Changing out my marathon plus tours to Schwalbe Almotion 622-50 was the best decision I ever made in terms of my touring bike. The Almotion tyres transformed the ride comfort, not until you change will you realise how dead and harsh the plus tyres are. I got less punctures in the Almotions, they are 200g lighter each, but most their most noticeable strength is they are so fast, having an extremely low rolling resistance. Not that you need speed on a long tour; however, you will notice a huge reduction in the effort required to turn these tyres, which are still classed as a very durable heavy duty tyre. Fully loaded they are also good for 10000kms and have a tread pattern that is also grippy off-road. Order yourself a pair, you won’t be disappointed. Thanks for putting out your awesome videos and good luck with the rest of your trip.
Good tip, thanks. Light tires make a big difference, easier acceleration and breaking and after a long ride you feel the difference. These tires come in at 2.15" which is widely enough for comfort.
There are 2 versions of the Allmotion, tubeless and with tube. Which one did you use? I'm looking for a comfortable, low resistance rolling but really good puncture protection tire...
@@Mat-Thias mine were the older tube tyres. Haven’t tried the tubeless ones yet. But the older ones I found to be super fast and super durable and puncture resistant
I have been using the marathon plus tires for commuting over 20,000 miles with just one flat. Even that one was a rear tire with over 5,000 miles that I should have replaced prior to the flat
Got the mountain bike version on my bike. No punctures in a year and a half so far. Probably will end up having to replace the tire before I ever get a puncture
We've been around Europe several times in the last 18 years and always used the Marathon Plus. We've had about half a dozen flats in that time, but always carry two spare tubes. Replace the tube, patch the flat and continue riding. This way it gives the glue time to set properly.
Want to buy a super new technology inner tube that lowers your rolling resistance like I did. Well don't get suckered into buying the distinctive looking orange Turbolito inner tubes like I did. They cost 8 times more than the standard black inner tubes, they DO NOT lower rolling resistance at all in my tests and after 13 months of ownership both tubes mysteriously split in several places. Loving your vids guys, keep cycling and keep smiling.
Old School is simple. Simple is good on the road. I always try to go with the appropriated technology not the newest, great idea. Some of my equipment is 50 years old. Some is brand new. I'm sticking with inner tubes. They are simple to repair on the road. There has been a great leap in the past 50 years in tires. Two months ago, I discovered Schwalbe and their ability to run at different tire pressure depending on riding surface and the comfort of the ride.
I use the Marathon Plus Tour for commuting, daily Tours and longer bike-packing tours. At the moment 8500km and not even one flat. Yes they are heaviy and expensive, but worth the money!
I've worn out two sets of marathon plus 26x1.75 tyres heavy loaded touring on road and off road tracks. Probably around 10,000 miles on each set. The back tyres were completely bald but even though they had a lot of small cuts etc I've never had any flats. Great video.
I use sealant inside tubes and it works quite well. Not 100% puncture proof but quite good for those little wires from truck tires. I always carry some extra valves and replace when it gets clogged.
Yes I find that a carrying a valve core remover helps in a few situations such as leaking valves and packing down punctured tubes for repair at a later time (eg when not raining).
Thank you. I use a liner and tannis with a smaller tube ... plus slime. Ive had 10 flats this year. 2 since adding the above defense's. Those darn radial wires !! Going to try these tires.
This is a thorough and well thought commentary. I use the plain Marathon which has a smoother tread and results in less fender overspray. If I'm riding lots in winter I will mount Marathon Plus for the extra protection against dealing with flats in wet/cold weather. I find the Marathons to be extremely durable. The smooth tread in the center means more rubber to share the wear load. I can go over 10,000km and the rear tire is only half worn (but quite pitted from glass and other debris). Weight doesn't matter when you're fully loaded or, like me, towing a trailer.
I just order the marathon plus and it'll arrive on thursday. I can't wait! I totally agree with all of your assessments. for sure. Great video and be safe out there. And, yes, US roads are dirrrrrrty!
I find the Marathon Supreme is a good combination of puncture resistance and suppleness. I keep thinking about trying the Plus, but then I remind myself of how much I dislike riding on "dead" tires. On a tour, taking time out for a puncture isn't that big of a deal. But being late to work from having to fix a puncture in a cold rain is a different story. If I had to commute in awful flat-monster conditions I'd definitely consider the Plus.
I find the Marathon Mondial ticks the box for me. Durable, tough wear, puncture resistant and they have an excellent tread for both gravel tracks and sealed roads. Far lighter than the 'Plus" tyre versions.
Thanks for your thoughtful review. I rode 4,300 miles across the US on Marathon Plus tires. Zero flats. The next year I rode over 3,000 miles from Indiana to SF on another set of Marathon Plus tires. Zero flats, even though I rode over 1,000 miles in desert terrain with thorns. A few years later I rode on a third pair, I rode from St Louis to Portland OR on another pair of Marathon Plus tires. I got 1 flat in Oregon when a big chunk of tire debris became lodged between my fender and tire. All of these tires saw considerable use after the tours. Five of the six were flat free. They basically last twice as long as nearly any other tire I have used. As for ride quality, if you are not touring, you should ride something lighter. The Marathon and lower-grade Mondial both ride much better with decent flat protection.
I have the Tannus Armour in both my road and my touring bike. On August of this year, I did the London-Edinburgh-London with the road bike and didn't even bother to bring a spare tube or tools for changing the tube. It just doesn't get flat. I started using this with an old touring bike and rode about 1 full year with it with absolutely zero flats. Considering that I was riding to work and back almost every day (72km per day), sometimes with glass from broken bottles or debris on the bike paths, this convinced me. When I switched to the winter tires (studded tires), I was too lazy to move the armour from one tire to the other and just rode without it. After a week I got my first flat, with -3˚C on the way to work. It was not pleasant. I have a new touring bike since February 2022, and it has already 5.500km by now. I'm using Schwalbe G-One Speed with Tannus Armour and again, ZERO flats after 7 months and several thousands of km. These tires wouldn't work for you, since they are mostly on-road, but they weight half the weight of a Schwalbe Marathon Plus. Sometimes less. So in the end, I have a better protection, with even less weight. I can give you a feedback about how long this is going to last until I have my first flat. Considering how much I ride a year with my bikes, it shouldn't take so long to reach the end of the tire.
Thanks, good information… I used the marathon plus on my last bike and am switching them to my current bike. Never had a puncture with them on my cross country, with the Goodyear County I had one …. So going back to the marathon.
A useful insight. Thanks. I can concur with you regarding my experience with slime getting into the valves.. It has happened a few times when just pumping up the tyres and setting off, only to realize later that I have a slow leak from the valve. It also makes punctures messy to repair as the slime can ooze out. I use Marathon Plus on my Brompton and they have been great. Thanks also for explaining where the bits of wire comes from!
I've gotten punctures with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, even with tire liners, but I agree they are the best. I've ridden them down to the blue armor. Putting tubeless tire sealant in a tube works well, but it can't have patches on it because the sealant dissolves the glue eventually. One day I was forced to ride on a thorn infested road and probably had 50 holes, but the tubes were still holding air. Eventually they need replacement or more sealant, so I carry extra tubes and bottles of sealant.
Hey guys. Good information on this one. I agree the marathon plus are probably the best you can get for a tour. However if you can't find them and expereince a lot of punctures there is one more option you can try. I've heard this called "systeming" or " the system" its fairly common in some places of the world and will make a set of very cheep tires run punctureless. The idea is that once you run down a pare of tiers you buy a new set. Then you take your old set cut the bead and side walls off and shove them into the new tire before you put it on with the inertube. Your just turning your old tire into a masive thick tire liner. You ride like this untill your outer tire is run down. Then throw the old tire away and get a new one. Cutting your outer tire down and stuffing it inside the new one. This is admitedly more heavy then just getting very good touring tiers. But if your in a pinch and need to use cheaper tires this is a good option. You can litteraly run a set of tires untill they have thumb print sized holes in the outside.
Crossed the U.S. twice on Schwalbe Mondial 26"x 2"; no flats first trip, two ghost wire flats second trip. The Mondial tire is lighter, and more supple if you run them at 50psi. I agree with others that the Marathon Plus is hard and dead feeling. I've also used tubeless on the GDMBR and tubeless on desert off road tours with a hardtail mtn bike. Tubeless is the way to go for the feel, weight, and psi setting. Carry a tube in case you get in a jam with tubeless tires on the side of a road, same as regular long road tours. Happy trails!
