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Hole in a Marathon Plus

(30 posts)

Started 5 years ago by urchaidh
Latest reply from Snowy
This topic is not resolved
poll: Should I...
Run it : (10 votes)

63 %

Bin it : (6 votes)

38 %

16 votes

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urchaidh
Member

Got a rare puncture through my hefty Marathon Plus rear tyre a couple of weeks back. Looked like a wee cut clean through so repaired tube and carried on. Last week, got a second puncture in almost exactly the same place (right on the edge of previous patch, !) so I removed the tyre for a closer look this time.

It all looked fine, but clearly something was going on so I stuck a wee screw driver into the hole and felt something grate. After a bit of digging I removed a 4mm chunk of glass.

I may have made the hole a wee bit bigger on the outside getting the glass out. Should I keep running it or am I asking for trouble?

(Also discovered one of my spare 700/35ish tubes has a Dunlop valve if anyone wants it.)

Posted 5 years ago #
jdanielp
Member

Actually, thinking again, I might have considered suggesting swapping it out with the front tyre, but quite a faff.

Posted 5 years ago #
wingpig
Member

"One more direct hit on the back quarter and we're done for" etc.

If you regularly check for embedded glass you could possibly keep it going for a while but holes widen, things lodge, tubes can bubble out through wee holes etc. so I'd at least boot I, but then I stick a layer of anti-flat tape inside Marathons Plus anyway.

Posted 5 years ago #
Frenchy
Member

Edit: Wrong thread

Posted 5 years ago #
bill
Member

After my first puncture in my Marathon Plus I started getting punctures every 3-4 months (front and back). I had one fairly large hole (you could stick a screw driver through it) and put some gaffa tape on it, as I didn't even know that an anti-flat tape is a thing. For the peace of mind I eventually got a new set.

As @wingpig says, at least put some tape. If you get another puncture, then bin it.

Posted 5 years ago #
sallyhinch
Member

My front Marathon Plus was pretty worn and had stuff embedded in it and the back one kept puncturing (this was during blackthorn season). In the end I persuaded my local bike shop to put a new one on the back and the back one on the front and it's been fine so far (fingers crossed). Bike shop guy was reluctant as he felt the front one still had plenty of life left in it but I felt I'd feel pretty foolish if the front one blew out after I'd had ample warning

Posted 5 years ago #
steveo
Member

How much is your time worth? I'd bin it the cost of a new tyre vs the time patching a tube (in a marathon plus).

Not worth it.

Posted 5 years ago #
neddie
Member

I would keep it running unless the tube starts to show.

Time / money isn't everything and we need to move from consumerism to a repair-it society.

Keep the tyre out of landfill / the ocean for as long as possible...

Posted 5 years ago #
steveo
Member

Thats a good point and for most stuff I'd agree but one too many delays on the way to work and you're up on disciplinaries life starts to get difficult all to save a tyre for a few more months.

So unless your company culture has moved away from consumerism I'd say get a new tyre.

Posted 5 years ago #
neddie
Member

unless your company culture has moved away from consumerism

If we all wait for everyone else first, we're doomed.

Posted 5 years ago #
paddyirish
Member

What is the wear on the rest of the tyre like? If tread is still thick and sidewall strong, I'd keep going, with the tape.

If rest of tyre is worn, maybe consider the replacement.

Posted 5 years ago #
steveo
Member

If we all wait for everyone else first, we're doomed.

And if you get fired and left to depend on the state as it is then you'll know suffering.

Posted 5 years ago #
urchaidh
Member

There's plenty tread/life left in the tyre. I found one other small cut when checking it, the rest looks fine.

I couldn't quite believe that that there was a sizeable chunk of glass in there that I didn't notice after the first puncture, and that the tyre ran happily for over a week with the glass in there.

The front is a standard Marathon nearing the end of life so I may rotate and fit a new Plus to the rear. I'd bought two pluses but ended up only fitted the rear one because it was such a royal PITA to fit and I couldn't face doing the front.

I'll also look into protection tape.

Thanks for all the good advice.

Posted 5 years ago #
crowriver
Member

"The front is a standard Marathon nearing the end of life so I may rotate and fit a new Plus to the rear. "

Sounds like a sensible move.

"And if you get fired and left to depend on the state as it is then you'll know suffering."

Quite a drastic, if effective way of unilaterally opting out of the consumer society. Carbon footprint will drop like a stone along with your weight, mental health, etc.

Posted 5 years ago #
Ed1
Member

my marathon has had a few holes but still going strong

Posted 5 years ago #
gembo
Member

Super glue is supposedly good for holes?

Posted 5 years ago #
wingpig
Member

Super glue is quite rigid, though. I used to dab wee blobs of vulcanising solution into rubbery holes but haven't bothered trying that for several years.

Posted 5 years ago #
gembo
Member

Ive never gone with super glue just repeating old wives tales from the West Lothian Cycling Forum

Posted 5 years ago #
Snowy
Member

I'm voting for repair, with serious taping....

