year for commuting in town. For my rides 50 miles from home in the mountains I will continue to use the Schwalbe Marathon Plus, which are the best tire I have used in my life of 50 years cycling, pro racing, commuting and touring. I don't like weak tires that explode when they get punctured, and wear out in a few 1000 miles, and grip the corners complaining and slipping. The Schwalbe PLUS tires have slow wear, good grip, and have never blown out. One slow leak in 2 years of riding.

Great puncture protection for commuting, as well as feeling a bit cushioned compared to non reinforced tires. A bit of a pain to get on initially, but it�s worth the struggle. I cannot recommend this tire enough

Worth the price. These tires are very durable and puncture resistant. The reflective sidewall is an added plus. The only major con is that they are difficult to mount. They reliably last for twice as many miles as cheap tires.

My original set of these finally wore down their tread. The back tire had about 9000 miles, the front about 7000. I think I would still be on them, but I left them at 35 psi for way too long after a tour with a couple hundred miles of hard-pack gravel roads. Never had a flat. Ride was grippy even on fast corners and mountain descents. Easy to mount. Just no problems at all.

I use these for fair-weather commuting on mostly roads and paved bike paths. My only basis for comparison is the Continental Travel Contacts I've been using for the same purpose for the past 6 years, so take this with a grain of salt if you're comparing to other high-pressure city tires. The Schwalbes are quite thick where the tire meets the road (enough to make the bike feel taller). The Schwalbes also take a higher pressure (100 psi, I run them at 80), and they have very low rolling resistance. The lack of treads on the outside edges means they're more stable when cornering on pavement, but less stable in gravel. The reflective sidewalls are a nice touch, they're really noticeable at night. I don't have enough miles on them to evaluate durability, but there's a lot of rubber between the bottom of the tread and the top of your inner tube, so I can't imagine them being prone to punctures. I wouldn't use them for loose gravel or off-road, but for on-road use, this is a great high-pressure, low rolling-resistance tire.

Good rolling sturdy tire

No flats yet and i ride on roads paved in glass. These were a welcome change for city riding over my off road tires on my adventure bike- now commuter bike. Look cool too and has sidewall reflectors.

I had 1.5" wide tires on my bike, so I bought these. Old Specialized Armadillo. These are half the width of the others. They are super skinny. Buy wider if you have wide needs. I could hit the trails with my old tires, not with these skinny bitches.

I wanted a road tire I could put on my mountain bike for road riding. My main criteria was one that wouldn't require superhuman hand strength to actually get the tire on rim. This one met this criteria and has performed well.

Made it 101 miles after installing on my ebike before the first flat. Picked up a staple(with flat ends..) it went straight through the thickest part of the tire and a thorn-proof tube.. rear tire of course. Bad luck? maybe.. can't say I'm impressed so far though :|

The tires I received and mounted on true wheels caused obvious hops in riding at anywhere from 60 to 95 psi. suspect this was due to manufacturing imperfections. I am returning them.

Simply the best flat-resistant tire I've ever own. Smooth ride, too, and excellent traction.

I have owned a set of these tires in another size on another bike for about five years now. The same set of tires have been mounted that entire time, getting about 1,500-3,000 miles a year. This year, all of a sudden I started finding myself getting flats (In the years prior, I had never flatted, even having goat heads stuck through the tread). At first I was upset, considering I'd always thought of them as pretty puncture proof. But, when I realized I'd had the tires for almost 5 years and about 11,000 miles, I couldn't really fault the tire. They were certainly worth the money and they were replaced with the very same tire. Additionally, I am a heavy rider, so these tires have put up with a lot over the years.

The 26 version here on BTD, I purchased a couple of months ago for a different bike and they have, thus far, been just as reliable as I'd grown to expect with my previous set on the other bike. They are great for all around riding - meaning that they do great on pavementasphalt, and they work well on dirt trails. They would not make the best mountain bike tire, and I don't know if I'd use them for all-dirt or gravel rides, but they are pretty decent at a lot of different types of road - and the best part is they keep me from having to change tubes on the side of the road.

Even though this is not Schwalbe's most puncture proof tire, they seem to do very well through glass, nails, goat heads, and other road debris, so unless I were doing long distance tours, I can't imagine I'd need anything better than these. They may not be the speediest tires, but they do pretty well given their durability.

I got these tires to outfit my mountain bike for a trip down the west coast of the US last spring. They lasted through about a thousand miles of training, plus the trip itself which was another thousand miles, followed by on-and-off training for the rest of the year, and finally I've been using them to prep for another trip this summer - total of over 5,000 miles across 15 months with no problems at all. One of them has finally worn down and I'm back to get another pair. Fantastic tires.

I am installing these to replace the Schwalbe Marathon Racers that came on my Catrike. I have 3200 miles on the Racers and the 20 tires are worn, while the 26 tire shows little wear. These are considerably heavier and thicker on the tread, so they should wear well. My only complaint with Schwalbe are the inner tubes that came installed on the 20 tires. Both failed within the first 1500 miles. They split internally at a seam. No punctures thru the tires were found. I would not recommend Schwalbe Tubes for this reason.

Use this tire on my mountain bike for paved roads and city streets, short rides, 40 miles or less. Overall very happy with the tire no negatives. Good on wet pavement. Feel secure on the tire.

These tires were on our Catrike 5.5.9 trikes when we took delivery eight months ago. Since then, we have ridden a bit over a thousand miles on all kinds of surfaces including gravel rail trails and tough urban (read broken glass) environs. Not a single problem. I bought a spare from biketiresdirect for our trip on the Ohio to Erie Trail just to be on the safe side but I suspect this spare will be waiting a long time for the call.