Best puncture resistant tyres?

[mt247]

Has anyone actually tried the Marathon Plus WINTER tires (with studs etc?) .. not sure we ever have enough ice cover to make them a viable option, and I guess the grip on wet tarmac would be even worse than vanilla MP, but maybe someone has actual experience?

I ordered marathon plus winter tires at 50-622. In Finnish forums they are said to be pretty good. People generally likes Continental contact spike 240 more only down side is that only 42-622 and 37-622 sizes.

You could also try winter tires without studs if you live in UK. Overall they could be better option:

 

[Nosweat]

I have Marathon Plusses. Could someone explain to me what's a puncture?

 

[vfr400]

Has anyone actually tried the Marathon Plus WINTER tires (with studs etc?) .. not sure we ever have enough ice cover to make them a viable option, and I guess the grip on wet tarmac would be even worse than vanilla MP, but maybe someone has actual experience?

We don't get enough snow and ice to make them worthwhile unless you like changing your tyres between breakfast and setting off to work. They're great when you're in the snow, but it's normally all gone from the road within a day.

 

[BazP]

I have Marathon Plusses. Could someone explain to me what's a puncture?

Me and my partner had Marathon Plus tyres for over a year along with slime tubes and I’ve lost count of the punctures we’ve had. Sometimes the slime works sometimes not. I then changed to the MTB version with the same results.
Regarding putting them on, it was fairly hard but worse was taking them off. I did put this down to having tubeless ready rims but after not being able to get a lever under the wall and trying laying the wheel down then standing on the wall with my heel I finally resorted to using a rounded of screwdriver to dig between the rim and tyre wall. This slightly damaged the rim each time. I’ve now gone tubeless with Maxxis tyres but to finally get the Marathon off I clamped the tyre in a vice and sawed through it. Difficult to do on a run.

 

[georgehenry]

I rode my bargain basement £100 second hand 2011 rear hub Oxygen 20 miles to work and back last night that I bought out of the classified section on pedelec after a August summer holiday around September 2018.

That bike had 500 miles showing when I got her and came with marathon plus road tyres fitted and suffice to say that after adding another 1500 miles to that they have performed brilliantly with no punctures and plenty of wear left.

The road tyres handle well and seem less harsh than the mountain bike version. I am still careful in wet/cold conditions but I really like them.

Unfortunately for me in caned it down last night, a real deluge of water for my 10 mile return home.

As an all year round all weather rider In those conditions if it is not too cold I have found it best to wear a pair of wellies, lined wind proof and waterproof trousers and cycling jacket, winter gloves and a woolen or in the case last night acrylic bobble style hat without the bobble. The cycling jacket has a hood that can be press studded on but I did not bother last night.

So as not to end up with a lot of soggy clothing I do not wear any other layers under the waterproofs which however wet they get will dry quickly ready to be used the next day.

Unless of course it is cold enough to need other layers, but often the rain comes with cloud cover when the temperatures are not too low.

Anyway I digress, on a winter rear hub hack/commuter marathon plus tyres are great.

 

[georgehenry]

I have just read the BazP comments and had the same issues on a tubeless ready wheel. The wheel I had seemed designed to grip the bead of the tyre and was a complete pain to remove a marathon plus mountain bike tyre from.

So probably marathon plus mountain bike tyres that are not designed to be run tubeless for whatever reason are very difficult to remove from some tubeless designed rims.

Now I have not run a marathon plus mountain bike tyre long enough to comment on the puncture resistant effectiveness and am surprised that BazP found them not so good as others have found them very good. As I said on the Haibike hard tail mountain bike I have now gone tubeless at the rear.

Like BazP I was worried that if I got a puncture on my off road route to work I would not be able to lever the tyre off the rim on that wheel to repair or replace the tube.

Something to watch maybe.

 

[vfr400]

Me and my partner had Marathon Plus tyres for over a year along with slime tubes and I’ve lost count of the punctures we’ve had. Sometimes the slime works sometimes not. I then changed to the MTB version with the same results.
Regarding putting them on, it was fairly hard but worse was taking them off. I did put this down to having tubeless ready rims but after not being able to get a lever under the wall and trying laying the wheel down then standing on the wall with my heel I finally resorted to using a rounded of screwdriver to dig between the rim and tyre wall. This slightly damaged the rim each time. I’ve now gone tubeless with Maxxis tyres but to finally get the Marathon off I clamped the tyre in a vice and sawed through it. Difficult to do on a run.

This is weird. I know loads of people with MPs. None of them have ever had a puncture with them. Also, can you explain how you fixed all those punctures if you had to saw the tyre off each time to get at them?

 

[WheezyRider]

This is weird. I know loads of people with MPs. None of them have ever had a puncture with them. Also, can you explain how you fixed all those punctures if you had to saw the tyre off each time to get at them?

