Buy Schwalbe Marathon Plus HS 348 Road Bike Tire (24x1.75, Allround Wire Beaded, Reflex)Schwalbe Marathon Plus HS 348 Road Bike Tire (24x1.75, Allround Wire Beaded, Reflex) Product Description:
- Item Shape: Wire Beaded, Outstanding performance
- Extended durability
- The SmartGuard layer made from a flexible, special rubber offers particular resistance to shards of glass and flints
- The SmartGuard belt does not increase rolling resistance
- The Marathon Plus rolls as easily as a tire without protection
Product Description
Schwalbe Marathon Plus RLX Bicycle Tires are designed for extended durability and outstanding performance. The SmartGuard layer made from a flexible, special rubber offers particular resistance to shards of glass and flints. The SmartGuard belt does not increase rolling resistance.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
By Bernard Morey
Do you enjoy getting punctures on a cold, wet dark commute? If you don't mind this tire is not for you. Perhaps, like me, you have an internal gear hub and fixing punctures on the road requires extra tools and is not straightforward. If you can't abide punctures this tyre is for you.I just fitted my second set. The first set was on a previous bike and was a great experience. I went from regular punctures, so much so that I avoided riding in the wet, to nil.There are a couple of things to bear in mind. First, they can be hard to fit because they are stiffer than regular tires. The previous tyres were 700x35 and fairly easy to fit on wider hybrid-type rimsThe new ones are 700x28 on 14mm rims and were quite hard. In the end I used a cable tie to hold both beads in the rim while I worked the second bead in. I used tyre levers for the last section. This probably wouldn't be a problem should I ever have to remove them (unlikely) as they will wear-in and conform to the rim after a while.On my first ride with the Schwalbe MPs I didn't notice much difference over the Maxxis 'training' tyres I was using previously. The main difference is with the thicker tread I don't feel every little stone and crack in the road or on the trail. This gives the erroneous impression they are not as `responsive'. This is not the case -- actual riding is little different to conventional tyres. A couple of rides and the `newness' will disappear. It's a comfortable ride for a high-pressure tyre (I run them at 90 psi). They are heavier than conventional tires but this is irrelevant for commuting, touring, pleasure riding, and so on.Point two. These tires are quite expensive, about four times the price of a basic tire. But how much is your time worth fixing punctures? At my charge-out rate they pay for themselves in under two punctures.Now I don't need to swerve around shards of glass and broken bottles -- just go straight over the top. I can enjoy my ride in all weather without worrying about invisible bits of wire, small screws and nails. Highly recommended.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
By Thunder Chorus of Philadelphia
I commute on my bike in an urban setting... busses, trucks, cabs, curbs, potholes, etc... and I am a 250 lb+ guy so I am hard on little skinny road bike tires so I decied to beef up and get some heavier duty tires. These are really nice. They improve my ride quite a bit over the CST tires I had on the bike and I find they handle the curbs and bumps like a champ. My goal is fewer flats... seems like this should work. Only downside I see is that now my fancy bike weighs more... like a less fancy bike.
46 of 52 people found the following review helpful.
By adjective
Let's face it: until drunks stop tossing their empties in the street and druggies stop punching out car windows to steal wallets, bicyclists will be running over glass, and tires will be going flat. This is enough of an annoyance when you're off to Quickie Mart to buy a loaf of bread, but it's positively vexatious when you are a commuter, when a flat tire often means you're late to work. Or late getting home when you're done with work.Bicycle manufacturers know this. That's why even the entry-level "commuter" or "utility" model bikes often come with puncture-resistant tires, like the Bontragers (quite good tires, by the way) that my Trek hybrid originally had, before they got so bad that even the punctures had punctures. I replaced them with these even though they had some tread left. That's the way it goes with puncture-resistant tires: once they get a few punctures, they become more susceptible to more punctures. A "vicious cycle," if you will.Anyway, Schwalbe is one of the premier bike tire brands. They're quite well-known in Europe, and less so in the U.S., except among "serious" riders. Cargo haulers swear by them, as do commuters. Reportedly, this is the single most popular commuter-type tire in Europe. Europeans know what's up; this tire is designed for heavy use in all urban conditions, wet and dry. Tread is good for damaged pavement--not too much, not too little--which is good because with the economic situation we're in, there's going to be a whole lotta pavement going bad in the next few years. If your pavement is REALLY bad, as in breaking apart, then I would recommend some tires with a fairly flat middle part and more of a mountain bike tread toward the edges to help with cornering, rather than the Marathons. Another thing these tire have going for them are the reflective sidewalls, which significantly increase your visibility when viewed from the side; this is a major consideration with so many drivers being either drunk or simply "out to lunch."Of course, the main selling point is the innovative puncture-resistant layer under the tread. Schwalbe is said to be the best in this regard, but I haven't had these tires long enough to comment on that. The shards will assuredly put them to the test in due time. I can say that, unlike some other "ruggedized" tires, their rolling resistance is no higher than the last ones I had, nor did I notice an increase in weight.All in all, I'm very happy with the Schwalbes. True, they are expensive, but the axiom about getting what you pay for is especially true with bicycle tires, perhaps the single most important component on the bike, and ironically, also the most overlooked. Outfitting your bike with good parts, especially good tires, does pay real dividends in terms of safety, and also in terms of long-term maintenance costs (since they need less frequent replacement.) Cheapo tires, in addition to having a shorter lifespan, often fail completely (and painfully) from incidents that only superficially damage premium tires.
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