[betty swollocks]

Two pairs of Marathon plus on two bikes and in eighteen months, not one single unscheduled deflation event.
B'stards to put on though.

[BlueDog]

I got a pair of M+’s just before Christmas and the first punkture occurred before I even got the wheel on the bike

Having spent a considerable amount of time getting them on the wheel, I decided to get master Bluedog to earn his pocket money and pump them up. He struggled like crazy up to 85psi, and just as I was saying “nearly there, just one more....”--- BANG!!! --- scared the living daylights out of us (probably seemed louder as we were in the kitchen with a tiled floor).

The inner tube was pinched by the tyre and it exploded with an 8” tear. Think master Bluedog has been put off cycling for life. All sorted now though, and went for my first ride with them yesterday and they were fine, but if I ever do get a puncture whilst out, I’ll be calling a cab :D

[Tynan]

front tyres hardly ever flat surely?

yes M+ are very resistant but they're also slow and heavy init?

[MacB]

M+ here as well, zero punctures so far on two bikes, not had the severe fitting problems others have either. Though I did make the mistake of using levers and getting a pinch puncture while fitting. They are heavy though, my 700x35's weigh nearkly 1kg each. If you want the best of all worlds, in the larger section tyres, then the Marathon Supreme seem to be well thought of.

[davidg]

I have an armadillo all weather on the back of mine and still have had the odd puncture (I commute in London).

does anyone know whether the marathon is better?

[beanzontoast]

Tynan said:

front tyres hardly ever flat surely?

yes M+ are very resistant but they're also slow and heavy init?

Slower than the Gators I used to have IMO certainly, but I've learned to like 'em.

[zacklaws]

davidg said:

I have an armadillo all weather on the back of mine and still have had the odd puncture (I commute in London).

does anyone know whether the marathon is better?

I used to run Marathon+ and never had a puncture with them, but one day I took the tyres off and it took me 2 hours to succesfully get them back on as I kept getting pinch punctures and came to the decision that if I ever get a puncture out on the road it could turn into a disaster repairing it if I am a good distance away from home. In the end I put them to a side to use on my commuter and started using Armadillo elite's which I found easier to fit. To date I have not found them so hard wearing and had two punctures so far but I have also done a lot of mileage on them, 1000+. When I took one off a couple of weeks ago as I had punctured on the turbo, under very close scrutiny I was amazed at the amount of flints which had penetrated the kevlar band and all I can presume why I have not had more punctures is that the flints must have had the sharp edge took off them going through the kevlar. But overall I prefer them to the M+ for the ease of fitting.

[Happiness Stan]

dave r said:

http://www.allterrai...uct/119612.html

I have had one of these on the front of my fixed since October and its been very good,

I second that, not the plushist, grippyest tyres but they don't puncture. Cheap too.

[shippers]

I get a horrendous number of flats- I got 3 in 15 miles on Thursday. Road riding, I have Continental Kelvar tyres, and although 3 in 15 miles is a lot for me, I probably average one every 30 or 40 miles.

I inflate properly- 120psi with a track pump
2 punctures in the front (1 was a snakebite as I could only manage about 80psi with my handpump) the other in the back.
straight punctures through the middle of the tyres.
Only had the bike since August, and got the tyres in Sept/Oct as the standard tyres had the same problem. These maybe have 600 miles use.

Could my weight be an issue? I'm about 16 and a half stone. Any advice other than staying off the pies?
Also, and slime filled tubes at this sort of pressure any use?

Ta!

[psmiffy]

M + I did 9600km on them in Europe last summer - a lot of it in Poland and the Baltic States on "not very good" roads without a single episode.

However, from the point of view of getting them on and off the rims they frighten me