I used the Schwalbe Marathon Plus 26" tire on my last two rides across America. Each ride starts at the Capital Building in Salem Oregon and ends at the Capital Building in Washington DC. 3300 miles of touring and 700 miles of training (in one year) on the same set of tires. Only one flat tire in two years. I'm currently training on last years tires and I'll replace them with a new set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires (HS 440) before I leave this spring on my third ride across America. GREAT TIRE
We installed the 26x1.75 tires on our DaVinci tandem in preparation for riding the C&O Canal. We were looking for a tire that would be good for the weight and service of a tandem on rough and uneven surfaces.
The tread is an aggressive touring type that should be good on a variety of surfaces.
We have not ridden the C&O yet, but we have been putting on some miles on rough roads and some dirt path trails with good result. The ride is smooth and stable.
Very pleased with this tire.
I have put over 300 miles on these tires with absolutely no problems. I am using them on an electric bike most on bike paths and streets. I highly recommend them to other e-bikers. Good traction and no flats, which I was getting on the bike's original equipment on the same terrain.
I have used this product for many years for commuting, regular riding, and touring. It is very sturdy and has very significantly reduced flats. The time that it saves me for not having to fix flats is great. This is my tire of choice. I recommend it for regular riding, commuting, and touring.
Purchased as the Daily Special - excellent value. Selected the 1.35 width for my recumbent, can inflate to 100 psi. Have a few hundred miles on them and show hardly any indication of wear. Really good tire.
I use the Schwalbe Marathon Plus on my commute-utility bike. I ride it between 5,000 and 6,000 miles per year. This tire is the best I've found after experimenting for years. High Mileage. High Flat Resistance. Reasonable Price. Minimal weight penalty. An all-around great product. (Note Additionally, I run a double dose of Green Slime in each tube. I'd rather get a tiny bit more exercise by using heavier tires and tubes than deal with a flat when I'm in a hurry to get to where I'm going.)
I bought a stromer ebike, and encountered frequent flats. 7 flats in 600 miles.
I bought these tires and set them next to my ebike and haven't had a flat since. I'm at 950 miles.
I will install them when I get my next flat. I probably just broke the magic by saying anything so that should be soon.
I understand these can be difficult to mount. There are you-tube videos
Suggest watching them.
based on physical inspection these are clearly more durable than the Schwalbe big ben balloon tires that came with bike
I commute year round, in the Portland OR area. I have logged over 4000 miles in 10 months. Even rode 3 miles on a flat, slayed the tube, but the tire is still performing. Schwalbe Marathon Plus are the best tires You get what you pay for.
I use these tires on my electric car and run for 8 hours a day. It's been almost a year now. I've forgotten what a flat tire isI definitely recommend this type of tire
I have used these tires for several years both for regular riding and touring. Great tires for touring both because of the resistance to flats and the load carrying capacity on the back of my recumbent.
I have an electric cargo bike. I do vast kms on it with up to 70 kg cargo. I can't afford to get a puncture at any time. This tyre gives me that peace of mind.
I put two Marathon plus 1.75 inch tires on my recumbent tandem for a cross country bike trip (Newport Beach, CA to Yorktown, VA). Total vehicle weight (including riders) was about 450 lbs. These tires held up very well. We logged hundreds of miles on the expressway shoulders out west. I had to weave in and out of the shredded tires frequently. Only two punctures the whole 3400 miles. I pulled a dozen wires out that didn't cause flats. No problems with goat head thorns when in New Mexico. On some occasions the debris, gravel and sand on the expressway shoulder was so thick the tires weren't touching the pavement. These wide and durable tires just kept on going. There are many miles left in these tires.
I've put over 5,000 miles on my pair of Schwalbe M's, and they refuse to quit!
In all of that riding (3,000 miles of it on self-supported, loaded-down tours, and much of that on gravel and dirt roads), I have had to replace four tubes. ONLY FOUR! And two of those were recently, only because my rear tire (which bears more weight, especially on tours) has become so worn down that the tread is nearly gone, leaving a minimal rubber layer before stuff comes up against the Smart Guard layer. I realize it's probably a good idea to replace a tire before it gets to this point, but they're so dang tough that I rarely think about it.
The other two punctures were courtesy of a construction-grade staple (long!) and an unfortunately placed puncture by unidentified road debris that found the sidewall (which isn't protected by the Smart Guard layer). I know I've ridden over much more junk out on the roads than that, and I commute in Salt Lake City, Utah, where goat head thorns are a-plentiful. But the Schwalbes eat that stuff for breakfast.
I think the rear tire may have had a minor manufacturing defect - on a particularly hot day riding across southern Nevada into Arizona, a big, blister-like bubble formed on the exterior sidewall of the tire. I stopped because I heard the tire rubbing against the chain stay where it had bulged out. It was just a big bubble in the rubber. I crossed my fingers and punctured the edge of it with a knife, and a bunch of air escaped and it went down immediately. It was totally visually unnoticeable by that evening - the rubber just tightened back up and smoothed out. My only thought is that maybe a little pocket of air had accidentally been left in that outer layer of rubber during manufacturing, and then the heat from the road (southern Nevada in July!) had warmed it up enough that the air expanded and made a heat blister. Kind of weird, but it fixed easily enough, with no issues afterward.
One-off heat blisters aside, I love these tires. I trust them as far as I can ride them, which has been pretty far.
I had the same problem as the reviewer who hated the tire. After installing and inflating the tire, it looked warped and bulged out at one point, and I could feel the bulge as I rode. Sadly, I made the mistake of blaming the tire and tossed a perfectly good and very expensive tire. I discovered that it was not the tire, but installation error on my part that caused the problem, because I had the same issue with a totally different model of Schwalbe tire.
Maybe the tires are slightly oversized, so that on slightly undersized rims there is a problem, but I did note that they slipped on without needed levers, which struck me as odd. Incidentally, both were on 27 inch rims, though they were totally different bikes. I discovered the issue because you can see that more of the tire is exposed where the bulge occurs, clearly indicating that the bead was not fully seated. I was incredulous at first because I assumed that the tire would blow of the rim or something, but it didn't. Fortunately, a mechanic at the LBS cued me into the trick, and I have since been able to correct it.
Go slowly, and make sure that you have the tube pushed fully up into the tire (can be hard to tell- you may have to pull the tire away from the rim all the way around and make sure you can see the rim tape.) Put a little air in, then go around again pushing the tire down onto the rim. As you inflate, repeat this step, stopping to deflate and push the tire back down if the bead tries to pop up. It took me a little patience and time, but the good news is that the tire will eventually conform to the rim shape with riding, so you don't have to deal with it if you later have to remove and re-install.
This was a minor inconvenience that was well worth the general high quality and durability of Schwalbe tires. They are comfortable, handle well, and are generally very durable. One thing I really like is that they don't have the super thin rubber coating on the sidewalls that has been a problem for me with other brands like Conti, Panaracer, and Michelin, which expose the thin sidewall fibers and lead to sidewall blow-outs before the tread is even half worn. It doesn't matter how great or technologically advanced your flat protection is if it doesn't actually protect the vulnerable sidewalls.
The problem for me is the value. Great tires, but it isn't just a trade-off on weight for durability. They cost the same or more than the tires that have both great sidewalls, long wearing rubber, and lower weight. If you are touring across the country, or have a really long, rough commute, the schwalbe is a great tire, but EVERY tire can get flats, no matter what the anecdotal praise of the reviewers says. (I rode them for 3 million miles over razor blades and glass without a si