At a glance Excellent, puncture-protected tyres that manage to give a cushioned ride over poorer road surfaces without weighing you down or compromising your speed.
Tested by
Jon Adams, tester for The Bike List
Performance
Regular road riders and commuters will be aware that a bike needs to be adapted to face the winter months, as this time of year throws up hazards that aren't really an issue in the late-spring to early-autumn zone. Winterising your bike involves obvious stuff like adding lights, but you also need to think about things like front and rear reflectors, amber pedal reflectors (they're a legal requirement in the UK), and mudguards for the wetter conditions.
Alongside these though, winterizing your bike normally starts with a change of tyres. If you have a hybrid or road bike, then in the summer with lots of daylight, you can flit around on high-pressure 23mm treads, avoiding all the lumpy stuff and the potholes along the way. As the nights draw in though, you can't pick your line in the same way, because you can't see it, so you're likely to plough through a lot of the choss you'd normally avoid. If it's wet, too, gentle, shallow puddles look exactly the same as bike-eating potholes, and you need your wheels to be able to cope with the odd hit as you can't avoid them all.
Ultimately, this adds up to protecting yourself a bit better for the sake of comfort and safety, and other than using a mountain bike with beefy tyres and suspension forks, your only option is to get some fatter rubber on your rims. The larger volume of air will cushion you (and your wheels) from rougher roads, and fatter tyres don't necessarily mean lower speeds, as rolling resistance needn't be increased too much if you choose your tyres wisely.
Schwalbe Marathons have long been the choice of tourers and expedition cyclists, but the Marathon name is applied to a range of no less than nine tyres and has pretty much become a sub-brand in itself. Alongside the standard Marathon, there are Supreme, Dureme, Extreme, Plus, Plus Tour, Plus MTB, Cross and Racer versions, and all have varying degrees of puncture protection, different tread patterns and different weights.
At just 375g for a 700x35c tyre, the folding Marathon Racer is the lightest Marathon model that Schwalbe make. To put it into context, the standard wire belt 700x23c tyres I've been using tip the scales at 325g each, so to gain an extra 13mm and a lot more air for a mere 50g of weight gain is impressive. Yes, a bigger tube is required for a bigger tyre and that'll add more weight to the equation, but not too much, considering the trade-off in comfort.
The Racer can run at 95psi, and though this will give the harshest ride, it'll also give the fastest, since rolling resistance is minimized. If you want more cushioning, you can run the Racer at 65psi, but this is the absolute minimum. Go any lower and you increase the chances of sidewall damage. To keep the weight of the Racer as low as possible, LiteSkin sidewalls are used, and these are thinner and more fragile than the walls on heavier tyres. A sharp hit like a kerb or pothole edge at too low a pressure could fold the sidewall back on itself or ground it against the rim, and the LiteSkin compound isn't built for this kind of abuse.
As you'd expect, the contact area of the tyre is much less vulnerable, and under the tread and three-layer carcass there's a RaceGuard puncture protection layer that'll stop a good number of sharp assailants. It won't survive needle-like blackthorns, but it does a sound job in fending off most attacks. The three layers of the carcass each employ a 67 ends-per-inch (EPI) construction, which is the best trade-off between weight, damage protection and rolling resistance.
Generally speaking, if you want rugged, bombproof tyres, then you have to sacrifice speed, because they're going to be heavy. The Marathons with the highest degree of puncture protection are the Plus and Plus Tour models, but an equivalent 700x35c weighs in at a hefty 890g, so you'll add 515g per wheel to your rotational weight. That's over an extra 1Kg in the place where it'll have the most adverse effect, so you need to think carefully about the level of protection you require. Those with regular short journeys like a couple of miles to work will not be too bothered by this, but riders doing longer commutes or indulging in sportive or audax rides will definitely want less weight to turn.
Over the course of the test I first rode straight through through the worst patches of my ride on a full susser MTB with 2.1in knobblies. The following day, I did the same with the Marathon Racers at 95psi on a cross bike, and I was perfectly comfortable with my hands on the flats of the drop bars. Not as smooth of course - but still okay. I also ran it with the Marathon Racers at 70psi and got even greater comfort, but it wasn't really worth the trade-off, as the lower pressure cost extra time over the smoother sections of tarmac - and there's more of them on my route. Just like your bar position or saddle set up, the Racers will require a little experimentation to find your ideal pressure, and this will depend on the length of your ride and the quality of surface you face.
For safety at night there's a retro-reflective strip right the way round the sidewall, so you can be seen side-on in a car's headlights. This apparently meets the same German standard as spoke reflectors, and I was surprised how effective it is. Hold a torch near your eyes and the circular reflector on the wheel glows back at you really brightly.
In the 500 miles I've done with the Racers fitted, they really have performed superbly, and could well be the perfect tyre for middle distance commutes and light touring. Of course, you can still feel road buzz and vibration over rough stuff, but the jarring isn't anywhere near as extreme as with skinnier treads, and you can take on surfaces (unwittingly) that'd more than likely have you off on 23s. What's more, the cost of this extra cushioning isn't a massive drop in speed. The extra rotational weight from the tyres and bigger tubes will blunt acceleration and affect climbing, as you can't escape the laws of physics, but it's nothing like you'd expect for a big, 35mm tyre. They're pretty good value at the official asking price of £30 for the folding Kevlar tyre, but even better, we've seen them at around £25 from a number of retailers, and that's fantastic value for a premium tyre that'll soak up bumps, give puncture protection and allow you to move fast.
Buy from www.chainreactioncycles.com
Schwalbe says:
The fastest Marathon ever. Again! Now even lighter. Now even faster. Pure skin side walls and the new SpeedGrip Compound have further reduced weight and rolling resistance. Everything is optimised for speed. Pure dynamics. The low weight is noticeable every time you pull away. A RaceGuard belt protects against punctures.
What does carcass EPI mean?
The density of the carcass fabric is expressed in EPI or TPI (Ends Per Inch, Threads Per Inch). The range of carcasses used for Schwalbetires are 24, 37, 50, 67 and 127 EPI.In principle, the more close-meshed a carcass is woven, the higher the quality of the tire. A dense carcass is important for low rollingresistance. At the same time, puncture protection increases because carcasses with a high strand density are difficult to puncture.This does not apply in the case of extremely fine 127 EPI carcasses as each strand is sheer and quite vulnerable. The best compromise forlow weight and resistance is around 50 to 67 EPI. In most of our top tires we use a 67 EPI carcass. Weight and rolling resistance can be reduced even further by using a 127 EPI carcass.But at the same time, these tires are a lot more vulnerable to damage.Therefore, we intentionally use the 127 EPI carcasses only for extremely light-weight tires or in combination with extremely high performance puncture protection materials. Exercise caution when comparing EPI of different tire brands as it is common that the total of all carcass layers are added together. Anindication of 200 TPI results from 3 layers of 67 EPI each underneath the tread. With all EPI numbers above 127, it should be assumed thatthe figures have been calculated by adding up the strands in all layers. Schwalbe only indicates the material density in one carcass layer.Commonly, there are 3 carcass layers underneath the tread.
Find out more www.schwalbe.co.uk