Thanks for the insights! We’re actually going to compare Mondials and the new 2023 Plus Tour for the next few thousand kilometers so that should be interesting. 😊
26” is a pain to find tires for unless your bike takes wide tires. My Cannondale Quick 2 came with 26 x 1/3. Can go to 26 x 1/2 or maybe 3/4. Looking for something good for touring, mostly paved but some crushed lime. Possibly some dirt single track.
@@ninacnmmsncom Agree on 26" wheels, mine was a Surly LHT so it took Schwalbe 2 inch Marathon Mondials. Sold it after my long tours, the LHT is too stiff, overbuilt for lighter U.S. touring. If you are looking for touring bike and are under 5'6" or 5'7" look at 650b Surly bikes. If you're touring light in U.S. look at Surly Midnight Special, comes w 650b, or you can build it with 700c from frame up. Also, the Surly Straggler is basically a disc version of the old Surly Cross Check which was great for lighter touring, ie 25-30 pounds of gear. I crossed US three times with about 22-25 pounds of clothes, camping gear, tools, all in. Off road touring, bikepacking, I shoot for 18 pounds total eg on GDMBR. Happy trails!
@@Mike-vd2qt I’m 4’9”! I have a Cannondale Quick 2 xs which I sent to my daughter in Chicago. It doesn’t fit her so I’m going to bike the ACA Northern Tier route to the Empire State Trail and back to NYC.
@@ninacnmmsncom The NT route, I did in 2016 from Anacortes, WA to the MS River, then veered southeast from the river near Moline and picked up the Hennepin Trail toward Chicago. About half way on that I turned south to OH for a family reunion. Then picked up different trails across OH to Pitt, PA to the GAP and C&O into DC. It's a great route. The first days over Rainy and Washington Pass are beautiful. If you decide to ride Logan Pass, Going to the Sun Rd, I recommend starting at 3 or 4am before tourists are awake. It was a "best ride ever" for me, but I rode it illegally a day before it opened so no traffic. The Cannondale Quick 2 would work, if you can get lower gears for the drivetrain. You could install a Jones-H handlebar for comfort and hand positions. The gears on the crankset are high, but if you change the rings on the crankset to 46/30 and see if the rear cassette can be 11-42, might have to change the rear derailleur. Any mtn bike from the 1980-90's with 26" wheels is almost the same geometry as a Long Haul Trucker. You could find a $100 mtn bike and have it overhauled, and the Jones H bar would make it perfect for touring. The NT is much more scenic than the Southern Tier route, have a great tour! Happy trails.
I had good luck with the Slime tubes. I combine Marathon Schwalbe Plus tires with Slime inner tubes, and I had very few punctures in 35,000 kilometers of touring.
I just bought some Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres for my giant Talon. The next few years will be worth it to see if I keep with the brand, or go back to cheap tyres. I live in a thorny area of Lincolnshire, and am always fixing punctures.
I mainly have good experience with Schwalbe. The Big Apple and Marathon Racer I had for many years. Their puncture guard is by far not as strong as the Marathon Plus but I rarely had a flat tire. The Racer I have now is 6 years old and covered with little cuts from tiny sharp stones from dirt roads. Regularly I pod them out with a needle but they never make it through the tire.
Just pulled one of my old clunkers off the wall to check tire pressure and noted that the tubes have slime in them due to the seepage at the valve stems. And after topping off the tires there seemed to be some seeping from one of the valve stems. Not something I would have expected. Good thing I bought a pack of spare valves from the auto parts store yesterday. Sounds a lot like your experiences.
I have a collection of folding bikes with 20 inch (406) wheels. I have Schwalbe Marathon Plus on 2 of them. My touring bike has 26 inch 6:20 wheels. Getting the right size 26 was a headache. Finally done. I know it’s a Schwalbe, Marathon touring I think.
My experience with the Marathon Plus GT 365 flavour has been good so far, ca. 1000km of English commute through 50% road and bike lane (feat. broken glass bottles), 50% canal path (guest star: thorns). I've noticed a couple of times glass shards lodged in the outer casing, didn't go through the inner protection. Great. OTOH, I did get one slow puncture from a thorn that went in slanted, just around the protection. I think it was because the tyre pressure was lower than usual and that had widened the contact patch. Still the best performance of any set I've ever had.
Update: ca. 2000km now, no new flats to report 😁. I bought a pair of Marathon Greenguards for an old bike I have at home, then decided to try them on my commuter to test them. Lasted about two weeks before a sharp piece of gravel, like 8mm long, went straight through the middle of the tread. End of the Greenguard experiment. Went back to the GT 365, and still going strong since then, not much wear to see yet.
My SMP's (road version) lasted me over 20.000 K before my first flat. Love'm. They're not the fastest and mine really weren't cut out for more aggressive gravel riding (especially trying to make a turn at the bottom of a hill) but I still use them on my commute bike.
I DO NOT have serious long distance bicycle riding experience. However, I know in the auto world, once a tire gets to a certain age, they need to be replaced, even if their treads are okay because the rubber ages. Bicycle tires are much smaller and thinner. I wouldn't be surprised to find they age more quickly.
Thank you for your review videos! I really appreciate being able to learn from others experience, and save the heartache and frustration. If you all ever find yourself in the Tampa area, you are welcome to stay with us. I look forward to all your videos, so keep up the good work. I am shocked you only have
I toured with the Mondials DD folding tyres. Did over 8000 miles before they were worn-out. Amazingly never had a puncture! That included 4 months in SE Asia. Granted I didn't have camping gear weight. However, I found that these tyres are not only lighter than many others but they also roll really well. Definitely my choice of touring tyre 👍
Agreed, Marathon Plus are the go to for touring. I too have found that puncture resistance occurs before the tread is worn out. I use tubeless for long rides (audaxes) but not for touring because when things go wrong with tubeless you can end up stranded. Tubolito are good for road bike activities because they are light, puncture-resistant and suit narrow tyres. btw, I’d have chucked that worn tyre that you transferred from back to front because you need all the tread you can get on the front, tread is less important at the back and that tyre is going to be puncture-prone.
We would have definitely replaced the tires if we would have been able to get good alternatives where we were at the time. But after having bad experiences with cheap tires sometimes failing catastrophically (ripping open), we felt better sticking with worn out high-quality tires than risking a larger failure. As it was clear that we would still have to do a couple more thousand kms on the tires, we switched front and back as to avoid the back wearing out even faster to the point where it may also fail completely.
I cut up strips from old tyres and use them to line the inside of the latest tyres. It's a very effective way of reducing punctures, and costs nothing. It doesn't even have to be a special tyre with puncture protection. Another tip is to use slick tyres - they have a lot of rubber in the centre (at least when new), enough to stop almost all punctures. Not recommended in wet and wintry weather of course.
I agree these tires are more vulnerable to flats as the tread wears down. Seems to provide more exposure on the sidewalls. Even so, in dry weather I tend to run the same tires until the inner protection layer starts to show through. They are still great tires right to the end. I want tread for rain and it does not rain most the year in California and Arizona.
7000km on one set without a puncture is pretty good for me. There was still a few thousand km left in the threads but because of my carelessness the side wall was damaged
I have the Schwalbe Super Moto-X on my touring bike (Santos Travelmaster 3+). Since 2019, I know have cycled 21369 km. Not a single flat! The front tire is still the original and still no replacement needed soon. The back tire was replaced after about 12700 km. It was not yet necessary, but I wanted to play safe for my trip to Northcape which I finished this year (8644 km). The tire still looks very good and no replacement needed soon. I’m very very happy with this tire!
Hello, I've not done any touring but I've used some of those puncture strips that go between the tyre and tube and after a short time the strips got lots of split's in it and they pinched my tubes and they were covered in split's and punctured my tubes. Tim from England
I have used slime in my tyres and fortunately didn’t have that problem when you buy the slime in the bottle always keep the plastic valve tool to clean out the valve if necessary. I only used for commuting and it worked well over 3 years when I changed the tyres there were many holes sealed by the slime however occasionally I would have to pump up the tyre when a thorn or glass etc caused the hole it was always easier than repairing or changing the tube (I recommend always carry a spare tube and repair kit) and I was never late for work, however for touring I can see how these tyres would be better.
i tried slime tubes when i cycled 20 miles a day over the hills to work in mid wales. they worked well in the summer but came unstuck one very frosty morning. the slime shot out of the thorn hole and then set outside the tyre (too cold) a luminous green mess( see dr who and the green death, about 1974, also set in wales).
