schwalbe mondial

[jandrews_nyc]

has anyone seen them in person? or ridden them yet?

http://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/road_tires/marathon_mondial

[William]

those look intriguing.  Golly, it won't be long before we are paying >$100 per tire for a top notch tire.  Good thing Schwalbes are good for many thousands of miles. 

[dougP]

Something about the weights doesn't seem right. In their other tires,
the folding (Aramid? Kevlar?) bead versions are usually quite a bit
lighter than the wire bead. This one seems to have comparable sizes
weigh the same or close to it. Of course, for that kind of dough I
want all the tire I can get; maybe there's a lot of rubber there.

dougP

[EricP]

Hadn't noticed the wire bead version before. Might end up with a pair
of those in 700x40 for one of the bikes next year. Although the
relatively skinny Paselas in 700x37 are still good. Will have to
wait until after the studded tire season comes and goes, though.

Winter is coming.

Eric Platt
St. Paul, MN

[Earl Grey]

The Kevlar ones have DoubleDefense, the wire ones RaceGuard puncture
protection. My guess is that DoubleDefense weighs more and negates the
folding bead weight advantage. Nice to see that the XR is back in a
different guise (I got the last two 50x700C from Riv), though the
Mondial doesn't come as wide and sounds like it has beefier puncture
protection, which in my book is a drawback.

Gernot "I don't get flats [and when I do, I don't mind them]" Huber