First ride with new Marathon plus tyres "puncture"

[Old Timer]

My first ride with my new Marathon plus tyres today and I came back with a front puncture

True I sought out a few of the worst country lanes to test them but was a bit surprised just how bad a certain lane had become, loads of flint, mud, crud from tractors bringing in the sugar beet harvest.

The chip of flint was still stuck in the tyre and had just punctured the tube. The bit of flint was about 1/2" long with a perfect needle sharp point. If you had designed a bit of flint to puncture a tyre then this was it.

If I flex the tyre i can open up the hole on the outside of the tyre and see the hole that has been made into the blue puncture resistant material. On the inside there is just a mark where the point entered. At first I thought of replacing the tyre but I`m assured by some other Marathon users that the tyre will survive.
So I`ll turn the tube around and repair it and probably put a patch on the inside of the tyre to prevent any ingress of water and/or grit.

I must say that a lot of the fault is mine because this lane was about as bad as things get and under normal circumstances you might get off or turn around but I pushed my luck and paid the price.

 

[flecc]

I pushed my luck and paid the price.

The one puncture I ever had in an MP tyre in years of using them on three bikes was for the same reason.

Coming upon a cycle path with a thick layer of freshly cut blackthorn awaiting clearance, I arrogantly rode over it and similarly paid the price.

Lesson learnt, no further punctures since.
.

 

[Leesome]

Fitted today a 20inch Marathon plus. Must add, did expect the tyre to more heavy duty. Fitted this morning, ten miles on throttle and very impressed. Appears be lot wider than 1.75 been using. However, might be was riding on solid tube. On Old Timer's issue, flint is as described like riding on razor blades, touch too much for the tyre? Did consider extra additional protection from inner tube protector. When I fit tyre correct way, should by then ordered.

Hope the walk back Old Timer was not far?

 

[Mussels]

If I flex the tyre i can open up the hole on the outside of the tyre and see the hole that has been made into the blue puncture resistant material. On the inside there is just a mark where the point entered. At first I thought of replacing the tyre but I`m assured by some other Marathon users that the tyre will survive.

By the time I ditch a tyre there are usually a couple of dozen holes like that with a few larger cuts, apart from sidewall failures only once has a cut caused me to scrap a tyre.

 

[eddieo]

I had my marathons fitted when bike was in for service. I always thought they where a pig to fit...that yours went on without tools made me wonder are they the right size for your rims?

 

[Old Timer]

I had my marathons fitted when bike was in for service. I always thought they where a pig to fit...that yours went on without tools made me wonder are they the right size for your rims?

When you read around the web about fitting the Marathons there seems to be those rims that are a breeze and those rims that are difficult. Maybe it is just the rim design. They are the right size for the rims and the guide line( a thin raised seam like line hardly noticeable) is just above the rim edge where it should be. You can`t really judge by the white reflective band alone. To be honest Ed, when you hold a bike tyre in your hand then how hard can it be? It`s all about positioning the part of the tyre that is already on the rim so that it gives the maximum freeplay to the last section to flip on.I must admit i had a bowl of soapy water on hand because of what I have read but didn`t need it. I`d never let someone else put my bike tyres on. Up till fairly recently I used to do my own car tyres Thinking about it, maybe it was the distorted way they were sent to me that stretched them
A bit disappointing to puncture so early on but at least now I know the limits and it`s all good practice. I`ll patch the inside of the tyre and try again.

One thing that comes to mind is that I have a fairly large drive and (like most people around North Norfolk) it is of flint, so I`ll have to get off of the bike at the road in future in case it was picked up on my own drive.(which I doubt but you never know) the biggest test will be in the Autumn when all the farmers trim the hedges (inc mine)

 

[Leesome]

Had no problem fitting a 20 inch Marathon.

 

[flecc]

I must admit i had a bowl of soapy water on hand because of what I have read but didn`t need it.

Funny story in connection with this. Driving a borrowed car, it was shuddering horribly at around 40 mph, the offside front wheel obviously well out of balance.

Pulled into a KwikFit for a balance check and a junior took the job. Wheel spun up and weight added, it was still out of balance, so a second weight added. Still out of balance so a third weight added, the three weights now equi-distant so appearing to cancel each other out.

It was still out of balance, so conference of KwikFit employees decide to remove the tyre to see what was going on. Inside it was over half a pint of soapy water swilling around and constantly changing the balance.

Owner later confessed he'd fitted the tyre using levers and copious quantities of soapy water.
.

 

[Old Timer]

Funny story in connection with this. Driving a borrowed car, it was shuddering horribly at around 40 mph, the offside front wheel obviously well out of balance.