I did the Land's End to John O]Groats and then Pacific Coastal Highway tours recently on a tubeless setup. It worked fine but I did take two spare valves and a spare inner tube just in case. I covered around 2,500 km and think I'd still go tubeless again on a longer ride. JP
Hi i have the marathon plus tour on my surly long haul trucker i carry rather to much weight, and my tuppence worth is ,you do get long lasting tyres ,and i haven't had a puncture in years since fitted, the handling is ok but banking angle is limit as is the distance you will free wheel.
The puncture strip is totally vulnerable when a spike is driven into the side. Lots of punctures. Luckily I always get home to take them out, never en route. The front one has already split in the side, they are not very good tyres, at least not for my country. 6 months
I have used sealant inside a regular tube for years and I can say by experience that it really works for thorns and thin punctures. As I pull the thorn out I can see the sealant coming out right through the tube and tire. I just keep riding, pump up a bit of air and no problem. Its when I eventually change tires that I see up to half a dozen sealed holes. Finally, glued patches still work normally in these tube, if needed.
@@ChristopherClaudioSkierka Yes, inside a regular tube with schrader valve. For years I used the Hutchinson Protect Air Max sealant but now I use a cheaper brand from europe's general sports store Decathlon. It says it is for tubeless tires. I put 50ml or about 50g in each tire and if at any time I need to remove all the air from the tires, by uncrewing the valve, I put in another 20ml because I am afraid the contact with renewed air might dry some of the sealant. Once, as I was changing my worned out tires I found the inner tube had 6 sealed up holes. As I reached for a replacement tube I realised that I had bought the wrong size so I just put the same old one inside the new tire and it lasted a few 1000 kms more.
I had the same problem with my slime tube. It plugged the presta valve. I just received the Marathon plus tour in the mail and it will be replacing some serioulsy bad maxxis tires. They don't have a massive amount of miles like yours but they were installed in 1997. I guess I got my use out of them. I hope the "tour" are as bad as the regular Marathon Plus. I also received two Schwalbe tubes, which will replace one slime tube. 8 years ago I replaced my tires for the first time on my SR PRO AM, '81 vintage so you'd think I'm easy on tires but I get 22 months on average on my car. lol
I haven’t tried it but it may be worth considering a TPU inner tube (eg Tubolito) to give extra puncture resistance for tyres that still have enough tread but whose SmartGuard belt is failing. Admittedly, if the tube does puncture, you need the special kit to fix it.
@@louisaandtobi The special repair kit doesn't take up much space but it's yet another item to remember/lose. Little chance of buying a replacement when on tour. The tubes are too expensive to consider throwing away just because of a puncture!
Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour are very good, I definitely agree with you. Marathon Plus (the normal ones) wear out too fast. After 2'000 to 3'000 k the profiles can be gone and than flats are more and more coming. Schwalbe, please do the normal Marathon Plus better! For example 15 to 20 years ago the normal Marathon (not the "Plus") was doing 10'000 k easily. Very good experiences I have made with Continental Contact Travel Plus, they have been running for over 20'000 k without any flats in the daily use. The yellow puncture protection is viewable, grip is less, but they still running very good. For me the best tires. Tires are a lot about experiences and trust. In my opinion the Continental quality is better than the Schwalbe.
Thanks for the insight. Yea, many people have also told us about the Continental Contact Travel Plus, maybe something we'll have to look into at some point. And you're absolutely right, its a lot about trust and using what you already know.
Thanks, good information, I bought the Vittoria Adventure touring tire a few years ago, so far so good, about 5000 km on it, 75% unloaded and mostly on paved roads, the tire is used, but still ok for a year or two around town. I read a good review about the Almotion tire, and I'm a big fan of low rolling resistance.
You can unclog the valve by dipping in water or running water over it. Even squirting water from a spray bottle. I unclogged a couple doing this. My issue is when it springs a leak next to the valve where it seems like nobody knows how to repair. It's more frustrating when the tube is new and that's the only problem. I'm wondering if there's something to put inside the stem hole of the rim to help avoid that. The rim tape tends to have an elongated stem hole when installed.
Did ever hear about anti clothing valves? I had the problem with my tubeless system, too, and since I change to those valves, I never ever had a clogged valve again. They are very pricey but worth it. There is another system, where you can twist of the part of the valve where the valve core sit and access the part below the valve core to remove clogged sealant. That one is half the price of the anti clogging valves. Take a look, if your are curious. I did not mention any brands by choice, because I don't wanna be advertising here 😉 if you are interested, you welcome to ask
I wonder if you have ever tried Zefal tyre liners. Perhaps they are similar to Tannus but I do not think they weigh as much. I've been really happy with them. I think there is another brand called Panaracer also (but I have never tried those).
You really probably need to use the Marathon Mondial Evo (the folding version) - they are Schwalbe's premium touring tyre, used by many on world tours, with a wear life of 15,000km+ and with a high puncture-resistance. I also have been using the old Marathon XR* wire-bead version for the past 18 months with ZERO punctures and I have done a good 3-4,000 km in that time, including two longer tours with plenty of gravel riding, with one long section of trail that is renowned for thorns. * No longer made. These had sat hidden in a box under the house for about 10 years.
Tobi briefly ran Mondials for the first 5000 Km of the trip, but we weren’t too happy with the puncture protection. But maybe we’ll try them again at some point.
In 2011 going down the West Coast I met a tourist from Germany who told me he had some prototype Schwalbe tires; they were experimenting with microscopic glass beads in the rubber compound to make them more flatproof. Did anything come of that?
I had Scwalbe Marathon Plus tires on my old ebike and went 5k miles with zero punctures. My new bike had Specialized Pathfinder pros and I got two flats within the first 6 months. I bought Tannus Armor inserts, but was not impressed - I have had 4 flats in the past 6 months, so I purchased a set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus for this bike. I was curious about the Tannus airless tires. A local bike shop carried them and said that they were fine for about a mile, but after that they just felt "wrong". I wish I could try a bike with a set of those for a longer ride to see for myself. I couldn't, and I really didn't want to spend the money
I use tannus armour however I do not see the sort of long distances you go through. I have used both the solid tyres and the tannus aromour . I love the solid tyres for commuting. It is a great product however for long tours the spokes will be quite punished. So for long touring I would not advise. For the sort of riding you do I think tannus armour with the schwalbe marathon plus tyres you cannot go wrong. If the outer layer of the tyre is the problem then with the armour there is additional protection. I advise you strongly to use it just add that and you will see how good of a product it is. Thanks for this insight on the long tours. I will be interested in that in the future so will take the information in consideration.
Thanks for the insight and for sharing your experiences! We will probably consider trying the solid tires and armor once we are back from this journey and have better access to their products. Currently, in South America, it would be impossible to get them so we would have to get them sent to us from abroad, which takes months. We can definitely imagine the solid tires being good for commuting.
I'm preparing for a never-ending around-the-world tour beginning next spring (after many delays). I ride a slightly modified Specialized Roll 2.0 with Specialized Nimbus Sport Touring tires. I ride about 200 miles a week, for the last 8 months; ALL on roadways/bike paths, which is what my routes are (the less dirt the better) and I have the Tannus Armor. The ride is 'fast' (as fast as 2.3's can be) as the centerline is basically a 'slick,' with grooves for rain/moisture deflection and they are shock-absorbing cushions of pleasure to ride on. Along with a 'shock tube' seat stem, it takes a very harsh surface/hole to ruin the ride I get. Most of my training route takes me along a 6-lane highway (I ride on the large 'break down' lane) and I've been able to dodge most obstacles (with or without a load on) but of course have hit glass shards, wood shards, rocks etc, mostly when climbing, where you have less 'opportunity' to dodge and have never had a puncture. Of course, I'm not doing off-road riding, so I have less to worry about. I plan on trading out for a new set of the Nimbus Sport tires before departing on my tour, so I have fresh 'rubber' to ride on. Great video! Stay safe!
@@louisaandtobi was going to be GA to CA mostly asphalt, then CA to NYC stopping to hit 50th RAGBRAI, but difficulty securing home front, so will wait for March, then go to NV and on to IA. Going to detour any time something g piques interest.
I can confirm slime tubes are near useless , I had flat tyres and the slime just came out of the tube and I had to patch them . Personally I think touring I would go ordinary tubes carry some spares . You get a tubeless problem and it’s harder to fix if your in the middle of know where .
I use schwable tires on my touring mountain bike with slime ,but not slime tubes ,I got normal tubes with replacement values and got bottle slime ,you can make your own flat-proof tires for half the price 7000km on and off road no flats
I used Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour tires (42-622) for about 3.000 km. No punctures so far but lousy handling. The tires are very sensitive to longitudinal ridges, like tiles and road marks. Even curvs feel insecure. Therefore I'm going to give up on these tires. What is your experience on these matters?
