SchwalbeMarathon Plus 26" Tire (HS 440)(Return to Product Page)

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've installed this on my CatTrike road, which has a 26" rear wheel conversion kit. The combination of moving to a 26" wheel, a 1.75" tire, and the Schwalbe Marathon Plus has results in an incredibly smooth ride even over rough terrain. On a trike, that rear wheel is critical to the experience and this tire has made a huge difference.

I never would have guessed that just changing my tires would make such a huge difference. Now my ride is very comfortable, smooth, fast, responsive, and has excellent grip. They are worth the money that I paid for them.

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

I'm a bike commuter riding 10 miles to work over 100 times a year for over 15 years now. I always used a road bike set up for commuting until recently started riding a mountain bike with slick tires so I could have the off road option and not worry about stripped pavement pot holes and such.

I've tired a whole lot of slick mountain bike tires and these are the worst. They are horrible! Not only do they weigh a ton making your whole bike seem heavy, they aren't even round! I sent one back to BTD which they replaced because it had a bubble in the sidewall and gave me a horrible ride on the pavement and the replacement seemed better but no they are still awful.

I rode them again today on a totally different bike and different rims 10 miles home from work. I could see visibly the front tire which is the one that was replaced doesn't track straight.. Tread wiggles back and forth. Looks like the wheel is out of true but it is not it is this awful tire and speeds over 20 you get beat to death.

Maybe it's just a fluke that I got three bad Schalwbes but I will never buy another.

I have these on a bike with rear hub motor. bike weighs over fifty pounds but will do 28mph, so I definitely want a tire that can handle this safely. These are certified for e bikes. Tires are grippy, ride well. so far they are resistant to flats (about 200 miles). On this bike and my other hybrid I was getting flats from thorns almost every time I would ride. Increased weight offset by not using tire liners or slime.

Just finished trip to Hilton Head!

Bike on Beach low tide everyday!

Have ridden over 10,000 miles on them!

Makes riding worry Free!

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.

Gator skin tires feels great to ride and not worry about flat tires. Spend a little extra money and never look back well worth the investment.

Marathon Plus is all we ride on. I havent had a flat in over 4 years.

I have got 150 miles on my Schwalbe Marathon Plus. Excellent feel while on road bike path and dirt trails.

Will buy a back up set . My be a while before I have to change them. Great tire.

I Have ridden over 90,000 miles!

Marathon Plus are the Best Tires I have ever purchased!

All weather and any surface they are Great!

Out here, the extreme summer/winter temps make chip sealing the default method of road surfacing. I have this tire on the rear wheel of my Catrike Expedition recumbent trike and I really love the ride. I have an internally geared rear hub that can make changing a tire more of a pain than normal so I run this in the rear for added security. It stands up really well to the local roads that more often than not feel like riding on train tracks. I use it with Mr. Tuffy strips and together they provide me with many no-flat miles both in town and out on the never ending farm roads around my home. I have 1800 flat-free miles on my current tire and it hardly looks the worse for it. Sure, they are pricier than most but well worth the performance and dependability. It just doesnt get any better than Schwalbe and I have found that BTD usually has the best prices and inventory.

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

Good quality tire,i like to much

I recently biked across the country and these are the go-to tires !! i mostly rode on pavement but had some gravel and they handled very nicely.

I bought this tire because my new electric bike has the motor in the back tire and the design of the bike has the seat almost directly over the back tire. Resulting in 3 flat rear tires in six months.

With the 45lbs weight of electric motor and my 195 weight I'm assuming it's to much for the tires that came with the bike.

It's been 4 months and no rear flats.

I bought these tires for my folding dahon bike a couple of years ago and never had a flat

I put Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on my Surly Long Haul Trucker for a trans-America ride that I completed. I had three flats on the rear in New York and swapped the tire with a spare. I ordered another Schwalbe Marathon Plus that I used from Colorado to Washington state with no flats. I think that the Schwalbe tire that I replaced was compromised with some culprit inside that I could never find. My conclusion. The Schwalbe Marathon Plus is a good tire but not puncture proof.