Posted 5 years ago #
gembo
Member

I voted that way too

Posted 5 years ago #
rbrtwtmn
Member

I've never yet replaced a tyre just because of a puncture hole - marathon or otherwise. I've had plenty of punctures in my life - but I don't ever remember getting one at such a hole.... although maybe that's just my memory going. I have had an increase in punctures once the tread is worn thin - and replace at that time. (And I'm not counting the couple of much bigger holes/gashes I've had from more dramatic damage, or holes at the point when the tyre as a whole is worn out - but that's not what we're talking about here either). I'd definitely mend. Buy some kind of rubbery glue if you like to fill the hole - I wonder if the kind of flexible stuff you can buy to mend wet suits would work? I've always assumed that rubber solution will only stick to rubber, and will quickly perish if not under a patch (so wouldn't fill a hole with it).

Posted 5 years ago #
gembo
Member

Glass can live inside Marathon Plus. It gets worn into pebbles which can be extracted. In this instance the glass unworn has penetrated the Kevlar through to the tube. Extraction of glass has removed culprit. I suppose it depends how big the hole is? McNett Seamgrip is the stuff for tents and for Ortlieb pannier repairs

Posted 5 years ago #
neddie
Member

It's worth going round tyres periodically and picking out all the bits of glass with a small screwdriver. It also helps you discover all the holes that you didn't know were there.

On a separate note, what kind of Dickensian company gives out disciplinaries for arriving late in this day and age? Do office-based businesses even have a concept of arriving "late"? Ours certainly doesn't. Why would you alienate motivated staff by hauling them up for arriving "late", with a genuine reason? Is it all part of the spoiled, entitled, snowflake generation? Sure, you can cause disruption and upset people by being late for a meeting, but the first meeting of the day isn't always at the nominal start time. Do people still work down coal mines? Just asking the questions...

Posted 5 years ago #
steveo
Member

what kind of Dickensian company gives out disciplinaries for arriving late

Call Centres....

(anyone customer facing, retail, etc.)

My office boss couldn't care less when I turn up as long as the work is done but if I end up working late to catch up and leave my home boss to deal with the children etc it is much worse than any disciplinary work could hand out!

Posted 5 years ago #
bill
Member

@neddie I am interested what other people say since so many times I have been told by my boss "You don't know what the industry is like. You came from academia". We have to be on time but we also don't get disciplinaries for being late. If routinely being late, then regular reminders "don't be late". We should arrive early enough, so have a cup of tea/coffee/brekkie sorted and be ready to start working at 8am sharp.

Posted 5 years ago #
I were right about that saddle
Member

On a separate note, what kind of Dickensian company gives out disciplinaries for arriving late in this day and age?

All of them, for customer-facing and shift roles. Also don't forget that many people are now outside employment law altogether, having been forcibly self-employed.

It's easy to forget how brutal the workplace can be outside the nice middle-class office-based world.

Posted 5 years ago #
urchaidh
Member

I wasn't worried by the initial hole on the first puncture, nor the other one I dound while checking the tyre. It was only after the second puncture, finding the lump of glass, and possibly enlarging the hole while removing it, that I started to wonder if I should just retire the tyre.

What brand(s) of protective tape would folks recommend?

It's easy to forget how brutal the workplace can be outside the nice middle-class office-based world.

Absolutely. Our office has taken a definite turn towards the Dickensian lately (American owners' influence I suspect) but it's still incredibly flexible.

Posted 5 years ago #
chrisfl
Member

@bill, a strict 08:00 start time seems very harsh to me.

I think our contract has core hours of 09:30 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 16:00 when were expected to be in the office but how we structure our hours around that is entirely down to individuals, and personal schedules. But this does give me the ability to get children to school and get into the office by 09:30, and means that Mrs F can start work earlier in order to pick up ant the end of the day.

As far as I can tell this is a culture from HP and passed down through a series of comply splits and sell offs.

Those of us in relaxed office environments are definitely fortunate, and this kind of flexibility doesn't work if someone needs to be in to answer the phone or deal with people.

I remember when I started working apologising because I was going to be in late and one of the managers telling me off for apologizing. What's important is actually getting work done and being available when needed.

Posted 5 years ago #
Snowy
Member

I consider myself very lucky that I do my hours pretty much when and where I choose, as long as I cover my core meetings, the rest is flexible. I can take the kids to school, work, collect them, work a bit more, etc. Job gets done, everyone happy. Leads to constant low-level imposter syndrome, in fact.

I contrast this with the jobs I had as a student and early working life where the workplaces seemed to be full of fairly nasty and vindictive personalities masquerading as managers. It's no fun being docked an hour's pay for being a minute late, especially if you were earning £1.25 an hour. At least we have the minimum wage now but these personalities are still out there.

Posted 5 years ago #
Snowy
Member

P.S. Have you considered Gatorskins? ;-)

Posted 5 years ago #

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