We haven't really had this problem. But of course this handling phenomenon also depends a lot on the tire pressure you're running / contact area of the tire due to the weight.
I hate slim tubes after waking up one day to find my bike in a puddle of slim that had leaked out of a puncture hole! horrible mess. Marathon plus is my preferred tire, very durable and puncture resistant due to the thickness of the rubber, downside is the increased weight and a little harder to take on and off (Once on they don't need to come off too often)
I tried the Tannus airless tires and I recommend everyone to stay away from it. In the corners, it feels like it's flat and wanting to roll off the rims (it doesn't actually roll off, but it makes for an awful cornering experience). While accelerating and just going straight, it has A LOT of drag (rolling resistance + maybe weight? Not sure). So in summary, it feels like you are riding a partially deflated tire. And I didn't even use it to carry any loads, just a fixed gear bike + a courier bag + me. Now you might think okay, that's not too good, but at least there are no flats and yes that's true but add this: When going over bumps on the road it feels very rough. Like an overinflated tire. Essentially, it's a useless tire from all aspects except the flats. I ended up going on the biggest hill in the area and just skid down from the top until it had a spot where the rubber was essentially gone and rolling felt as if the wheel was square.. :D (Just for fun, as it was really expensive, but I wanted it off my bike and you can't just take it off and resell it as you have to cut it off....)
Have you tried the Marathon Greenguard? Got good results at bicyclerollingresistance review, also much better rolling performance while still good protection.
So maybe just change the new tire, same one, every 5K, or 5K+ until the first flat，that way seems to be most economical considering saving time for more flats.
@@louisaandtobi I used Mr. Tuffy liners for 4 years with a fixed gear bike. No bags most of the time. It just doesn't work. After the tire wears out and the rubber starts to get thin, they don't protect you at all. I had many, many, many punctures on my tires even with them. Not worth it.
I would think it might be worth going tubeless and dealing with the mess because of lighter wheel weight. If anyone can benefit if less rotating mass its both of you.
Getting 6k out of a tire sounds pretty nice to me. As for slime clogging up the valve - never heard of it, can't even imagine how would that happen, seems like extreme bad luck (or maybe the tube was overfilled?) I really like my tubeless setup, but I don't bike in such remote areas, so I can see your point.
Actually we've heard from several people that the valves on the official "Slime Tubes" sometimes clog up. Maybe by factory default they are overfilled, don't know. We think ours clogged up because we let the air out for a flight, which flung too much slime into the valves. Unlike with tubeless where you can just replace the valve, here the whole tube is then wasted.
Hi Tobi. I'm interested in your kick stand. Did you engineer this yourself or buy it somewhere? We can't fit a kick stand on our bikes but this might work
Since I went tubeless any puncture I got self healed so quickly that it wasn't even necessary to pump more air afterwards. After 5 years with tubeless I decided to leave spare tubes at home. But for long trips I would still carry one in the remote case the tire unseats from the rim (it never happened though). I also changed to Schrader valves. They do not clog, are much more robust, all have removable core and you don't need any special key to remove it. Last but not least they are compatible with auto compressor down the road. I use Presta only on road bike where the rim is so narrow that a Schrader won't fit.
@@louisaandtobi Did you know that in most occidental countries horses are still part of the traffic!..... Bicycles are no exception, but it's a personal preference!
@@khalidbel2950 Yea, we know 😉 But often it’s not worth risking it with aggressive drivers and trucks! And it’s often a much more relaxing ride when you have a whole shoulder to yourself.. 😊
What you do to prevent the sealant in a tubeless system from clogging the presta valve is ditch the standard obsolete presta valve and get the Philmore Reserve valve-stems. 3x the air input, easy to put new sealant in, sealant Cannot clog the valve, and is super easy to micro-adjust your air pressure. [Do Not lose your valve-caps and get a spare pair just in case...] Also, speaking from lots of experience living in Goat-head territory and being a mountain-biker, tubeless is the Only way to go for so many reasons(!). I've had very few flats and as long as you carry (for touring/overlanding) a small container of sealant, you're golden. Sealant generally needs to be renewed every 3 months since it either dries up or loses it's coagulative qualities after a while. You still carry a spare tube or two plus a tire patch-kit; they have Ultra-light and compact tubes (all the way up to MTB sizes) too that take up very little space in one's packs. (Just have a rag and bag for for cleaning the inside of the tire when needed) Also, i run a radically different set-up than the traditionalist touring crowd does. I have a 2018 Surly Karate Monkey running SRAM Code R 4 piston hydraulic brakes, Vittoria 27.5+ tires (2.8 front and 2.6 rear) and a 1 x 10 drivetrain. I'll lose a certain amount of top-end speed due to my tires and gearing but, it's not an issue for my needs/purposes. Average speed loaded is around 10 mph give or take so, on tarmac or faster hard- pack/gravel roads, I'd be keeping pace with a traditional touring rig (uphill) in any case. I'd just have more stable traction on the crunchier washboard/double-track sections, be a shade faster on any downhill double-tracks, and own the single-tracks up or downhill. Lastly, Why the more traditionalist-tilted tourers don't embrace disc brakes mystifies me. They've been on motorcycles forever and have been proven absolutely reliable. Your bike has better control and carrying that much extra weight really necessitates more powerful brakes. You run steel-braided lines and at regular service intervals, replace your brake fluid, brake pads, and bleed the lines. You get powerful one-finger braking, less hand-fatigue, more precise braking input/control, and if you Do need to lock the brakes up (carefully!), you can avoid or avert the worst parts of a Very ugly crash scenario.
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Changing out my marathon plus tours to Schwalbe Almotion 622-50 was the best decision I ever made in terms of my touring bike. The Almotion tyres transformed the ride comfort, not until you change will you realise how dead and harsh the plus tyres are. I got less punctures in the Almotions, they are 200g lighter each, but most their most noticeable strength is they are so fast, having an extremely low rolling resistance. Not that you need speed on a long tour; however, you will notice a huge reduction in the effort required to turn these tyres, which are still classed as a very durable heavy duty tyre. Fully loaded they are also good for 10000kms and have a tread pattern that is also grippy off-road. Order yourself a pair, you won’t be disappointed. Thanks for putting out your awesome videos and good luck with the rest of your trip.
Thanks a lot for your feedback and for the great tip! We’ll definitely give them a try in the future! 😊
@@louisaandtobi i have them to and TheSimonibb is right!!
Good tip, thanks. Light tires make a big difference, easier acceleration and breaking and after a long ride you feel the difference. These tires come in at 2.15" which is widely enough for comfort.
There are 2 versions of the Allmotion, tubeless and with tube. Which one did you use?
I'm looking for a comfortable, low resistance rolling but really good puncture protection tire...
@@Mat-Thias mine were the older tube tyres. Haven’t tried the tubeless ones yet. But the older ones I found to be super fast and super durable and puncture resistant
I have been using the marathon plus tires for commuting over 20,000 miles with just one flat. Even that one was a rear tire with over 5,000 miles that I should have replaced prior to the flat
Got the mountain bike version on my bike. No punctures in a year and a half so far. Probably will end up having to replace the tire before I ever get a puncture
We've been around Europe several times in the last 18 years and always used the Marathon Plus. We've had about half a dozen flats in that time, but always carry two spare tubes. Replace the tube, patch the flat and continue riding. This way it gives the glue time to set properly.
That's one puncture every 3 years!
Mine puncture a lot, then again I am riding in the city with broken glass everywhere!
Want to buy a super new technology inner tube that lowers your rolling resistance like I did. Well don't get suckered into buying the distinctive looking orange Turbolito inner tubes like I did. They cost 8 times more than the standard black inner tubes, they DO NOT lower rolling resistance at all in my tests and after 13 months of ownership both tubes mysteriously split in several places.
Loving your vids guys, keep cycling and keep smiling.
Old School is simple. Simple is good on the road. I always try to go with the appropriated technology not the newest, great idea. Some of my equipment is 50 years old. Some is brand new. I'm sticking with inner tubes. They are simple to repair on the road. There has been a great leap in the past 50 years in tires. Two months ago, I discovered Schwalbe and their ability to run at different tire pressure depending on riding surface and the comfort of the ride.
What an amazing video! Getting an honest, warts and all evaluation is so valuable. Thank-you.
I use the Marathon Plus Tour for commuting, daily Tours and longer bike-packing tours. At the moment 8500km and not even one flat. Yes they are heaviy and expensive, but worth the money!
We agree! 😊
Great to hear that. With TOUR is the only difference thread pattern?
