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Schwalbe marathon plus London ATB

(5 posts)
  • Started 10 years ago by Its_Me_Knees
  • Latest reply from Its_Me_Knees

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  1. Its_Me_Knees
    Member

    I wonder if anyone else on CCE uses these tyres?

    Marathon London ATB

    I have them on my ATB that I use to commute. I generally like Schwalbe tyres but these tyres seem to me to be oddly twitchy for a fat-ish ATB-for-urban-use tyre. Yesterday on my run to work my front wheel went sideways from underneath me at low speed, when I was neither braking nor accelerating nor turning. I wound up on the deck having a stare-off with the tarmac. There were wet leaves around but I don't think they were responsible either. My hunch is that the zig-zag centre tread on these tyres predisposes the wheel to slide to one side or another, more so maybe at less-than-average speeds. It may be academic because I think these tyres were a 'limited edition' but I just wondered if anyone else had used them and had similar issues...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  2. RJ
    Member

    Nope - standard M+ on the fair weather bike, spiky Marathons on the winter hack.

    That wobbly centre ridge looks well dodgy to me. Superficially it reminds me of Conti's old Town and Country tyre, but on those the central ridge looked more "stable". They certainly rode OK.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  3. Its_Me_Knees
    Member

    I think Conti T&Cs put substantially more rubber on the road compared to the Schwalbes. That dodgy centre ridge is, I think, intended to keep the contact area to the same as one might get from a slick road tyre, and hence keep the rolling resistance low. But it's also supposed to impart some extra grip by virtue of the zig-zag and some satellite knobbles if the bike leans over. Not convinced that any of that theory works in practise though...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  4. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Mystery falls are generally well correlated with spillages of diesel. Entry/exit to roundabouts near filling stations always worth a close look.

    Freshly dieseled tarmac has about the same grip as polished ice.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  5. Its_Me_Knees
    Member

    @IWRATS: Don't think I can blame diesel for this one. I was commuting to work along Melville Drive (West->East) and took my usual right turn at Argyle Place, which involves using a short tarmacced desire line that runs diagonally, joining the junction to the main shared use path that runs parallel to Melville Drive between the drive and Fingal Place / Rillbank Crescent. It was on that short tarmac strip that I took a tumble. No evidence of the tell-tale diesel sheen when I looked at the offending surface...

    Posted 10 years ago #

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