Tyres for commuter bike ? Schwalbe Marathon + disaster

ZimDownUnder

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Joined
Apr 22, 2020
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Hi

Bike - Malvern Start XCS1.0
Motor - Voilamart 1500W rear hub
Controller - Voilamart 35A (shunt modded to 45A)
Battery - 48V 20aH triangle
My Weight - 90kg
Riding - Commute 30km weekdays, mostly flat bitumen roads, some bumps on a few concrete pathways.

Original tyres were Hutchinson Rock

I replaced the front tyre with a Schwalbe Marathon Plus as I was concerned about getting a flat and looked great. Rode great for a while but then the wire reinforcing split out the side and caused a flat - twice - so I gave up on it. Waste of a nearly new AUD$75 tyre, still has the little rubber bits sticking out of it!

The rear Hutchinson Rock tyre has worn to canvas after about 1500km of commuting.

Looking for a set of replacement tyres for front and back

Some thoughts are:

Maxxis Detonator AUD$35 each
Maxxis Hookwork AUD$55 each
Schwalbe Big Apple $55 each

Any suggestions most welcome as need to order tyres really soon!

Thanks in advance
 
ive got marathons on mine, and havent had any problems, but ive only had them a month or so. that sounds like a manufacturing defect, though, did you try contacting schwalbe?

out of curiosity, whats max speed on that setup?
 
i like maxxis holy roller, its an inverted knobby, i think its about twice as thick as a hookworm, which i like also but i hit gravel pathways sometimes and the holy roller has really good braking traction on the pavement
 
Go to the Schwalbe website to see the various ratings for "Durability" and about 4 or 5 other categories.

If you do a search on Endless Sphere there are plenty of suggestions for a good ebike tire.
 
ZimDownUnder said:
I replaced the front tyre with a Schwalbe Marathon Plus as I was concerned about getting a flat and looked great. Rode great for a while but then the wire reinforcing split out the side and caused a flat - twice - so I gave up on it.

No experience with that specific tire, but whenever I have had this happen, it is because the tire pressure is too low, and/or the rim's bead seat area doesnt' fit the tire well, allowing the sidewall to rub up and down on the rim until it wears thru the bead rubber....


For my heavy cargo bike CrazyBike2 and the heavy cargo trike SB Cruiser, here in Phoenix, AZ, where we get goathead thorns and mesquite thorns even on the roads, I've been using the 26" CST City for years. Good grip, rides well. Not flat resistant, but I use a couple of different things to help with that. The first is using an old innertube (or two, if they're thin) with the valve removed, and circumferentially slit along that seamline, then placed over teh actual innertube to be used in the tire. I use the thickest tubes I can find; most recently that's been a Sunlite version, don't recall which one. The second is to use a plastic protection strip between the above tube-over-tube assembly, and the tire's inside-tread area. (the extra layer of tube prevents the strip from damaging the actual tube). I don't have flats more often than about every several months to more than a year, now, vs having one every couple weeks or so.

I used to use Slime, but stopped because it causes me more problems patching when I *do* get a flat (usually from a very large nail or piece of car-crash debris). I still carry a small bottle for use when stopping long enough to do patching isn't practical or possible due to conditions/safety/weather/etc., but that can be a couple of years between times.
 
ZimDownUnder said:
Any suggestions most welcome as need to order tyres really soon!

Kenda Kwick Drumlin is a tough tire, though note that there are different versions with different thicknesses of armor.

Panaracer RiBMo is a proven tire with more puncture resistance than you’d think by examining it. It’s surprisingly fast, with nice ride quality. Long lasting too.

I’ve been using a CST Sensamo Master lately, and it’s working out great so far.
 
Currently riding Schwalbe Big Apple 29x2.35 and they give a very confident stable ride. Dig in well on corners. About 700 mi. so far commuting and exploration and they are holding up well. 75% concrete, 20% asphalt, 5% gravel or grass. A lot of my routes are along unhoused encampments and construction zones so have to ride thru plenty of trash and broken glass.
 
I ride on Continental City Ride tires for my summer ebike.
very low rolling resistance and they last , can be pumped to 50PSI.
 
