schwalbe marathon supreme tires

[bikermike]

so i'm planning on biking across the country this summer (first touring trip ever) with my dad. i've done all kinds of research and decided to go with 700x35 marathon supremes - thinking they're indestrutible and the greatest thing since sliced bread. this memorial day weekend, my roommate and i did a 280 mile, 2 day trip of the olympic peninsula (WA) and i flatted. it was a piece of glass, about 1/4" in size, that just penetrated right through the center of the tire. the shoulders on this route were extremely clean. i bike commute to work in seattle over glass and all kinds of crap using cheapo gatorskins. i've never once flatted as a result of a glass puncture (8000 miles?)

so now, my confidence is shaken. i don't want to be hauling 20 tubes or replacing them on a weekly basis on our trip. has anyone else had experience with these tires, and if so, good or bad?

[mikej2]

No tire is perfect, no tire is completely impervious to flatting, even the foam-filled no-air types of tires can go bad if they hit just the right piece of debris in the right/wrong way on the road.  You probably found just the perfect piece of glass to perfectly flat your tires.  Was the flat on the front or rear, I'd wager the rear.

I once flatted a tire by running over a 6" long nail, front tire kicked it up out of some dust on the roadway it was hiding in, and it perfectly punctured my rear tire through the tread and out the sidewall after gouging the edge of the rim.  Thankfully that's all it did as I was clipping along a busy road at the time.

I don't have any direct experience with your tires, but have heard nice things about them.  I'd suggest replacing it and then go ride.  Just a fluke and nothing to do with the specific tire in my opinion.

[John Nettles]

I sure hope they are not bad as I just got some yesterday in prep for riding 1/2 the L&C trail this summer.  Thought about the XR but they were out so went with the Supremes.  Take this in the right way but I hope do not share your experience with them .

Happy trails and may the wind be at your back!

TulsaJohn

[ptaylor]

Mike:

I'm a devotee of Schwalbe, even though I can only buy them via the Internet. I was on a Northern Tier group tour last summer with 5 others. Two of us were running Schwalbe - we were the only ones with no flats for the entire 4k+ trip.

I was running Marathon Plus, 700 x 35. I don't know the specifics of what my Schwalbe pard was running. I replaced the rear tire (with another Marathon Plus) at about 4k miles due to tread wear.

In the upper right corner of this window is a 'search' Icon. Click that and you can do a search on tires, which will give you a wealth of opinions on this most important subject.

Like you, I'm a bike commuter, having ridden some 54k commuting over the last 30 years. The most dependable tire I have found is the Marathon Plus.

When touring, I carry a Schwalbe Marathon XR (a folder) which I have never used. I hope it rots before I ever need it.

Paul

[RussellSeaton]

No experience with Schwalbe tires.  But I have the Continental Gatorskin tires on a bike.  700x25.  Not a whole lot of miles on these tires.  A flat on the rear tire at the end of each of the past two long rides.  Piece of glass penetrated the tread on the first flat and caused a slow leak.  Piece of rock probably penetrated the tread on the second flat and caused a slow leak.  No tire is perfect.

[bikermike]

i was definitely looking into getting the marathon plus, but they just seemed so heavy relative to the supremes. i will likely end up putting in some kevlar strips and calling it good since i leave in less than three weeks and don't really feel like f-ing around with this anymore. i think it's like a lot of people have said - chance. i mean, i've ridden those same gatorskins for years and have had zero issues, whereas russell had a bad experience right away.

i will say this about the supremes - they feel really good on the road. with the exception of the gear and being more upright on my touring bike, i felt the speed of the tire was very comparable to my 23s on my road bike. weird.

[RussellSeaton]

I've used the Gatorskin tires in the past and they wore extremely well.  And seemed to resist flats better than other tires I've used.  But they were not impervious in the past.  Just seemed to get flats less than the ones I am riding now for some reason.  Bad luck?

[Dan_E_Boye]

Last year I used Schwalbe Marathons on my Trans Am.  People think I'm nuts but I also had heavy duty inner tubes and tube liners.  I didn't have a single flat in over 4,000 miles.  I still have the same front tire and tube on the bike and it has over 6,000 miles with no flats.  It's about time for me to change the tire now.  I don't care what people say about the overkill.  I don't want to change flats.

I have used heavy duty tubes with liners for more than 20 years.  It's not unusual for me to go a few years without a flat.  When I first started doing this I learned from experience that the tubes will dry rot eventually if you don't change them every two years or so.

Schwalbe makes good tires.