I also wonder if there was something in the wheel itself causing these punctures? Were the rim tapes not up to the job? Did something get in the tyre that was causing repeated punctures? Did you damage the inner tube trying to lever the tyre back on?

To puncture a Marathon Plus takes quite some doing and the evidence of the hole left behind should be quite visible. Did you see any holes? Find any embedded thorns or nails?

I don't mean these questions in any way as questioning your competence etc, just would like to get to the bottom of it and be able to eliminate the obvious.

 

[BazP]

This is weird. I know loads of people with MPs. None of them have ever had a puncture with them. Also, can you explain how you fixed all those punctures if you had to saw the tyre off each time to get at them?

I didn’t say that I had to saw the tyre off each puncture. Almost all of my punctures were thorns and it usually took at least 10 minutes to get a tyre off. The problem every time was breaking the seal on the rim. These were Alexis tubeless ready rims and the tyres were put on within a month of the rims being new.
Plastic levers wouldn’t go in so I resorted to putting the wheel on the ground and trying to push the tyre off with my heel. In the end I ground the end of a wooden handled screwdriver round to minimise damage to use as a lever. This put slight nicks in the rim which I would sand out occasionally. once the seal was broken the tyre came off as normal. I’m not a novice cyclist and have done all of my cycle repairs for 60 years. The tyres were run at 40 psi to try to prevent penetration
I changed to the MTB version which I think you once commented were not quite as puncture proof but still had the removal problem. When going tubeless, because I wasn’t bothered about the MP I clamped the two walls of the tyre in a large engineers vice but the walls just came together without parting from the rim. Therefor , after all the frustration they had caused, it was quite enjoyable to saw them off and dump in the bin.
For what it is worth, that is my honest experience.

 

[georgehenry]

BazP the rear wheel I had the same problem with was an Alexis tubeless ready rear wheel with exactly the same symptoms you describe. An absolute nightmare to break the bead of the marathon plus mountain bike tyre away from the rim.

 

[stevenatleven]

BazP it seems you have been unlucky, I have fitted them to my Alex tubeless rims six months ago so here's hoping if I do get a puncture out on the road I can break the bead
It reminds me of a Yamaha xt660z that I ran for a number of years, it had a tubeless rear rim laced with spokes to the hub making it a tube type wheel. It was an absolute pig to break the bead and I couldn't do it out on the road so had to get recovered when it happened. I eventually sent the wheel to Italy to be made tubeless, curiously though i ran the bike for another 15k and never got another puncture

 

[vfr400]

I didn’t say that I had to saw the tyre off each puncture. Almost all of my punctures were thorns and it usually took at least 10 minutes to get a tyre off. The problem every time was breaking the seal on the rim. These were Alexis tubeless ready rims and the tyres were put on within a month of the rims being new.
Plastic levers wouldn’t go in so I resorted to putting the wheel on the ground and trying to push the tyre off with my heel. In the end I ground the end of a wooden handled screwdriver round to minimise damage to use as a lever. This put slight nicks in the rim which I would sand out occasionally. once the seal was broken the tyre came off as normal. I’m not a novice cyclist and have done all of my cycle repairs for 60 years. The tyres were run at 40 psi to try to prevent penetration
I changed to the MTB version which I think you once commented were not quite as puncture proof but still had the removal problem. When going tubeless, because I wasn’t bothered about the MP I clamped the two walls of the tyre in a large engineers vice but the walls just came together without parting from the rim. Therefor , after all the frustration they had caused, it was quite enjoyable to saw them off and dump in the bin.
For what it is worth, that is my honest experience.

Are you sure that the Tyres were Marathon Plus? I've been on this forum for ten years, during which time tyres comes up about once per week. Every time, people extol the virtues of MPs. As far as I can remember, you're the only one that has ever mentioned punctures in them. It just doesn’t add up.

Where I ride, they're always cutting hedges. I used to get punctures nearly every time I rode on the roads where they had done it. Since fitting MP, not a single one in 6 years and 6000 miles, yet you had loads. Can you explain why?

 

[soundwave]

pita to fit but never had a flat on my bike and had it since 2014 with tubeless sealant and top up every 3 months 5min job.

 

[BazP]

Are you sure that the Tyres were Marathon Plus? I've been on this forum for ten years, during which time tyres comes up about once per week. Every time, people extol the virtues of MPs. As far as I can remember, you're the only one that has ever mentioned punctures in them. It just doesn’t add up.

Where I ride, they're always cutting hedges. I used to get punctures nearly every time I rode on the roads where they had done it. Since fitting MP, not a single one in 6 years and 6000 miles, yet you had loads. Can you explain why?