Pulled into a KwikFit for a balance check and a junior took the job. Wheel spun up and weight added, it was still out of balance, so a second weight added. Still out of balance so a third weight added, the three weights now equi-distant so appearing to cancel each other out.

It was still out of balance, so conference of KwikFit employees decide to remove the tyre to see what was going on. Inside it was over half a pint of soapy water swilling around and constantly changing the balance.

Owner later confessed he'd fitted the tyre using levers and copious quantities of soapy water.
.

I had that on 4 wheels of a brand new Sierra, the guy next door was a production manager at Fords and took my car in on a night shift to find that the machine that applies liquid to the tyres in the factory had gone wrong and was putting far too much fluid around the tyres. Perfect after that( although I had spent a lot of money trying to get them balanced.

 

[Old Timer]

images of tyre

puncture Photo Gallery by david chilvers at pbase.com

 

[lemmy]

My first ride with my new Marathon plus tyres today and I came back with a front puncture

True I sought out a few of the worst country lanes to test them

That is wonderfully English and eccentric buy tyres that are puncture resistant and go out trying to puncture them.

No offence meant, it gave me a good chuckle.

BTW I don't know if I'm the only one but I always have a giggle at folk who 'peddle' their bikes. If they mean it literally, we truly are as Napoleon describes us, a nation of shop keepers

 

[Old Timer]

That is wonderfully English and eccentric buy tyres that are puncture resistant and go out trying to puncture them.

No offence meant, it gave me a good chuckle.

BTW I don't know if I'm the only one but I always have a giggle at folk who 'peddle' their bikes. If they mean it literally, we truly are as Napoleon describes us, a nation of shop keepers

I didn`t go out to puncture them obviously `wally` but to test them and the test proves that they are not infallible as I had been led to believe by so many learned cyclists. Teach me not to believe everything I read on these forums

 

[eddieo]

Have never liked flint....when i was out horse riding in Ireland the horse scrapped my leg against a flint wall it was not a very nice experience.

 

[flecc]

BTW I don't know if I'm the only one but I always have a giggle at folk who 'peddle' their bikes. If they mean it literally, we truly are as Napoleon describes us, a nation of shop keepers

Yes, we are for ever correcting this, but it seems to no avail.

Trying again:

Peddling means selling something, normally articles sold by an itinerant seller known as a Peddler. The title peddler is now widely used to describe dealers in illegal drugs.

There is no such article as a peddle, that word is a verb meaning "to sell".

In Cycling:

We pedal our bicycles and they are equipped with pedals. When doing that, we are pedalling.
.

 

[Old Timer]

Have never liked flint....when i was out horse riding in Ireland the horse scrapped my leg against a flint wall it was not a very nice experience.

Yeh! that can be nasty stuff, I know if I`m out the front and kneel down for any reason and hit it wrong it`s bloody painful.

Just went for a ride with the repaired tyre and it doesn`t appear to be opening up at all so I`ll probably just plod on and see what happens

 

[flecc]

Just went for a ride with the repaired tyre and it doesn`t appear to be opening up at all so I`ll probably just plod on and see what happens

Mine have had lots of large and deep cuts but have never given any trouble, and I remember someone posting recently with the same experience. It seems you probably won't have any problems.
.

 

[Old Timer]

Mine have had lots of large and deep cuts but have never given any trouble, and I remember someone posting recently with the same experience. It seems you probably won't have any problems.
.

Fingers crossed

 

[Alex728]

Yes, we are for ever correcting this, but it seems to no avail.

Trying again:

Peddling means selling something, normally articles sold by an itinerant seller known as a Peddler. The title peddler is now widely used to describe dealers in illegal drugs.

There is no such article as a peddle, that word is a verb meaning "to sell".

In Cycling:

We pedal our bicycles and they are equipped with pedals. When doing that, we are pedalling.
.

so if a rasta man was riding a MTB with a bag of weed under his tam to sell to his mates he would be a pedalling peddler (actually he would be better off wearing a helmet with straps, as if he went too fast his tam might blow off his head and he'd lose the stash)

 

[flecc]

so if a rasta man was riding a MTB with a bag of weed under his tam to sell to his mates he would be a pedalling peddler (actually he would be better off wearing a helmet with straps, as if he went to fast his tam might blow off his head and he'd lose the stash)

Yup, perzactly!
.

 

[Old Timer]

Yup, perzactly!
.

I once brought a house from a mr and mrs peddler and then got pulled up for a vat check from Mr Medler