Considering another tyre. Recommendations.

[silva]

Many years ago I chosed Schwalbes Marathon Plus tyres for my bikes, reason the advertised puncture resistence.
Now I'm about to dump these for another brand and/or model because, in topdown order of annoyancy
1) They are very hard to get off, and also back on, without denting/damaging the rim and the tyre end, risking rubber pieces coming off, exposing the steel wires to rust, and compromising the structural integrity (poof..) of the tyre.
2) I still got 1-2 punctures yearly, most due to nails / schrapnel, and since the antileak compound changed color green>blue, more frequently, even due to stones with a sharper edge, that get like stuck in it, not pushed back out, further cutting till inner tyre leak.

SO I searched around and found some info:
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/reviews/tyres/schwalbe-marathon-plus-tire-review-robust-and-reliable

...Even sharp thumb tacks/drawing pins cannot puncture it - ...

That reads nice but for me and others (see below) proved otherwise.
I got less punctures with the Schwalbe Super-Moto-X tyres that are dead easy to get on/off - even without any tool.

This quite recent (2023) remarkable thread, used on a cargo bike, so similar to my usage, a couple sixpacks 1.5 liters is 18 kg but it happens several times a year that I have double that weight.
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?t=154814
There are some interesting reads, Schwalbe has have had a fail design or production, being not enough rubber around the steel wires causing disattachment ("slipping between steel and rubber") quickly (because selfreinforcing) causing the tyre becoming dead easy to put on/off, to such a degree that it happens without trying.
But according to what is said there, that was a problem in a past, that has been solved.
An interesting comment there:

It has to be a flaw with the metal bead around the edge. That is the main thing that keeps the tyre edge exactly the right size.

I would say, if a tyre is so hard to mount unmount, risking damage, then the size is NOT correct from the beginning. Reason being steel wire (from what I saw in the past when I damaged one), a cable, too short / not wound to the diameter that means reasonable force to get off/on.

I lost like 45 min this morning to just get one side of the tyre over the rim wall, and used 2 mm stainlees steel plates to prevent denting the rim and plastic/nylon to prevent damaging the rubber. ALL air out, one lever in, turn, hook over spoke, with some effort, succeeds. But that pulls the steel cable out of shortest course, making it even harder to get a second one in.
Years ago I saw a dealer taking it off with a kinda shoe puller 70 cm long I think, in one time, proving that it's all about alot force, and special maybe do it yourself tools, to save time and reduce risk of damage.
It's just silly. I rather prefer 3 punctures yearly that are easy to fix along the road, than 1 that is a walk home despite spare inners and tools that do the job on all other tyres.

At some point one has to say enuf is enuf and look for something else that delivers a better overall, which is what I try here.
Mass tests on the web, about all thing out there in the world, I experienced as bad references.
Good references come from people that used the things many years, upto present day.
.
The Schwalbe Marathon Plus marked tyre also shows:
Performance Line 37-622 28x1.40 700x35C E-BIKE READ <lightning strike symbol>50KM
The rim says:
EXAL 19 Safety System

 

[Ajax Bay]

This just reads like a rant. What you need is a knack (insert standard video link here of the bearded bloke with toeclip straps to force the bead into the rim well). And tough strong thumbs.
Some rim/tyre combos are harder than others. A M+ are both by reputation and ime hard graft.
But they score very highly on all sites which try to quantify puncture resistance.

 

[markemark]

I love my Continental Grand Prix 4 Season. Tried a number of tyres and these are super fast and seem pretty good at puncture resistance. Are also reasonably easy to replace road-side.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Goodyear Vector 4seasons are super grippy & durable with a kevlar bead. They go on easy although I have never had trouble getting any tyre on tbh.

The slightly cheaper but more puncture resistant Vector Sport is similar but has a wire bead.

They get good reviews and, early days for me, seem to live up to the hype (4seasons 32mm).