@@bisiklettin yea, exactly! 😊
@@louisaandtobi 🙏👍
I've worn out two sets of marathon plus 26x1.75 tyres heavy loaded touring on road and off road tracks. Probably around 10,000 miles on each set. The back tyres were completely bald but even though they had a lot of small cuts etc I've never had any flats. Great video.
I use sealant inside tubes and it works quite well. Not 100% puncture proof but quite good for those little wires from truck tires. I always carry some extra valves and replace when it gets clogged.
That sounds like the best setup I can think of
Yes I find that a carrying a valve core remover helps in a few situations such as leaking valves and packing down punctured tubes for repair at a later time (eg when not raining).
Have you tried squirting water in there? It works for Slime clogged valves. I suspect for dirt as as well.
@@uncrunch398 Unfortunately squirting water does not unclog valves with latex based sealants.
@@SommelierDeSubida Makes sense.
Thank you. I use a liner and tannis with a smaller tube ... plus slime.
Ive had 10 flats this year. 2 since adding the above defense's.
Those darn radial wires !! Going to try these tires.
This is a thorough and well thought commentary. I use the plain Marathon which has a smoother tread and results in less fender overspray. If I'm riding lots in winter I will mount Marathon Plus for the extra protection against dealing with flats in wet/cold weather. I find the Marathons to be extremely durable. The smooth tread in the center means more rubber to share the wear load. I can go over 10,000km and the rear tire is only half worn (but quite pitted from glass and other debris). Weight doesn't matter when you're fully loaded or, like me, towing a trailer.
I just order the marathon plus and it'll arrive on thursday. I can't wait! I totally agree with all of your assessments. for sure. Great video and be safe out there. And, yes, US roads are dirrrrrrty!
I find the Marathon Supreme is a good combination of puncture resistance and suppleness. I keep thinking about trying the Plus, but then I remind myself of how much I dislike riding on "dead" tires. On a tour, taking time out for a puncture isn't that big of a deal. But being late to work from having to fix a puncture in a cold rain is a different story. If I had to commute in awful flat-monster conditions I'd definitely consider the Plus.
I find the Marathon Mondial ticks the box for me. Durable, tough wear, puncture resistant and they have an excellent tread for both gravel tracks and sealed roads. Far lighter than the 'Plus" tyre versions.
Thanks for your thoughtful review.
I rode 4,300 miles across the US on Marathon Plus tires. Zero flats. The next year I rode over 3,000 miles from Indiana to SF on another set of Marathon Plus tires. Zero flats, even though I rode over 1,000 miles in desert terrain with thorns. A few years later I rode on a third pair, I rode from St Louis to Portland OR on another pair of Marathon Plus tires. I got 1 flat in Oregon when a big chunk of tire debris became lodged between my fender and tire. All of these tires saw considerable use after the tours. Five of the six were flat free. They basically last twice as long as nearly any other tire I have used.
As for ride quality, if you are not touring, you should ride something lighter. The Marathon and lower-grade Mondial both ride much better with decent flat protection.
I have the Tannus Armour in both my road and my touring bike. On August of this year, I did the London-Edinburgh-London with the road bike and didn't even bother to bring a spare tube or tools for changing the tube. It just doesn't get flat.
I started using this with an old touring bike and rode about 1 full year with it with absolutely zero flats. Considering that I was riding to work and back almost every day (72km per day), sometimes with glass from broken bottles or debris on the bike paths, this convinced me. When I switched to the winter tires (studded tires), I was too lazy to move the armour from one tire to the other and just rode without it. After a week I got my first flat, with -3˚C on the way to work. It was not pleasant.
I have a new touring bike since February 2022, and it has already 5.500km by now. I'm using Schwalbe G-One Speed with Tannus Armour and again, ZERO flats after 7 months and several thousands of km. These tires wouldn't work for you, since they are mostly on-road, but they weight half the weight of a Schwalbe Marathon Plus. Sometimes less. So in the end, I have a better protection, with even less weight.
I can give you a feedback about how long this is going to last until I have my first flat. Considering how much I ride a year with my bikes, it shouldn't take so long to reach the end of the tire.
Thanks for all your insights, maybe we’ll try the Armour when we’re back then! 😊
Thanks, good information… I used the marathon plus on my last bike and am switching them to my current bike. Never had a puncture with them on my cross country, with the Goodyear County I had one …. So going back to the marathon.
A useful insight. Thanks.
I can concur with you regarding my experience with slime getting into the valves.. It has happened a few times when just pumping up the tyres and setting off, only to realize later that I have a slow leak from the valve. It also makes punctures messy to repair as the slime can ooze out.
I use Marathon Plus on my Brompton and they have been great.
Thanks also for explaining where the bits of wire comes from!
I've gotten punctures with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, even with tire liners, but I agree they are the best. I've ridden them down to the blue armor.
Putting tubeless tire sealant in a tube works well, but it can't have patches on it because the sealant dissolves the glue eventually.
One day I was forced to ride on a thorn infested road and probably had 50 holes, but the tubes were still holding air.
Eventually they need replacement or more sealant, so I carry extra tubes and bottles of sealant.
Hey guys. Good information on this one. I agree the marathon plus are probably the best you can get for a tour. However if you can't find them and expereince a lot of punctures there is one more option you can try. I've heard this called "systeming" or " the system" its fairly common in some places of the world and will make a set of very cheep tires run punctureless. The idea is that once you run down a pare of tiers you buy a new set. Then you take your old set cut the bead and side walls off and shove them into the new tire before you put it on with the inertube. Your just turning your old tire into a masive thick tire liner. You ride like this untill your outer tire is run down. Then throw the old tire away and get a new one. Cutting your outer tire down and stuffing it inside the new one. This is admitedly more heavy then just getting very good touring tiers. But if your in a pinch and need to use cheaper tires this is a good option. You can litteraly run a set of tires untill they have thumb print sized holes in the outside.
Very interesting idea, thanks :)
This sounds plain crazy. I like it.
Rode my slime tubes for about 5 mins, I could feel the bike rocking back and forth 😮
Crossed the U.S. twice on Schwalbe Mondial 26"x 2"; no flats first trip, two ghost wire flats second trip. The Mondial tire is lighter, and more supple if you run them at 50psi. I agree with others that the Marathon Plus is hard and dead feeling. I've also used tubeless on the GDMBR and tubeless on desert off road tours with a hardtail mtn bike. Tubeless is the way to go for the feel, weight, and psi setting. Carry a tube in case you get in a jam with tubeless tires on the side of a road, same as regular long road tours. Happy trails!
Thanks for the insights! We’re actually going to compare Mondials and the new 2023 Plus Tour for the next few thousand kilometers so that should be interesting. 😊
26” is a pain to find tires for unless your bike takes wide tires. My Cannondale Quick 2 came with 26 x 1/3. Can go to 26 x 1/2 or maybe 3/4. Looking for something good for touring, mostly paved but some crushed lime. Possibly some dirt single track.
@@ninacnmmsncom Agree on 26" wheels, mine was a Surly LHT so it took Schwalbe 2 inch Marathon Mondials. Sold it after my long tours, the LHT is too stiff, overbuilt for lighter U.S. touring. If you are looking for touring bike and are under 5'6" or 5'7" look at 650b Surly bikes. If you're touring light in U.S. look at Surly Midnight Special, comes w 650b, or you can build it with 700c from frame up. Also, the Surly Straggler is basically a disc version of the old Surly Cross Check which was great for lighter touring, ie 25-30 pounds of gear. I crossed US three times with about 22-25 pounds of clothes, camping gear, tools, all in. Off road touring, bikepacking, I shoot for 18 pounds total eg on GDMBR. Happy trails!
@@Mike-vd2qt I’m 4’9”! I have a Cannondale Quick 2 xs which I sent to my daughter in Chicago. It doesn’t fit her so I’m going to bike the ACA Northern Tier route to the Empire State Trail and back to NYC.
@@ninacnmmsncom The NT route, I did in 2016 from Anacortes, WA to the MS River, then veered southeast from the river near Moline and picked up the Hennepin Trail toward Chicago. About half way on that I turned south to OH for a family reunion. Then picked up different trails across OH to Pitt, PA to the GAP and C&O into DC. It's a great route. The first days over Rainy and Washington Pass are beautiful. If you decide to ride Logan Pass, Going to the Sun Rd, I recommend starting at 3 or 4am before tourists are awake. It was a "best ride ever" for me, but I rode it illegally a day before it opened so no traffic. The Cannondale Quick 2 would work, if you can get lower gears for the drivetrain. You could install a Jones-H handlebar for comfort and hand positions. The gears on the crankset are high, but if you change the rings on the crankset to 46/30 and see if the rear cassette can be 11-42, might have to change the rear derailleur. Any mtn bike from the 1980-90's with 26" wheels is almost the same geometry as a Long Haul Trucker. You could find a $100 mtn bike and have it overhauled, and the Jones H bar would make it perfect for touring. The NT is much more scenic than the Southern Tier route, have a great tour! Happy trails.
