Tyre comparison.

[TedG]

Opinions / experience please on Mitas v Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres for general leisure use. Decent tow paths and cycle lanes. No off road.
Puncture resistance uppermost for pensioners with limited walking ability.
Thanks.

 

[vfr400]

Nothing compares with Marathon Plus for puncture resistence. Grip is shite, but they last forever. Once you put one on your bike, you'll probably never ever have to take it off again. Mitas is a brand not a tyre type, so it's impossible to compare.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

Grip is shite

I almost tumbled when my front Marathon encountered a highly improbable, 4ft wide square wet metal manhole cover in the road- stabilised with my right leg, only just made it. I've swapped the front Marathon for a fatter kid's MTB tyre because the longevity tradeoff on the rubber formulations for tyres seems to be similar to that for trainers ie more grip/less longevity > Nike/Vibram soles.

 

[Jonah]

I too found the grip very poor so no longer use. I currently use Schwalbe G-Ones. Not as puncture proof but good grip and free rolling.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

I too found the grip very poor so no longer use. I currently use Schwalbe G-Ones. Not as puncture proof but good grip and free rolling.

Cheers! I'll try one of those out.

 

[TedG]

Mitas is a brand not a tyre type, so it's impossible to compare.

My wife is about to change her bike (new delivery arrived!) so when looking at the tyres all she saw was Mitas but when I see it I will look for the tyre type.

 

[Atlav4]

Original marathon greenguard tyres Very good rolling resistance score (better than marathon racer tyres) Nearly as puncture proof as “pluses “ Lighter than marathon plus and better grip The best touring e bike tyres overall

 

[Deleted member 33385]

I like soles which last, and this is slightly off topic: Many hiking boot/shoe manufacturers will charge a little extra for their Vibram-soled versions, but you've got to bear in mind that you'll be getting years rather than months of use out of a Vibram soled boot, particularly on soft ground - in fact the soles will rot before they wear out. But in urban environmenets, they will slip on wet manhole covers. Vibrams will, on average on pavements - at the very least - last more than twice as long than any other sole. What I object to with other soles, is that you have to throw away a perfectly decent upper, simply because replacing the sole is either not possible, or wouldn't be as robustly glued on by the likes of Timpson's or some other cobbler.

There are by far the best walking boots I have ever had:

https://www.militarykit.com/products/german-army-paratrooper-boots-new?variant=32112443719738

They lasted 6 years! Then one of the soles fell off lol. If you Nikwax, the leather becomes beautifully soft and pliable, as well as waterproof. They're Gore-tex lined and the soles are made by Vibram, but not marked as such (rumour has it). It's an awesome motorcycle boot. I have not been able to find trainer versions of these for cycling, but if I did, I'd snatch them up in a heartbeat!

 

[Raboa]

I like the Marathon GT tyres.

Pressreader

www.schwalbe.com

 

[Deleted member 33385]

The front tyre which slipped on a 4ft wide wet metal manhole cover was a Marathon Racer:

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/marathon-racer


...20" X 1.5"

I'm definitely avoiding getting any more of those.

 

[GSV3MiaC]

If you want boots, I swear by:

Boots | Alt-Berg

The Fremington Men's Boot a 2-3 season classic English hiking boot, strong foot support, for Dales, Moorland & lower level Lakeland & Scottish Trails

www.altberg.co.uk

Why?

Well they come in multiple widths, the tread lasts 5k miles or more (roads, rocks and mud), and the makers will resole them properly for a reasonable fee. The uppers usually survive 2 or 3 soles.

Oh, and they are sort of British too.

 

[sjpt]

I like soles which last, and this is slightly off topic: Many hiking boot/shoe manufacturers will charge a little extra for their Vibram-soled versions,

Marathon Plus, brilliant but as others have said can be slippery.

Vibram used to be consistently good. They kept the brand but use the brand name on many different soles these days, and many of them are quite poor; slippery and not that long lasting.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

Vibram used to be consistently good. They kept the brand but use the brand name on many different soles these days, and many of them are quite poor; slippery and not that long lasting.

Yes, I'd noticed that Vibram don't last as long as they used to, but they were always a bit slippy - part of the tradoff between grippy/soft and hardwearing/harder formulation. Salomon Contragrips are the grippiest I have ever tried outside of squash/badminton/court shoes:


https://www.salomon.com/en-gb/shop-emea/men/shoes/hiking-shoes.html

...but they last 5 minutes.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

If you want boots, I swear by:

Boots | Alt-Berg

The Fremington Men's Boot a 2-3 season classic English hiking boot, strong foot support, for Dales, Moorland & lower level Lakeland & Scottish Trails

www.altberg.co.uk

Why?

Well they come in multiple widths, the tread lasts 5k miles or more (roads, rocks and mud), and the makers will resole them properly for a reasonable fee. The uppers usually survive 2 or 3 soles.

Oh, and they are sort of British too.

Those look identical to my other pair of Salomons with Vibrams, which reminds me, I must get those resoled. The trouble with getting them resoled is that the adhesive doesn't stick as well, unless it's left to dry out properly for months, which they normally do while beinging distributed then awaiting sale, after being manufactured. But of course, I only tend to notice they need resoling when I dig them out, and when I want to use them soon...

 

[soundwave]

puny tyres lol

 

[Benjahmin]

Any motorcyclist will tell you that wet manhole covers are a nightmare. Corner across one and there will be a slip, I don't think you can automatically blame the tyre..
I've got many thousands of miles on Marathon Pluses and, whilst always aware of what is said about grip levels and am accordingly cautious, I have never had an issue with them.
I ride mainly tarmac, Some of the back lanes are slimy/muddy, and occaisional gravel/chirt cycle paths. I have a front hub that is prone to scrub on loose/slimy surfaces anyway and still I would not report a grip issue with pluses. Some of the reports here make it sound like going across black ice with these tyres on - it's not my experience.
I accept that for full off road they'd be carp 'cos the tread ain't up to it.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

I don't think you can automatically blame the tyre..

...in this case, I think I can: I was travelling in a straight line at about 12mph over the wet manhole cover, and it still slipped sideways - I've replaced the Marathon Racer 20x1.5 with something called a "Cheng Shin General Style 20X1.75", which is some sort of kid's BMX tyre. It has less shine than the Marathons and feels like a softer, grippier rubber formulation. It might fare better in the same conditions - I'm tempted to run over that same manhole cover in the wet and report back, but at my age I'd shatter in a fall. Personally, I'd choose a puncture over longevity, if a more puncture prone tyre afforded more grip.

Metal manhole covers are a menace! It that had happened during the day, I'd have slipped over into traffic. Just a thin covering of rubber or a roughened metal surface to cumilatively collect tyre rubber from cars would help.