 

[Ajax Bay]

https://www.bicyclerollingresistanc...5000-2018-vs-michelin-pro-4-endurance-v2-2015
They are as fast as the rider pedals, but I assure you they are not "super fast". Their rolling resistance is comparatively high.
I used to roll GP4Ss but moved on to 4000s (have been pleased to find three more 4000s in 28-622 recently).
The catch (for the OP) is that they come in max width 32 and the OP needs 37.
Same problem for the Goodyears.

 

[silva]

My tyre doesn't need to be "fast".
I assume rolling resistence is a function of sturdyness of the carcass and the profile.
When i considered the tyres for my travelbike, I was somewhat afraid that the Super-Moto-X due to their 62 mm width would make riding much harder. That turned out to be wrong - it was surprisingly equally easy.
The bikes purpose is not to race, but to ferry everything I need/want with the bike hence my avatar sight.
That was also the usage of my previous/current bike, due to avatar bike frame broken and under replacement, only that the frame was too small for my person, and the tyres too narrow to not risk a fall everyday in city.
I want to get rid of the Marathon Plus replacement / whatever mount/unmount reason hassle.
There has to be a brand/model out there that is comparable to Super-Moto-X in rubber quality, puncture resistence and profile (alot road contact, to spread wear over bigger surface, much like Marathon Plus and Super-Moto-X.
I'm not ruling out another Schwalbe model.
But they're so many models from so many brands with so many price differences that asking other peoples experience may avoid some wrong buys.

 

[silva]

They go on easy although I have never had trouble getting any tyre on tbh.

Ever put on/off these Marathon Pluses?
It's just ridiculous.

Since around 2016 I started to replace inners and outers myself, the 20 years earlier I put in my spare wheel and rode asap to the dealer with the punctured one on my rear rack or my back.
I did that i think 4 times along the road and 2 times at home or at work, using a variety of dedicated tools and ersatz tools.
At some point I tried one grip side of a small pliers, that's strong (to lift/leverage the steel wire out of its position), thin (can get inbetween), round (no damage denting to rim). But another time it failed, alike the Marathon Pluses differ abit in tension / diameter of that steel wiring.

Then, with the supermotox on the travelbike, it was like geez so easy, even without any tools, and same brand Schwalbe. I have to inflate the inner quite abit to get the outer stay within the frame, the very opposite of the Marathon Pluses. It could of course be that a wider tyre generally installs easier than a narrow one, then the comparison is not fair. But still, it's hard to believe that all tyres of comparable width and other properties install as hard as these. So I decided to ask around.

https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/c...s/continental-grand-prix-4-season-tyre-review
I like the choice of profile;
It's an expensive tyre though, my last purchase of a Marathon Plus, around 2017, was 50 euro.
But the avail sizes there list as 700 x 23c / 700 x 25c / 700 x 28c / 700 x 32c
Looks like my 700x35C isn't in it.
Maybe the EXAL 19 rim works for the 3 mm narrower max listed 32?

Anecdotical: I once had a Marathon Plus flat due to a thumbthack, the very thing the advertising says it doesn't go deep enough and/or bends rather than cutting through. It gave a kinda plop noise, and couple hundreds meter further I noticed the bike had became abnormal hard to ride. The colored plastic cover on the thumbthack was impossible to overlook.
So, on the subject on puncture proof, I'd say, based on experience, that it doesn't differ as much as the advertising claims. And hence, I should have some other options without giving in much on that.

 

[Ajax Bay]

There has to be a brand/model out there that is comparable to Super-Moto-X in rubber quality, puncture resistence and profile (alot road contact, to spread wear over bigger surface, much like Marathon Plus and Super-Moto-X.

Try this one (comes in the widths you need). All the others with high puncture resistance scores are Schwalbe.
https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/tour-reviews/continental-city-ride-ii-2015

View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Continental-Unisexs-TYC01556-Ride-Black/dp/B071SLKMDZ/

47-622
https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/tour-reviews

 

[silva]

Last weekend replaced the nipple, this morning put back inner tyre, to then struggle again half an hour getting the one side of SM+ back on without damage, after seeing some rubber debris from the tyres inner edge on the oround, decided to not try further the standard way of pulling all air out, putting the wall in the deepest of the rim to then pushing the edge over from both sides to the middle.
Also tried wraps as shown in

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XUFVrl0UT4
but the tyres edge slipped back out the done side while you do the other side, it would need an additional (you can't move the existing tie wraps every cycle.
It became clear that only leveraged force in the middle of the 25 cm to do remained as option.

