Had a puncture recently on Schwalbe Marathon Plus

Hurricane

Pedelecer
Jan 31, 2010
118
1
Perthshire
I recently had a puncture with my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyre. After reading how good they are on this forum I decided to fit a pair on both our bikes.

Reckon I have done about 300 miles on mine and I got a puncture on the rear. Managed to pump it up enough to get home and I found the remains of a small nail in it.

Any body else had this misfortune with 'puncture proof' tyres?
 

projem

Finding my (electric) wheels
Mar 27, 2010
23
0
I recently had a puncture with my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyre. After reading how good they are on this forum I decided to fit a pair on both our bikes.

Reckon I have done about 300 miles on mine and I got a puncture on the rear. Managed to pump it up enough to get home and I found the remains of a small nail in it.

Any body else had this misfortune with 'puncture proof' tyres?
:eek: I bought one too, based on posts, so as to not need to fiddle with rear hub motor..... not fitted as yet. Mines a Tour...is it the same?
 

NRG

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 6, 2009
2,592
10
Not had one on mine so far, touch wood...but they can puncture which makes the Schwalbe tag line 'Punctures are a memory' very misleading IMHO....
 

Hurricane

Pedelecer
Jan 31, 2010
118
1
Perthshire
:eek: I bought one too, based on posts, so as to not need to fiddle with rear hub motor..... not fitted as yet. Mines a Tour...is it the same?
No is not the Tour tyre, the standard Marathon Plus with the "Smartguard puncture protection" layer. The puncture was on the rear motor wheel.

I do feel the eighty odd quid spent on four tyres has been a waste of money.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,822
30,383
They are not puncture proof, no pneumatic tyre can be, but they do have a very much lower incidence of punctures than normal tyres. You've just been unlucky but I think it premature to judge them on the one puncture.

I've had just one puncture in 7 years with MPs on three bikes, but my trailer without MPs with far lower mileage got so many punctures over the same period I can't even guess at how many, However, one member got a succession of punctures on MPs. In his case it was a number of steel wire strands scattered along the road he commuted on that were the culprits, too long for the protection to work effectively.
.
 
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mutmost

Pedelecer
Jun 24, 2009
62
0
I have also run marathon plus' for a number of years, and on my old bike had 2 punctures in about 4000 miles.

On my current bike (new set of the same tyres) I had one at 120 miles , 3 more in the next week! and another 2 at 1000 miles (yes I write it down) so was a little put off!

Since then i have had none in the next 1300 miles but at the weekend i did check the tyres and removed six bits of / flint/ glass / thin wire which would have been punctures on other "normal" tyres.

HTH

mutmost
 

Stumpi

Pedelecer
Dec 3, 2009
192
40
Scotland
In two years I've had one punture on a Marathon plus, great big thorn though the sidewall. Bearing in mind the routes I use I used to get about about 1 every two weeks so I'm more than happy with the tyres
 

Alex728

Esteemed Pedelecer
Dec 16, 2008
1,109
-1
Ipswich
Did get a tyre pranged by a particularly large shard of east Anglian flint.

Having dug it out, I actually saved this and kept it on my desk for some months - I remember it being around 5mm in length and 3mm across, and actually shaped like an arrowhead from stone age history books. I did photograph it on a cheap compact camera but didn't get that good a picture (or would have put it on here).

unfortunately since I recently got a DSLR the piece of flint has gone missing :mad:. but this stuff is unavoidable here in East Anglia and there is plenty more - so I suspect I would have been dealing with far more punctures if not using Schwalbe Marathon plus..
 

CeeGee

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 4, 2009
328
0
Weybridge, UK
Just in case Schwalbe read this thread and are handing out freebies :D, I would like to concur with the majority of posters here and I have to say how happy I am with my Marathon Plus tyres, and have been puncture free for the 18 months of use.

Colin
 

HittheroadJ

Pedelecer
Apr 22, 2010
152
16
Northern Ireland, BT1
On 1 "normal" bike with Marathon plusses fitted I have not had a puncture in the 3 months that I have had them. Before that I would average 1 or 2 punctures a week.

On my two Curry Izips I have the Schwalbe Big Apples (both fitted when I got the first puncture on their original Kenda tyres). Kenda took 4 weeks to develop a puncture, both on the rear tyre.
The two big apples have had 1 puncture in 5 months of about 8 miles a day each. On 1 bike I would, therefore, hope to average 1 puncture a year (which I would consider liveable).