The blue or yellow plastic strip they use to wrap boxes/crates, put that in any tyre and you got excellent puncture protection. 🤟🤠⚡👍🇬🇧
Nice tip! 😅
I had good luck with the Slime tubes. I combine Marathon Schwalbe Plus tires with Slime inner tubes, and I had very few punctures in 35,000 kilometers of touring.
Thanks for the insight! 😊
Same setup on my mountain bike.
I just bought some Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres for my giant Talon. The next few years will be worth it to see if I keep with the brand, or go back to cheap tyres. I live in a thorny area of Lincolnshire, and am always fixing punctures.
I mainly have good experience with Schwalbe. The Big Apple and Marathon Racer I had for many years. Their puncture guard is by far not as strong as the Marathon Plus but I rarely had a flat tire. The Racer I have now is 6 years old and covered with little cuts from tiny sharp stones from dirt roads. Regularly I pod them out with a needle but they never make it through the tire.
Just pulled one of my old clunkers off the wall to check tire pressure and noted that the tubes have slime in them due to the seepage at the valve stems. And after topping off the tires there seemed to be some seeping from one of the valve stems. Not something I would have expected. Good thing I bought a pack of spare valves from the auto parts store yesterday. Sounds a lot like your experiences.
Yea that slime can get everywhere 😅
I have a collection of folding bikes with 20 inch (406) wheels. I have Schwalbe Marathon Plus on 2 of them. My touring bike has 26 inch 6:20 wheels. Getting the right size 26 was a headache. Finally done. I know it’s a Schwalbe, Marathon touring I think.
My experience with the Marathon Plus GT 365 flavour has been good so far, ca. 1000km of English commute through 50% road and bike lane (feat. broken glass bottles), 50% canal path (guest star: thorns).
I've noticed a couple of times glass shards lodged in the outer casing, didn't go through the inner protection. Great. OTOH, I did get one slow puncture from a thorn that went in slanted, just around the protection. I think it was because the tyre pressure was lower than usual and that had widened the contact patch. Still the best performance of any set I've ever had.
Update: ca. 2000km now, no new flats to report 😁. I bought a pair of Marathon Greenguards for an old bike I have at home, then decided to try them on my commuter to test them. Lasted about two weeks before a sharp piece of gravel, like 8mm long, went straight through the middle of the tread. End of the Greenguard experiment.
Went back to the GT 365, and still going strong since then, not much wear to see yet.
Great video Sir! Thank you!
My m. plus tour in the rear and m. mondial evo in front, in 7 years and 25000 km i had ZERO flat and still long way to go.... i love them
Nice, what an achievement!
My SMP's (road version) lasted me over 20.000 K before my first flat. Love'm. They're not the fastest and mine really weren't cut out for more aggressive gravel riding (especially trying to make a turn at the bottom of a hill) but I still use them on my commute bike.
I DO NOT have serious long distance bicycle riding experience. However, I know in the auto world, once a tire gets to a certain age, they need to be replaced, even if their treads are okay because the rubber ages. Bicycle tires are much smaller and thinner. I wouldn't be surprised to find they age more quickly.
Depending on the environmental conditions the rubber becomes brittle pretty quick, yea!
Thank you for your review videos! I really appreciate being able to learn from others experience, and save the heartache and frustration. If you all ever find yourself in the Tampa area, you are welcome to stay with us. I look forward to all your videos, so keep up the good work. I am shocked you only have
Thank you very much, also for the invitation! 😊 Yea, we are still growing slowly, but getting there 😅
I toured with the Mondials DD folding tyres. Did over 8000 miles before they were worn-out. Amazingly never had a puncture! That included 4 months in SE Asia. Granted I didn't have camping gear weight. However, I found that these tyres are not only lighter than many others but they also roll really well. Definitely my choice of touring tyre 👍
P.S. pay the extra and buy the folding variety instead of the cheaper and more vulnerable, wired type.
Agreed, Marathon Plus are the go to for touring. I too have found that puncture resistance occurs before the tread is worn out. I use tubeless for long rides (audaxes) but not for touring because when things go wrong with tubeless you can end up stranded. Tubolito are good for road bike activities because they are light, puncture-resistant and suit narrow tyres. btw, I’d have chucked that worn tyre that you transferred from back to front because you need all the tread you can get on the front, tread is less important at the back and that tyre is going to be puncture-prone.
We would have definitely replaced the tires if we would have been able to get good alternatives where we were at the time. But after having bad experiences with cheap tires sometimes failing catastrophically (ripping open), we felt better sticking with worn out high-quality tires than risking a larger failure. As it was clear that we would still have to do a couple more thousand kms on the tires, we switched front and back as to avoid the back wearing out even faster to the point where it may also fail completely.
Nice review, thanks. The Marathon plus is good choices.
I cut up strips from old tyres and use them to line the inside of the latest tyres. It's a very effective way of reducing punctures, and costs nothing. It doesn't even have to be a special tyre with puncture protection. Another tip is to use slick tyres - they have a lot of rubber in the centre (at least when new), enough to stop almost all punctures. Not recommended in wet and wintry weather of course.
I agree these tires are more vulnerable to flats as the tread wears down. Seems to provide more exposure on the sidewalls. Even so, in dry weather I tend to run the same tires until the inner protection layer starts to show through. They are still great tires right to the end. I want tread for rain and it does not rain most the year in California and Arizona.
I use impact tourpact these are a budget tyre made by schwable, work extremely well even in puncture protection , and cheaper to replace .
I used FlatOut slime only for 500 miles. So fas, so good. No issues.
7000km on one set without a puncture is pretty good for me. There was still a few thousand km left in the threads but because of my carelessness the side wall was damaged
Great video. Thank you.
I have the Schwalbe Super Moto-X on my touring bike (Santos Travelmaster 3+).
Since 2019, I know have cycled 21369 km. Not a single flat!
The front tire is still the original and still no replacement needed soon.
The back tire was replaced after about 12700 km. It was not yet necessary, but I wanted to play safe for my trip to Northcape which I finished this year (8644 km). The tire still looks very good and no replacement needed soon.
I’m very very happy with this tire!
Wow, that’s impressive! And interesting as we’ve heard pretty much the exact opposite from someone else about the Moto-X.
Hello, I've not done any touring but I've used some of those puncture strips that go between the tyre and tube and after a short time the strips got lots of split's in it and they pinched my tubes and they were covered in split's and punctured my tubes. Tim from England
Thanks for the insight! :)
I used to get flats all the time but after installing these tires I almost never get flats anymore. Such a big difference.
How many kms do you tend to put on them before changing?
I have used slime in my tyres and fortunately didn’t have that problem when you buy the slime in the bottle always keep the plastic valve tool to clean out the valve if necessary. I only used for commuting and it worked well over 3 years when I changed the tyres there were many holes sealed by the slime however occasionally I would have to pump up the tyre when a thorn or glass etc caused the hole it was always easier than repairing or changing the tube (I recommend always carry a spare tube and repair kit) and I was never late for work, however for touring I can see how these tyres would be better.
i tried slime tubes when i cycled 20 miles a day over the hills to work in mid wales. they worked well in the summer but came unstuck one very frosty morning. the slime shot out of the thorn hole and then set outside the tyre (too cold) a luminous green mess( see dr who and the green death, about 1974, also set in wales).
I did the Land's End to John O]Groats and then Pacific Coastal Highway tours recently on a tubeless setup. It worked fine but I did take two spare valves and a spare inner tube just in case. I covered around 2,500 km and think I'd still go tubeless again on a longer ride. JP
Thanks for the insight 😊
@@louisaandtobi I have two bikes but I'm leaning towards the Tubeless mainly down to comfort & weight , I carry a spare tube just in case .
Hi i have the marathon plus tour on my surly long haul trucker i carry rather to much weight, and my tuppence worth is ,you do get long lasting tyres ,and i haven't had a puncture in years since fitted, the handling is ok but banking angle is limit as is the distance you will free wheel.
The puncture strip is totally vulnerable when a spike is driven into the side. Lots of punctures. Luckily I always get home to take them out, never en route. The front one has already split in the side, they are not very good tyres, at least not for my country. 6 months
Thanks for the info!