Hello vfr400, no I can’t explain. You sound like you don’t believe me but it is what it is.
I think the tyre I didn’t saw off is in the garden hut, you can have it if you’re so keen on them.

 

[georgehenry]

How is your tubeless setup coping with the thorns BazP. Have you noticed the sealant doing its job if you pick up a thorn.

I now have a tubed tyre at the front and a tubeless tyre at the rear. I now carry those little rubber plug things that you use to assist sealing a larger puncture on a tubeless tyre and a CO2 inflater as well as a nomal pump. The weight of my tools bag is getting heavier!

I am now no longer using the Alexis rear wheel after it got badly damaged. In my case I don't think the Marathon plus tyre was at fault but that something about that wheel and rim damaged the tube.

It would work for a few rides and then just deflate. I checked the tyre when I took it off and could not see any sign that it had been punctured.

I bought a cheap rear wheel of Ebay which I now use as a spar with the marathon plus tyre on it, and got a local bike shop with a good reputation to build me a rear wheel which turned out really well and is what I have on it now.

 

[mike killay]

Hello vfr400, no I can’t explain. You sound like you don’t believe me but it is what it is.
I think the tyre I didn’t saw off is in the garden hut, you can have it if you’re so keen on them.

If you have sawn it in half, could you post a photo of the tyre cross section so that we can see if the tougher belt is actually there.
The reason that I say this is because I once bought a Marathon plus locally, only to find that one of the rim wires was defective, so they do make mistakes.

 

[mt247]

So no one doesn't have experience of Continental tires? I might as well be the guinea pig and try them out next summer.

 

[georgehenry]

Continental Tyre Feedback

Hi, sorry to be slow, I have some Continental Cross King 2.2 Protection tyres fitted to an acoustic mountain bike I bought some years ago on a ride to work scheme and have found them to be a very good cross country mountain bike tyre. I run them with tubes and I have had no punctures.

Around March this year the wheel bearings on the front wheel of my 2015 Haibike Yamaha failed and were not of a type that could easily be changed. So I could keep commuting while I sourced a replacement front wheel I slotted the front wheel shod with the Continental Cross King 2.2 Protection tyre into the Haibike and it proved to be very good. Since then I have ridden 700 miles on it, of which around 400 miles are off road. They are proving to be more hard wearing than I thought they would be. They perform very well off road and seem to run well on road.

They are probably not as puncture proof or hard wearing as Marathon plus tyres but they handle and perform better off road and probably on road too, certainly when the weather gets wetter and colder.

I commented at the time, "Having a proper grippy mountain bike tyre on the front gave me oodles more grip in faster slippery muddy corners and everywhere else giving a real uplift in off road handling without the less off road orientated rear tyre compromising too much the better performance delivered at the front. This might be my perfect off road commuter bike combination, and it also worked well on the road."



Since I made that comment I have changed my back wheel and fitted a VITTORIA MOTA G+ ISOTECH TNT 27.5X2.35 TYRE: ANTHRACITE/BLACK/BLACK 27.5X2.35" and gone tubeless.

So my set up now is off road biased.

This is because I now only use my Haibike to commute to work when I am able to ride on my 14 mile cross country route and then 10 back on the road.

I use a rear hub road bike when I ride to work and back on the road.

 

[Blunderbuss]

Here is a shout out for Tannus Armour for off road riding.

I used to get regular punctures from hawthorn needles, my record was three on one ride , so I went to tubeless and that reduced things but not eliminated it. I then got two punctures from exposed sharp flints (baked into the hard clay soil) which put a small slash in the tyre that no amount of sealant was going to sort that out.

So in desperation I got a pair of Tannus Armour and in the last year have had 1 puncture from a very long tough hawthorn.

The biggest advantage to me has been that I can run any tyre I want, so I now have wet weather (High Roller) and dry weather (Rekon) setup that I use – basically I can choose the tyre that is best for my conditions.

The overall weight gain was 100g per wheel when compared with tubeless, and I pick up more mud than that on a run so that does not make a difference. Yes they cost £30 each, but I am still using the tyre with the flint slashes which I would have had to replace and I like having the tyres I want.

I have not noticed any difference in rolling resistance (all my riding is off road) and I run the pressures at 15psi on the front and 20psi on the rear, I had no problems putting them on/in, it probably added 30 seconds to changing a tyre. The Tannus has been the solution for me.

 

[GSV3MiaC]

AS I said in another place, I had a thorn puncture thru Tannus inserts (3/4 of the away from the rim, so not the thickest part) from a hawthorn that would double as a gramophone needle (78 rpm only) .. that was Big Apple rather than MP+, but still Schwalbe and supposedly good puncture protection. Annoying thing with thorn puncture is finding the damn thing .. need a magnifying glass if you don't have a bucket of water, deep puddle, or A1 hearing for the hiss..