Thought I would share a pic of my dead Schwalbe Marathon Plus with the wire protruding that caused punctured tubes.

D3rOdeg.jpg


Seems that I am not the only one to have issues with wire popping out on Schwalbe tyres - saw this on Amazon

Zz4hcpD.jpg
 
The Schwalbe Crazy Bobs took a lot of effort to get the bead to lock into the rim, especially with the wire beads. The sidewalls are really stiff, so provide decent handling, but I crashed hard once when transitioning from dirt to pavement, when the tread didn't hook up and slid. It does OK on dirt, but much better on pavement; I run them only the lower half of the rated pressure. 26x2.35 30-60psi
 
markz said:
Some say Tubeless is the way to go. I am not convinced, yet.
I like tubeless, but it doesn’t come without some downsides. It is not all combinations of rim and tires that are making a good tubeless job. They are sometimes hard to inflate, on wide rims especially, so it is good to use a CO2 inflator or a special pump with a reservoir and valve, that releases quickly a large amount of air. Without the foam insert, tubeless doesn’t give much advantage, and they are expansive, sometimes PITA to install.

I find the best is to use tubeless specific rim and tire, with Cush Core inserts. Yet, all this is not available all sizes and width, pretty expansive too. Any tubeless sealant will do, but a combination of 2 different sealants is best, one thick like green slime and one liquid like Stan’s.

You need to do a few to get used to it, but once you have a reliable tubeless setup, you literally ride on flats without even noticing most of the time, because they plug so quick. A big hole can be repaired with standard tubeless plug, with the tire on the rim. At worst, with the proper insert, you can ride home on a deflated tire without damaging the rim.
 
markz said:
Some say Tubeless is the way to go. I am not convinced, yet.

Tubeless means you will almost always spend more time monkeying with your tires than if you used tubes. The potential payoff is that you can do it at the time and place of your choosing, rather than at the side of the road or trail at a time your tire chooses.

One of the myths about tubeless is "no pinch flats at low pressure". While sealant in tires might be able to stop up damage caused by bottoming the tire out, it can do nothing to keep the rims from being flat-spotted and dicked up from bashing on the ground. So that's a phony claim. It's like the tires during the downhill fad that were so tight-fitting that they were reputed to stay on even if flat, which allowed competitors to finish the course on a flat tire. Sure, but... with a dead and destroyed wheel. Great.
 
I had a goop tube, and even adding air gunked up the valve and squirted everywhere. I just carry around a spare tube and a flat repair kit. Changed so many tubes in the last years, I've become a Indy 500 pit crew in changing tubes.
 
Balmorhea said:
I’ve been using a CST Sensamo Master lately, and it’s working out great so far.

I got my first puncture in that tire yesterday. It was from a steel wire about 8mm long, stuck through the outer edge of the tread. I cant think of a tire I’d want to ride on that would definitely resist that kind of puncture, but it’s still a mark in the “demerit” column.
 
I replaced a worn out tire this week. Tubeless dirty Street Hog, on which I saw 7 or 8 punctures successfully plugged by the sealant. I saved the foam core and cleaned the rim, taped it as new after some fine trueing. Completed the tire change in an hour. Very long of course, but no regrets. It is good for the remaining 2 months of clean pavement, and the next one will be a mud tire for the falling leaves season.
 
Balmorhea said:
Where I am, we'll be lucky to be done with summer by Halloween.

Yes I knew you would chime in. I could start being one of those so called s _ _ _ birds and fly down, rather just hit up a tropical beach where my Canuckistan dollar can go further.
 
MadRhino said:
Everybody’s wearing masks already :mrgreen:

I know where you were going with that but it made me wonder, you know how during halloween all the stores say take off your mask. I wonder if strong armed robberies with facial coverings are on the rise with everyone having to wear a covid19 mask. I've been noticing the people that come into stores without masks, its mandatory now in Calgary, Alberta. The train its usually low income and bums that arent wearing masks, though at 5 guys burger there was an older couple in with no masks.
 
Those bars over the mouth are to make the covid think it's in jail?
 
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