I have used sealant inside a regular tube for years and I can say by experience that it really works for thorns and thin punctures. As I pull the thorn out I can see the sealant coming out right through the tube and tire. I just keep riding, pump up a bit of air and no problem. Its when I eventually change tires that I see up to half a dozen sealed holes. Finally, glued patches still work normally in these tube, if needed.
Nice, thanks for your feedback!
I do the same 👍
Hi, you use a sealant within a inner tube? ( ie for non tubless tyres? Thanks in advance. ps which sealant do you use?
@@ChristopherClaudioSkierka Yes, inside a regular tube with schrader valve. For years I used the Hutchinson Protect Air Max sealant but now I use a cheaper brand from europe's general sports store Decathlon. It says it is for tubeless tires. I put 50ml or about 50g in each tire and if at any time I need to remove all the air from the tires, by uncrewing the valve, I put in another 20ml because I am afraid the contact with renewed air might dry some of the sealant. Once, as I was changing my worned out tires I found the inner tube had 6 sealed up holes. As I reached for a replacement tube I realised that I had bought the wrong size so I just put the same old one inside the new tire and it lasted a few 1000 kms more.
I had the same problem with my slime tube. It plugged the presta valve. I just received the Marathon plus tour in the mail and it will be replacing some serioulsy bad maxxis tires. They don't have a massive amount of miles like yours but they were installed in 1997. I guess I got my use out of them. I hope the "tour" are as bad as the regular Marathon Plus. I also received two Schwalbe tubes, which will replace one slime tube.
8 years ago I replaced my tires for the first time on my SR PRO AM, '81 vintage so you'd think I'm easy on tires but I get 22 months on average on my car. lol
I've had plenty of flats there good overall but they can get spiked just like any other tire
I haven’t tried it but it may be worth considering a TPU inner tube (eg Tubolito) to give extra puncture resistance for tyres that still have enough tread but whose SmartGuard belt is failing. Admittedly, if the tube does puncture, you need the special kit to fix it.
Maybe, we'll have to look into it, although the special kit sounds like a deal breaker when on tour.
@@louisaandtobi The special repair kit doesn't take up much space but it's yet another item to remember/lose. Little chance of buying a replacement when on tour. The tubes are too expensive to consider throwing away just because of a puncture!
Awesome job guys!! Loved the (review) video and the product! Keep it up!!
Thanks! 😊
Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour are very good, I definitely agree with you. Marathon Plus (the normal ones) wear out too fast. After 2'000 to 3'000 k the profiles can be gone and than flats are more and more coming. Schwalbe, please do the normal Marathon Plus better! For example 15 to 20 years ago the normal Marathon (not the "Plus") was doing 10'000 k easily.
Very good experiences I have made with Continental Contact Travel Plus, they have been running for over 20'000 k without any flats in the daily use. The yellow puncture protection is viewable, grip is less, but they still running very good. For me the best tires. Tires are a lot about experiences and trust. In my opinion the Continental quality is better than the Schwalbe.
Thanks for the insight. Yea, many people have also told us about the Continental Contact Travel Plus, maybe something we'll have to look into at some point. And you're absolutely right, its a lot about trust and using what you already know.
Thanks, good information, I bought the Vittoria Adventure touring tire a few years ago, so far so good, about 5000 km on it, 75% unloaded and mostly on paved roads, the tire is used, but still ok for a year or two around town. I read a good review about the Almotion tire, and I'm a big fan of low rolling resistance.
Thanks for your feedback! 😊
Great tee-shirt.
Would love to see what you guys think of the Tannus Airless tyres
We will try them when we’re back for different trips, closer to civilization! 😊
You can unclog the valve by dipping in water or running water over it. Even squirting water from a spray bottle. I unclogged a couple doing this. My issue is when it springs a leak next to the valve where it seems like nobody knows how to repair. It's more frustrating when the tube is new and that's the only problem. I'm wondering if there's something to put inside the stem hole of the rim to help avoid that. The rim tape tends to have an elongated stem hole when installed.
Did ever hear about anti clothing valves? I had the problem with my tubeless system, too, and since I change to those valves, I never ever had a clogged valve again. They are very pricey but worth it. There is another system, where you can twist of the part of the valve where the valve core sit and access the part below the valve core to remove clogged sealant. That one is half the price of the anti clogging valves. Take a look, if your are curious. I did not mention any brands by choice, because I don't wanna be advertising here 😉 if you are interested, you welcome to ask
Haven’t heard of them, but sounds interesting! We’ll look into it more for future tours when we’ll probably try tubeless. 😊
@@louisaandtobi reserve fill more or E13 Quick Fill
I wonder if you have ever tried Zefal tyre liners. Perhaps they are similar to Tannus but I do not think they weigh as much. I've been really happy with them. I think there is another brand called Panaracer also (but I have never tried those).
Hey, so far we haven’t tried any of these alternatives. Perhaps when we are back from our trip! :)
You really probably need to use the Marathon Mondial Evo (the folding version) - they are Schwalbe's premium touring tyre, used by many on world tours, with a wear life of 15,000km+ and with a high puncture-resistance. I also have been using the old Marathon XR* wire-bead version for the past 18 months with ZERO punctures and I have done a good 3-4,000 km in that time, including two longer tours with plenty of gravel riding, with one long section of trail that is renowned for thorns.
* No longer made. These had sat hidden in a box under the house for about 10 years.
Tobi briefly ran Mondials for the first 5000 Km of the trip, but we weren’t too happy with the puncture protection. But maybe we’ll try them again at some point.
In 22 jears and 55’000 km two Schwalbe Marathon Plus (and now new ones) newer a flat.
In 2011 going down the West Coast I met a tourist from Germany who told me he had some prototype Schwalbe tires; they were experimenting with microscopic glass beads in the rubber compound to make them more flatproof. Did anything come of that?
No idea, sorry, never heard about that. But interesting story!
Great video
Crossing America must have been AWESOME 😮
Yea, it was a great ride with lots of great experiences 😅
You can clear the valve of slime by squirting some wd40 into it
Works on Schrader valves at least.
I was looking at some Schwalbe Pick ups? What do you think?
No experience with them unfortunately ☹️
I had Scwalbe Marathon Plus tires on my old ebike and went 5k miles with zero punctures. My new bike had Specialized Pathfinder pros and I got two flats within the first 6 months. I bought Tannus Armor inserts, but was not impressed - I have had 4 flats in the past 6 months, so I purchased a set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus for this bike. I was curious about the Tannus airless tires. A local bike shop carried them and said that they were fine for about a mile, but after that they just felt "wrong". I wish I could try a bike with a set of those for a longer ride to see for myself. I couldn't, and I really didn't want to spend the money
Thanks for the insight! Very interesting 😊
I wish be there with you rood
I use tannus armour however I do not see the sort of long distances you go through. I have used both the solid tyres and the tannus aromour . I love the solid tyres for commuting. It is a great product however for long tours the spokes will be quite punished. So for long touring I would not advise. For the sort of riding you do I think tannus armour with the schwalbe marathon plus tyres you cannot go wrong. If the outer layer of the tyre is the problem then with the armour there is additional protection. I advise you strongly to use it just add that and you will see how good of a product it is. Thanks for this insight on the long tours. I will be interested in that in the future so will take the information in consideration.
Thanks for the insight and for sharing your experiences! We will probably consider trying the solid tires and armor once we are back from this journey and have better access to their products. Currently, in South America, it would be impossible to get them so we would have to get them sent to us from abroad, which takes months. We can definitely imagine the solid tires being good for commuting.
I'm preparing for a never-ending around-the-world tour beginning next spring (after many delays). I ride a slightly modified Specialized Roll 2.0 with Specialized Nimbus Sport Touring tires. I ride about 200 miles a week, for the last 8 months; ALL on roadways/bike paths, which is what my routes are (the less dirt the better) and I have the Tannus Armor.
The ride is 'fast' (as fast as 2.3's can be) as the centerline is basically a 'slick,' with grooves for rain/moisture deflection and they are shock-absorbing cushions of pleasure to ride on. Along with a 'shock tube' seat stem, it takes a very harsh surface/hole to ruin the ride I get.
Most of my training route takes me along a 6-lane highway (I ride on the large 'break down' lane) and I've been able to dodge most obstacles (with or without a load on) but of course have hit glass shards, wood shards, rocks etc, mostly when climbing, where you have less 'opportunity' to dodge and have never had a puncture.
Of course, I'm not doing off-road riding, so I have less to worry about. I plan on trading out for a new set of the Nimbus Sport tires before departing on my tour, so I have fresh 'rubber' to ride on.
Great video! Stay safe!
Thanks for the insights! What does your round-the-world route look like, or are you just going by flow?
