Top Tip. Fitting Schwable Marathon Plus Tyres

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Globalti

Legendary Member
You'd be able to fit any tyre with your thumbs if you used this simple, cheap, natural dry lubricant:

talcum-powder.jpg
 

subaqua

What’s the point
Location
Leytonstone
in carrying out the big service on the bike , I noticed that my tyres were a little worn ( OK well a lot but not down to the inner cores) so I put new marathon pluses on.

I should have videoed it as it took less than 5 minutes to do each wheel. that's remove old tyre , refit tube and new tyre. No straps, no tyre levers for refit and only 2 required for removal ( could have done with one but why struggle).

why does everybody think its difficult
 

dfthe1

Senior Member
Two broken tyre levers and concentric blisters and my thumbs when I did it. Does talc really work?
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
According to my local bike shop, a tyre that is difficult to fit on one rim can be easier on another.

In t'other words, rim sizes and well depth varies a tiny bit.

Those variables, and the variable technique of each cyclist, accounts for why some people find Marathon Pluses hard, and some find them easy.

The pluses I recently fitted to my Rose 29er (Mavic rims) fell on.
 

Roadhump

Time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted
I have always used levers and up to now got away with it. The video is really good and I will try that method next time I fit M+s, which won't be long. I fitted 2 a few hundred miles apart last time and have got around 5,000 miles out f them, as opposed to around 2,000 from the Specialized Armadillos that my bike was fitted with when new. I had noticed they were getting worn quite smooth recently and yesterday I had the first puncture with them and was about to d a roadside repair, but then realised I was about half a mile from an LBS so thought why not go and replace my worn tyre now. The shop fitted one there and then and charged me £6 for doing so. Only thing is the valve on the new tube is very short and when I went to check the pressure this morning I can't get my pump to grip it, so now I am going to replace the rear worn tyre with another M+ and put in another tube with a longer valve in the front one.
 
OP
OP
beatlejuice

beatlejuice

Gently does it...
Location
Mid Hampshire
Because subarea fitting on a 35mm rim no problem. However replacing the stock 23mm with 25mm Marathon Pluses on a Triban near impossible for normal mortals. Typically problems arise when putting the last bit of tyre in the rim. I got one side of the tyre in then no matter what I did I couldn't get the other side to play ball. I honestly thought I had brought the wrong size tyre it was so way off.
 

Tom B

Guru
Location
Lancashire
Two broken tyre levers and concentric blisters and my thumbs when I did it. Does talc really work?

Or powdered chalk...Works for me....

Make sure you have both sides of the tyre sat in the deepest part of the rim.

All that said my 28s were tighter on a mavic than a rigida rim. But just about doable with talc and thumbs.
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
Two broken tyre levers and concentric blisters and my thumbs when I did it. Does talc really work?

Does it work? Why do you think talc is so popular amongst divers for "lubricating" tight cuffs and collars on drysuits? New rubber is sticky and talc is naturally slippery; I was taught to use talc in the 60s for fitting tyres, helping the inner tubes to settle inside them and as the last thing you do after patching an inner tube to prevent the excess glue from sticking the tube to the tyre. Puncture repair kits even come with a tiny cube of chalk or talc and a tiny file. Somehow over the decades this little workshop dodge seems to have been forgotten.
 
Last edited:

simongt

Guru
Location
Norwich
Had the same problem when I recently bough a new pair. After much swearing etc., took the wheel + tyre to my local LBS and he whipped it on in about seven seconds; as he said, with his years of experience, it's all in the wrist action - !:rofl: Does get easier as they age / mature.
 

Roadhump

Time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted
Well I am feeling very pleased with myself because I have just fitted two 700 x 28C Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres to my bike. I have fitted them before but this time I used the method shown in the video above. This was to replace the 2 I fitted about 5,000 miles ago and lasted me puncture free until last week.

The first I fitted was brand new and was the more difficult; after getting one side of the tyre into the rim it was extremely difficult getting even a little bit of the other side into it, eventually I did but after a few minutes it slipped out and getting it back in seemed impossible. Eventually I cheated a little and used a couple of tyre levers to wedge a few inches into the rim and then used a strap to keep that little bit still which enabled me to get more and more in. About 10 minutes after that I had that one done.

The second was the one fitted by the LBS last week, I had ridden about 50 miles on it so it was again more or less brand new. The LBS bloke put a tube in that had a very short valve and I couldn't get my pump nozzle on it to check the pressure or inflate it, so I put a new tube with a longer valve in this time. This was much easier than the first one and although the last bit was tight and took a lot of manipulation, I managed to do this without resorting to levers and thus risking nipping the tube.

Was the second one easier because it had been "broken in" having been fitted once already at the LBS, even though that was only 10 days ago and it had only been taken on 2 rides of around 25 miles each since then?
 

Ajax Bay

Guru
Location
East Devon
The first I fitted was brand new and was the more difficult; after getting one side of the tyre into the rim it was extremely difficult getting even a little bit of the other side into it, eventually I did but after a few minutes it slipped out and getting it back in seemed impossible. Eventually I cheated a little

Brand new are hard. My 'cheat' (with dusk approaching) was the use of teeth to clamp the first bit of the second side in place and work slowly out from there with thumbs. That was before seeing the video. Now I would use a zip tie (vice a toe strap in the video). Or not buy this tyre: 756g for a 28-622.
 
Top Bottom