Registered: Apr 2005
Location: Jackson, MS Metro
Posts: 31

I've noticed the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires in a 1.75" cross-section for the 26" (559) and 20" (406) tires on my EZ Sport CX. Since I'm a big guy, the idea of some extra tire underneath me is appealing and I really like the idea of the reflective sidewall stripes and the flat protection belt made into the tire. I think I have enough clearance to mount these on my bike with the fenders in place and believe that they might make excellent touring tires.

The question I have is about rolling resistance. Since the tire is rated at 70 PSIG pressure, will I notice a big difference in rolling resistance over the 100 PSIG Kenda Kwests I'm riding now? Do any of you guys use these on your bike and how did you like them...or did you dislike them? Thanks for any feedback! BBJ

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Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Stone Mountain, GA
Posts: 385

I use a Schwalbe Marathon on the rear of my TI Rush and notice no loss of speed.

By the way, you can pump that tire up to 100 with no problem.

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Rich

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Registered: May 2004
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 44

Same here. The Marathon Plus inflated to 100psi is great--front and back. Never had a problem. When I retired my bike I decided to try their racing tires but would never hesitate to refit with the 'Pluses. And I miss the refelctive sidewalls.

Enjoy!

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Registered: May 2005
Location: Juneau, Alaska
Posts: 1

I put the marathon plus tires on my fold rush shortly after I bought it , I now have about 3k miles on them with 1 flat. I like the tires very well. My riding is all commuting and touring so performance is not that big a deal for me but I didn't really notice any difference when I first put them on.
I usually inflate them to about 10 lbs over recommended with no problem.
Bill

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Registered: Nov 2002
Location: San Francisco, CA USA
Posts: 466

Schwalbe has a wealth of information on their website. You can see a cutaway of the MP. It is designed to resist the kind of things that work their way through a tire like glass shards.

http://www.schwalbe.com/index.pl?be...ereich=berichte

Mean while the XR tire is in more limited sizes and seems to be more for rough touring in thorn country. It is a foldable tire with an thin aramid belt (can't say kevlar without paying someone )

http://www.schwalbe.com/index.pl?mo...&produktgruppe=

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Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Strongsville, Ohio (Cleveland area)
Posts: 103

I've been running aramid-belted Marathons for the last 1500 miles or so on my TE. I pump them up to 100, past the recommended 85, and have noticed some cracks in the tread, though the tires still look good for another 1000 miles or so. Given that, I wouldn't want to try pumping up the 70 psi Marathon Plus's to 100, unless I was really willing to sacrifice tire life for the extra protection.

By the way, the Marathons have never had a flat, nor did the 100 psi Panaracer Pasela TG I had on the rear for the previous 7000 miles (a fantastic tire which never had a tread crack, and only came off the bike because the sidewalls finally dried out). I'm a 220 lb guy that normally commutes through gravel, glass, and garbage-laden Cleveland-area streets with another 70 lb. of gear, so I punish my bike and tires, yet I find no need for the Marathon Plus level of protection. These look like heavy, slow tires that you'd need only if you plan to go backwards over the rental car gates a lot.

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Don Palac
e-mail: Don@neorecumbents.com
home page: www.neorecumbents.com

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