Thursday, November 20, 2008

Marathon Supreme Tires


Schwalbe Marathon XRs are my go to tire for touring and since I'm too lazy to change tires when I get back they are my default tire on my touring bikes at home as well. XRs have been good to me - zero flats and no tire related problems at all - great traction in the dirt and mud. Given how much I like XRs it seems almost silly to try a different tire, but my curiosity got the better of me and I picked up a set of Marathon Supreme tires to try out. These are a lighter faster rolling tire, but still designed with touring in mind. I'm hoping these will give me much of the toughness of the XR in a faster tire that would be ideal for a long paved road tour. They are almost slicks and would not be suitable for going off pavement for any distance or winter riding so I don't see them replacing the XRs entirely. I'd still use the XRs for expedition/dirt road/adventure touring and the Supremes for paved road tours.

Marathon XR 26 x 1.6" = 595g
Marathon Supreme 26 x 1.6" = 440g

8 comments:

Grendel said...

I've been using the Supreme's since they were released. They are wide enough to work well on graded surfaces and are tolerable on roughed up ice but forget about it on smooth or black ice. Had to pick myself up a few times last winter for those conditions on my commute

Vik said...

What size were you using? I have some 1.6" wide Supremes, but they come in 2.0" as well.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Hey Vik! I read a bunch of your blogs. I'm impressed. Your tikit blog helped me decide on my tikit. I wanted to know how many bikes do you have in your stable? Do you have pictures of all of them? I like seeing what others have in their stables.

Anonymous said...

Hey Vik - Sorry, but the weight you quoted is for the 20" size. The 26" weighs 420 grams. Still a fair amount lighter than the
XR's.

Jerry

Anonymous said...

Uh...oops...440 grams.

Jerry

Vik said...

Hey Jerry - thanks for catching that I made the correction!

Grendel said...

I use 700x35, the largest that will fit under the fenders of my Trek 520.