I have spare Big Apples to replace the front (Original Kenda) tyres, but they have not had a puncture yet. I consider that very good going too (or I have just been very very lucky)
 
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Old Timer

Esteemed Pedelecer
Dec 5, 2009
1,279
12
Puncture first day out with M plus

I was getting punctures all the time around the thorn and flint infested lanes in Norfolk. So! I invested in Marathon plus tyres and the first ride produced this puncture Photo Gallery by david chilvers at pbase.com :eek:

Since then we have put Marathon plus tyres on our 5 e bikes and (touch wood) no punctures in a year. So, the one unlucky hit that would have destroyed most tyres( the damaged one is still going strong btw) was the first and only puncture. This week I fitted 2 Marathon Plus Tour tyres to my Aurora so we shall see and as Flecc says " they are not puncture proof just resistant"

I was talking with Onmebike the other day about the possibility of maybe inserting a very thin stainless steel liner inside the tyres :D
 

bazwaldo

Pedelecer
Sep 22, 2010
219
21
Hello everyone, I am resurrecting this thread as my fairly new Schwalbe Marathon Plus rear tyre suffered a catastrophic failure when going to work recently.
Luckily it was nearly all the way into work so I only had to push my bike a short way to get there.
I was passing a building sight when I heard an almost explosive bang and shortly after realised I had a flat rear tyre.
I took a photo of the nail which went through the sidewall twice with my mobile phone so it is not the best quality but shows that even "puncture proof" tyres sometimes have no chance to prevent a blow out!



Later that night after I finished work at 11pm I had my Bearprint Ebike in the work front reception area with the rear wheel out changing the innertube before I could cycle the 12 miles to get home.
The Security guy was very understanding about it waiting for me to finish the job.
The punctured innertube had a split of about half an inch in it where it blew out with the high pressure I had put in it just the day before, there was no way it was patchable. My experiences in the past of patching tyres is that after a few days the patch always fails.
Today I tried to repair the 0.25" split in the side wall where the nail exited using superglue.
This seems to have worked and the innertube no longer bulges out of the split!

I still have great faith and belief in the Schwalbe MP tyres as this puncture was very unlucky.

Barry.
 
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morphix

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 24, 2010
2,163
119
Worcestershire
www.cyclecharge.org.uk
I recently had a puncture with my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyre. After reading how good they are on this forum I decided to fit a pair on both our bikes.

Reckon I have done about 300 miles on mine and I got a puncture on the rear. Managed to pump it up enough to get home and I found the remains of a small nail in it.

Any body else had this misfortune with 'puncture proof' tyres?
I think they're good tyres I have them myself and I swear it's saved me loads of punctures..but as flecc said will only lower the incidence of routine punctures from things like thorns, glass etc, but not nails...if you go over a nail you're gonna get a puncture.
 

Old Timer

Esteemed Pedelecer
Dec 5, 2009
1,279
12
I have them on all our bikes and they have done a fantastic job but they can be beaten by nails or small sharp flint pieces. I think for peace of mind I`d renew that tyre

Dave
 

morphix

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 24, 2010
2,163
119
Worcestershire
www.cyclecharge.org.uk
I have them on all our bikes and they have done a fantastic job but they can be beaten by nails or small sharp flint pieces. I think for peace of mind I`d renew that tyre

Dave
Hey Dave good to see you back posting! I've not been around for a while myself. I agree about marathan plus tyres givin that extra piece of mind to go further a field which is essential on electric bikes I think..I'd hate to get stranded middle of nowhere with a puncture! I know some members take punctures in their stride and can deal with them by the roadside, but not me!
 

alfie

Pedelecer
Jul 20, 2011
43
0
I can report no punctures whatsoever after fitting them: 1 year and 2500 miles later.
 

bode

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 14, 2008
626
0
Hertfordshire and Bath
I had 3 punctures in mine all in one year (one a thorn through the sidewall, where they are not protected), after which time the mileage was 1600, but not for some while, and they are now up to 2400 miles.
 

bazwaldo

Pedelecer
Sep 22, 2010
219
21
I have them on all our bikes and they have done a fantastic job but they can be beaten by nails or small sharp flint pieces. I think for peace of mind I`d renew that tyre

Dave
I know what you mean, as I posted above the tyre was left with a split near the rim where the nail exited and the new innertube I fitted bulged through!?!
The only thing is the tyre is only a few months old and cost about £24 which I don't want to write off after just 1 puncture.
Since I superglued the split it still bulges but without being able to see the innertube.
With a couple of hundred miles on the tyre since the puncture it apears to be holding up.
It was rotten luck me picking up the nail when dozens of cars use that road every day - one of their big car tyres ought to have had the puncture!

I have been impressed with the Schwalbe MP tread wear rate, there is no sign of tread loss yet, the original Kenda tyre on the back drive wheel wore down bald accross the centre of the tyre quite quickly.

Barry.
 

Old Timer

Esteemed Pedelecer
Dec 5, 2009
1,279
12
Did you not patch the inside of the tyre? I`ve done that before when young and skint but is it worth a poss accident if the tube blew out in a bang at a junction or on a tight bend?
I know what you mean about a low wear tyre, two years ago we sported out for a decent new set of tyres on our car and 4 miles from the tyre garage we got a puncture and returned within half an hour to be told that it was not legally repairable:mad: I made sure we took the old tyre away.
 

mountainsport

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 6, 2012
1,419
298
That is a good point brought across mutmost,i shall start checking my tyres for bits or pieces which i never do.
I suppose most people wait until they hear a pop or hissing sound before saying OH NO!!!!

Mountainsport.