Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus rolling resistance

[WheezyRider]

The rolling resistance test has now been done on the Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus:

Touring Bike Tire Test: Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus

Rolling resistance and puncture resistance review of a Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus touring bike tire. Also includes detailed weight and size measurements

www.bicyclerollingresistance.com

 

[vfr400]

Thanks for that. Amazing results - 60 watts just for rolling resistance at 18 mph. I never thought it would be as high as that. A pair of road bike tyres is about 20 watts. Anecdotally, my road bike takes the same effort to ride at 15 mph as my electric bike on level 1 showing 60w on the LCD. When you take air resistance into account too, that seems to add up with those test results.

 

[richtea99]

Thanks for that. Amazing results - 60 watts just for rolling resistance at 18 mph.

I can't see the 60W figure.
The touring/ebike tyres all seem to be in the 17-33W range, with summary for that tyre saying:
Rolling Resistance: 27.4 watts
which looks like the 60PSI result.

Am I simply misreading the page? (wouldn't be the first time )

 

[chris_n]

I can't see the 60W figure.
The touring/ebike tyres all seem to be in the 17-33W range, with summary for that tyre saying:
Rolling Resistance: 27.4 watts
which looks like the 60PSI result.

Am I simply misreading the page? (wouldn't be the first time )

X2 and maybe increase the weight or decrease pressure to get 60W

 

[richtea99]

Doh! Knucklehead.
I'm surprised they don't quote for a pair. To help the simple folk.

 

[WheezyRider]

Doh! Knucklehead.
I'm surprised they don't quote for a pair. To help the simple folk.

It's not quite that simple, the rolling resistance will depend on weight on the wheel and there is a lot more weight on the back wheel than the front, so you can't just take the number quoted and double it. These tests are more about having a tyre to tyre comparison.

What's really interesting is that there are a lot of road tyres with slick treads around that come out worse than the latest generation touring tyres.

 

[vfr400]

It's not quite that simple, the rolling resistance will depend on weight on the wheel and there is a lot more weight on the back wheel than the front, so you can't just take the number quoted and double it. These tests are more about having a tyre to tyre comparison.

What's really interesting is that a lot of road tyres with slick treads come out worse than the latest generation touring tyres.

Two times the average of the weights will be the same as the sum of the individual weights on each wheel.

They used 42.5kg for one wheel, which is 85kg for two. Our all-up weights are closer to 100kg on average, so the 60w is probably a slight under-estimate. The formula they give says that the rolling resistance is directly proportional to load.

 

[richtea99]

Good point, Wheezy. Re-reading, the small print says:

> All numbers are for a single tire at a speed of 29 km/h / 18 mph and a load of 42.5 kg / 94 lbs.
and
> Use the formula: RR (Watts) = CRR * speed (m/s) * load (N) to calculate rolling resistance at a given speed and load.

[Edit: you beat me to it, VFR. My only thought there is that most e-bikes aren't doing 18mph. I'm more of a 12mph sort of snail, on average.]

 

[WheezyRider]

Two times the average of the weights will be the same as the sum of the individual weights on each wheel.

They used 42.5kg for one wheel, which is 85kg for two. Our all-up weights are closer to 100kg on average, so the 60w is probably a slight under-estimate.

I can see your point, but I wouldn't like to assume it's so linear. The back tyre will distort a lot more as it is heavily loaded compared to the front. The way the tyre distorts and creates a footprint on the roller or road is likely to have a significant effect on the rolling resistance.

It's a shame they didn't run the tests with different loadings.

 

[vfr400]

I can see your point, but I wouldn't like to assume it's so linear.

Their formula says it's linear!

 

[WheezyRider]

Their formula says it's linear!

Which one?

These curves don't look linear to me:



The rolling resistance here will mainly due to the amount of tyre distortion for a given pressure for a fixed weight. If you fixed the pressure, but varied the weight instead, I think you'd see something similar.

 

[sjpt]

Doh! Knucklehead.
I'm surprised they don't quote for a pair. To help the simple folk.

It confuses the mono-cyclists. By the way, are there any electric monocycles?

 

[vfr400]

Which one?

These curves don't look linear to me:

View attachment 38948

The rolling resistance here will mainly due to the amount of tyre distortion for a given pressure for a fixed weight. If you fixed the pressure, but varied the weight instead, I think you'd see something similar.

Look at the axes. Hello!!!

 

[egroover]

The regular marathon or energiser is a lot lower rolling resistance, lighter tyre and still gives great protection and better grip than the MP's. I think they offer the best compromise unless you ain't bothered about range or better grip (in which case get the MP's)

 

[WheezyRider]

Look at the axes. Hello!!!

The X axis isn't labelled entirely accurately. It is actually the pressure for a given weight. Tyre distortion will be a product of applied weight and tyre pressure. They have used a fixed weight, but if you kept the pressure constant and varied the weight, I would expect to see similar curves as the ones shown.

Probably going to have to drop these guys an email

 

[richtea99]

Those E-Plus tyres are almost a kilogram each, by the way. And people worry about battery weight. Tch!
With that weight and the amazing puncture resistance results, maybe they don't actually have any air in them.

 

[vfr400]

The X axis isn't labelled entirely accurately. It is actually the pressure for a given weight. Tyre distortion will be a product of applied weight and tyre pressure. They have used a fixed weight, but if you kept the pressure constant and varied the weight, I would expect to see similar curves as the ones shown.

Probably going to have to drop these guys an email

The axis looks very accurately labelled to me. It says "air pressure" and has units of psi. Are we looking t the same graph?

The graphs show rolling resistance at different tyre pressures, which is not a linear relationship. Their formula says that the relationship between weight and rolling resistance is linear. The difference in rolling resistance at significantly different tyre pressures is only a few watts. The bulk of the resistance must come from elsewhere, like friction and the sick and slip process that tyres use to grip. plus a small amount of friction in the bearings.

 

[sjpt]

The extra E-Plus does seem over the top.
Standard Marathon Plus for us, and more recently the Marathon Plus Tour.

Just (finally) got round to replacing the RITCHEY EXCAVADER the previous owner had put on the front of our Motus; not only will I get the puncture protection but the MP Tour rolls and handles so much nicer too. Maybe the Ritchey was a good tyre for what it was designed for, but certainly not for our usage (mostly on road plus some fairly easy off-road). I can't believe the step-through Motus was a suitable bike for conditions where the Ritchey was a suitable tyre; maybe that is why the previous owner sold it?