Marathon XR for extreme journeys
New Aramid Puncture Protection belt.
The extreme expedition tire is now better protected against thorns - the most frequent destroyers of tires on long journeys: A new, extremely densely woven Aramid protection belt protects the Marathon XR in particular from penetration punctures.
Hardly any other fabric can handle as much as Aramid. The fiber strengthens bullet-proof vests and is also used in space exploration. The gold-yellow organic material has extreme resistance to loads and high tear strength.
In the Marathon XR Aramid protects particularly against long, pointed foreign bodies, like thorns. "The outstanding thing about the new Travelguard protection belt is its extremely dense weaving", describes Holger Jahn, director of Bohle, Reichshof Wehnrath, the producer of Schwalbe, European market leader in bicycle tires. The patented weaving technology makes it almost impossible for pointed articles to penetrate the protection belt. In particular at the first contact with a thorn, where the penetration forces act at their highest, the protection belt is strongest. If a thorn is ridden over, it usually breaks rather than puncture the tire. Schwalbe developed Travelguard together with the U.S. manufacturer Warwick Mills, which supplies among other things materials to NASA. "No textile, puncture protection belt is as impenetrable as that made by Warwick the Mills", said Holger Jahn.
The modern, versatile tread of the Marathon XR ensures riders' safety both on and off road. Additional safety feature: Reflex lines make the folding tires highly visible in bad light conditions. The Schwalbe developers derived the rubber compound from a mixture used for motorcycle tires. It is extremely abrasion resistant and the most robust compound of the entire Schwalbe range.
Schwalbe classifies the new Marathon XR as part of its exclusive 'Evolution Line'. Like all tires in this series it has distinctive, large white letters on the sidewall. From 2005 the XR is available in the wider size of 700 x 50C, 50-622. Apart from the increased comfort that the broader version offers, it has better load bearing capabilities than narrower tires and so is ideally suited for tandems and bikes with heavy luggage. With these uses in mind Schwalbe added protection around the bead, so that the sidewall is not scrubbed by the rim under extreme load.
Different target groups for Marathon XR and Marathon Plus
"The folding Marathon XR tire is not to be confused with the everyday Marathon Plus tire", explains Holger Jahn. The Marathon Plus is designed for a completely different user group: Its puncture protection belt Smart Guard made from flexible india rubber protects particularly against sharp edged foreign bodies, which remain in the rubber, to be rolled over again and again and thereby bore into the tire. The Marathon XR expedition tire was developed particularly for extreme touring riders who have completely different requirements. Travelguard is designed to protect particularly against thorns. And the 590 gram folding tires fit more easily into luggage.
The Marathon XR is available from independent bicycle dealers.
marathon XR best touring tire
This is the best touring tire on the market. I rode with one on the rear wheel from Seattle to Panama City before I had to replace it, the front tire made it to Santiago, Chile also from Seattle. Only problem is the sidewalls, make sure the tires are seated well on the rims or the sidewalls will split after 3-4000km. The sidewall problem is true in general with Schwalbe tires and is especially pronounced on folding tires like the Marathon Supreme which also weather more quickly, but if you are careful most problems can be averted. Only other problem is that they're very difficult to find in the 26in size, which is aggravating when you want to tour in africa.
I've ridden some other touring tires too, here's the comparison:
Schwalbe Marathon XR: 10,000km range rear wheel, handles well, some flats, sidewalls are the weak area.
Schwalbe Marathon Supreme: 7,000km range rear wheel, handles well, some flats, sidewalls weather quickly
Continental Top Touring: 4,000km range rear wheel, handles well, some flats
Specialized Armadillo: 6,000km range rear wheel, handles ok, poor handling in wet weather, very few flats, tread delaminates after 6,000km
Generic Kenda with lots of rubber: 8,000km range rear wheel, handles poorly, some flats, weathers fairly quickly, but surprisingly not so bad for touring in a pinch, and very cheap.
Marathon XR
7000 kilometers
8 months
7 countries
4 Schwalbe Marathon XRs
2 bikes
1 flat
The best, period.
MARATHON XR
ALL RUSSIA FROM west to east (summer 2005-oct2007) with Marathon XR
http://foto.inbox.lv/jsanag
Just finished a 7-month tour
Just finished a 7-month tour of S. America, some of the hardest roads I've ever encountered and these tires did a great job. They are not entirely bulletproof - I encountered some delamination on the inside of the tire which caused a few flats along the way and witnessed the same on problem some other riders' XRs - just about everyone touring down there is using these. After about 9000km (about 1/2 of that on gravel) they did start to break down so the last month was less enjoyable - lots of flats and eventually a blowout - it's darn near impossible to find 700c stuff in S. America so come prepared, I ended up doing the last 300km on a narrow tire and it wish I had packed some spare XRs. Still, an utterly amazing tire (I'm used to about 2-3000km a tire under touring loads).
Marathon XR tubeless on the divide...
Wow, 500 miles and the little rubber ridge down the middle from the factory hasn't even worn off the rear tire yet! Running 2.25" in front and 2.0" in the rear, with Stan's sealant, and have had no issues. Loving this tire for the Great Divide MTB route. Glad I went fat already, and we haven't even hit the desert yet. Super fast and quiet on the paved, and great sidehill traction. Worth every penny and the extra weight.
Mararthon XR
I toured in Thailand with those tires for three months and only had one flat tire and it was by my own fault:I biked trought a really bad area full of boken glass with my full load.I didn't have the flat right away but some time later.When I fixed the tire I realized that I had the flat because there where a cut.Thinking back I remenber biking in that area full of broken glass.I learned a lesson:those tires are excellent but you still have to be smart enough not to abuse them.Mario Preston.