@@louisaandtobi was going to be GA to CA mostly asphalt, then CA to NYC stopping to hit 50th RAGBRAI, but difficulty securing home front, so will wait for March, then go to NV and on to IA. Going to detour any time something g piques interest.
Great product
COMBINE THE TIRES WITH AN
EXTRA STRENGTH SLIM TUBE
I USE 29X1.75 TUBE ON MY 700C RIM, TUBE DOESN'T GET STRETCHED THIN. AND STAYS STRONG.
We also talk about slime tubes in this video and haven’t had good experiences with them!
tubeless is legendary.
I can confirm slime tubes are near useless , I had flat tyres and the slime just came out of the tube and I had to patch them . Personally I think touring I would go ordinary tubes carry some spares . You get a tubeless problem and it’s harder to fix if your in the middle of know where .
Hi, did you tried continental ride tour? They look nice and cost only $15
Not yet, but we've actually been looking at them! 😊
I use schwable tires on my touring mountain bike with slime ,but not slime tubes ,I got normal tubes with replacement values and got bottle slime ,you can make your own flat-proof tires for half the price 7000km on and off road no flats
Instead of Slime, you can also use "normal" sealant like Stans in the inner tube.
Hi what's the meaning mentioned in tyre 700x38c-28x1 5/8x1 1/2
What is the Schwalbe Marathon Plus like in Winter conditions?
It works great in our opinion. Good grip and the rubber doesn't brittle when really cold.
I used Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour tires (42-622) for about 3.000 km. No punctures so far but lousy handling. The tires are very sensitive to longitudinal ridges, like tiles and road marks. Even curvs feel insecure. Therefore I'm going to give up on these tires. What is your experience on these matters?
We haven't really had this problem. But of course this handling phenomenon also depends a lot on the tire pressure you're running / contact area of the tire due to the weight.
Klasse T-Shirt!! Wo gibt es das denn zu kaufen?!
Haben wir in Griechenland in einem kleinen Laden gefunden.
I hate slim tubes after waking up one day to find my bike in a puddle of slim that had leaked out of a puncture hole! horrible mess.
Marathon plus is my preferred tire, very durable and puncture resistant due to the thickness of the rubber, downside is the increased weight and a little harder to take on and off (Once on they don't need to come off too often)
I tried the Tannus airless tires and I recommend everyone to stay away from it. In the corners, it feels like it's flat and wanting to roll off the rims (it doesn't actually roll off, but it makes for an awful cornering experience). While accelerating and just going straight, it has A LOT of drag (rolling resistance + maybe weight? Not sure). So in summary, it feels like you are riding a partially deflated tire. And I didn't even use it to carry any loads, just a fixed gear bike + a courier bag + me. Now you might think okay, that's not too good, but at least there are no flats and yes that's true but add this: When going over bumps on the road it feels very rough. Like an overinflated tire. Essentially, it's a useless tire from all aspects except the flats.
I ended up going on the biggest hill in the area and just skid down from the top until it had a spot where the rubber was essentially gone and rolling felt as if the wheel was square.. :D (Just for fun, as it was really expensive, but I wanted it off my bike and you can't just take it off and resell it as you have to cut it off....)
Interesting insight, thank you! 😊
Have you tried Marathon Plus Electric - for electric bikes?
Not yet!
Doesn't carrying a couple spare valve cores solve the issue with slime tubes? At least that's what I've been doing
I would also suggest leaving the tyres turned so that the valves are at the top to prevent the slime pooling at the bottom!
Have you tried the Marathon Greenguard?
Got good results at bicyclerollingresistance review, also much better rolling performance while still good protection.
So maybe just change the new tire, same one, every 5K, or 5K+ until the first flat，that way seems to be most economical considering saving time for more flats.
Sure, if we could get them everywhere.
what about the mr tuffy liners
We have no experience with them. According to their website they “don’t wear out” which would be great. Then there would only be the extra weight.
@@louisaandtobi I used Mr. Tuffy liners for 4 years with a fixed gear bike. No bags most of the time. It just doesn't work. After the tire wears out and the rubber starts to get thin, they don't protect you at all. I had many, many, many punctures on my tires even with them. Not worth it.
My bicycle has 26x2.35 tires. I don't think they make this tire in my size.
The best is marathon made for tandems but nothing is foolproof.
That said I had the same marathon plus 1.5s on 26" rims on a bike inn London, not one flat in nr 7 years use
Nice! 😊
you are on about tubless here?
Do you mean if we talk about tubeless?
The best solution seams to change Schwalbe Marathon plus tour at 6000km 😊
I would think it might be worth going tubeless and dealing with the mess because of lighter wheel weight. If anyone can benefit if less rotating mass its both of you.
Maybe!
Getting 6k out of a tire sounds pretty nice to me. As for slime clogging up the valve - never heard of it, can't even imagine how would that happen, seems like extreme bad luck (or maybe the tube was overfilled?) I really like my tubeless setup, but I don't bike in such remote areas, so I can see your point.
Actually we've heard from several people that the valves on the official "Slime Tubes" sometimes clog up. Maybe by factory default they are overfilled, don't know. We think ours clogged up because we let the air out for a flight, which flung too much slime into the valves. Unlike with tubeless where you can just replace the valve, here the whole tube is then wasted.
Hi Tobi. I'm interested in your kick stand. Did you engineer this yourself or buy it somewhere? We can't fit a kick stand on our bikes but this might work
Hi Tobi I just saw your latest video and saw it was a hiking pole. Fab idea. We're going to try it out on our bikes
Since I went tubeless any puncture I got self healed so quickly that it wasn't even necessary to pump more air afterwards. After 5 years with tubeless I decided to leave spare tubes at home. But for long trips I would still carry one in the remote case the tire unseats from the rim (it never happened though).
I also changed to Schrader valves. They do not clog, are much more robust, all have removable core and you don't need any special key to remove it. Last but not least they are compatible with auto compressor down the road. I use Presta only on road bike where the rim is so narrow that a Schrader won't fit.
Thanks for the insight!
Why do you ride on hard shoulders where all the debris are!?
Because often there is traffic! 😅
@@louisaandtobi Did you know that in most occidental countries horses are still part of the traffic!..... Bicycles are no exception, but it's a personal preference!
@@khalidbel2950 Yea, we know 😉 But often it’s not worth risking it with aggressive drivers and trucks! And it’s often a much more relaxing ride when you have a whole shoulder to yourself.. 😊
@@khalidbel2950 Riding in the traffic is dangerous quite honestly!
What you do to prevent the sealant in a tubeless system from clogging the presta valve is ditch the standard obsolete presta valve and get the Philmore Reserve valve-stems. 3x the air input, easy to put new sealant in, sealant Cannot clog the valve, and is super easy to micro-adjust your air pressure. [Do Not lose your valve-caps and get a spare pair just in case...] Also, speaking from lots of experience living in Goat-head territory and being a mountain-biker, tubeless is the Only way to go for so many reasons(!).
I've had very few flats and as long as you carry (for touring/overlanding) a small container of sealant, you're golden. Sealant generally needs to be renewed every 3 months since it either dries up or loses it's coagulative qualities after a while. You still carry a spare tube or two plus a tire patch-kit; they have Ultra-light and compact tubes (all the way up to MTB sizes) too that take up very little space in one's packs. (Just have a rag and bag for for cleaning the inside of the tire when needed)
Also, i run a radically different set-up than the traditionalist touring crowd does. I have a 2018 Surly Karate Monkey running SRAM Code R 4 piston hydraulic brakes, Vittoria 27.5+ tires (2.8 front and 2.6 rear) and a 1 x 10 drivetrain. I'll lose a certain amount of top-end speed due to my tires and gearing but, it's not an issue for my needs/purposes.
Average speed loaded is around 10 mph give or take so, on tarmac or faster hard- pack/gravel roads, I'd be keeping pace with a traditional touring rig (uphill) in any case. I'd just have more stable traction on the crunchier washboard/double-track sections, be a shade faster on any downhill double-tracks, and own the single-tracks up or downhill.
Lastly, Why the more traditionalist-tilted tourers don't embrace disc brakes mystifies me. They've been on motorcycles forever and have been proven absolutely reliable. Your bike has better control and carrying that much extra weight really necessitates more powerful brakes. You run steel-braided lines and at regular service intervals, replace your brake fluid, brake pads, and bleed the lines. You get powerful one-finger braking, less hand-fatigue, more precise braking input/control, and if you Do need to lock the brakes up (carefully!), you can avoid or avert the worst parts of a Very ugly crash scenario.
😉👍🌻