I found in my tools something looking like this: https://www.jondon.com/putty-knife-hammer-cap-4-inch.html
Inserted it in the MIDDLE of the 25 cm to do, started to pull it upwards, and at an angle of like 45 degrees, bingo, the tyres steel wire did the rest by itself. Says it all eh? It was like 5 seconds.

Then I got a deja vu, that dealer I once visited, must have done it like that, I couldnt see it well, but he did it quick, alike in 1 go, with a tool that looked like a shoe puller, halve a meter long.
I will add that scraper tool to my toolbag on the bike.

Buy a Marathon Plus, buy a shoe puller and don't forget to keep it with the bike otherwise you can just leave home spare inners as well since useless.to replace an inner if you can't get the outer off and on.

I marked the spoke whoms nipple broke with yellow tape, so as if a nipple breaks in the future, I'll know if it's the same or another. The non stainless steel inserts in the rim were quite rusty, the spoke was stainless, the nipple probably brass since not magnetic. Will help to decide whether or not messing further with this rim. This particular spoke was stainless, so has been replaced earlier, so suffered break already before.

So I was able to solve the problem myself / at no cost, being a first, for spoke related failures. I just tensioned the spoke on feel, subsequently checked other spokes tension, tensioned further a couple that appeared too lose, and loosened a couple that appeared too much, without checking rims overall shape.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I just tensioned the spoke on feel, subsequently checked other spokes tension, tensioned further a couple that appeared too lose, and loosened a couple that appeared too much, without checking rims overall shape.

Thank you for sharing your success. Given that the rim's overall shape is not really important, by getting the tensions roughly right looks as if the wheel will be well up to your standard, without involving the bike shop people who seem not to give you the service you deserve, or maybe they do.
M+s will be like putty in your hands from now on.

 

[screenman]

Last weekend replaced the nipple, this morning put back inner tyre, to then struggle again half an hour getting the one side of SM+ back on without damage, after seeing some rubber debris from the tyres inner edge on the oround, decided to not try further the standard way of pulling all air out, putting the wall in the deepest of the rim to then pushing the edge over from both sides to the middle.
Also tried wraps as shown in

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XUFVrl0UT4
but the tyres edge slipped back out the done side while you do the other side, it would need an additional (you can't move the existing tie wraps every cycle.
It became clear that only leveraged force in the middle of the 25 cm to do remained as option.

I found in my tools something looking like this: https://www.jondon.com/putty-knife-hammer-cap-4-inch.html
Inserted it in the MIDDLE of the 25 cm to do, started to pull it upwards, and at an angle of like 45 degrees, bingo, the tyres steel wire did the rest by itself. Says it all eh? It was like 5 seconds.

Then I got a deja vu, that dealer I once visited, must have done it like that, I couldnt see it well, but he did it quick, alike in 1 go, with a tool that looked like a shoe puller, halve a meter long.
I will add that scraper tool to my toolbag on the bike.

Buy a Marathon Plus, buy a shoe puller and don't forget to keep it with the bike otherwise you can just leave home spare inners as well since useless.to replace an inner if you can't get the outer off and on.

I marked the spoke whoms nipple broke with yellow tape, so as if a nipple breaks in the future, I'll know if it's the same or another. The non stainless steel inserts in the rim were quite rusty, the spoke was stainless, the nipple probably brass since not magnetic. Will help to decide whether or not messing further with this rim. This particular spoke was stainless, so has been replaced earlier, so suffered break already before.

So I was able to solve the problem myself / at no cost, being a first, for spoke related failures. I just tensioned the spoke on feel, subsequently checked other spokes tension, tensioned further a couple that appeared too lose, and loosened a couple that appeared too much, without checking rims overall shape.

If he had done the valve last he would have had a lot more tyre to play with, novice mistake. Also leave new tyres somewhere warm over night or for a few hours before fitting for the extremely obvious reason.