20" tyre like the Marathon Mondial

[Nick Maclaren]

In case anyone signed up to this can help, I posted the following
to Bentrideronline. Any help appreciated.

I am thinking of going electric, but my problem is tyres :-( Even on
paper, Shimano STEPS is not really man enough for my requirement with a
26" wheel (mainly torque), even dropping my top gear by 20% (which I
would rather not do). It's OK on a 20" wheel, though. The problem is
that I want something for highly unsupported touring, with 90% on-road,
10% off-road (including wet grass, 2" rough granite lumps, gravel and
dirt), and capable of handling moderate mud, both on- and off-road. The
Marathon Plus Tour and Marathon Mondial, both meet the bill, with the
latter being preferable, but neither are available for 20".

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-rea...thon-plus-tour
https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-rea...rathon-mondial

I can't find anything on Continental's Web site, and I want something
reliable that is readily available in the UK, both for replacement
purposes and because I have not had good experiences with ordering such
things from somewhere I can't return unsatisfactory products to.

Last time I asked this, I was pointed at several possible tyres, but
none were more than possible (i.e. the recommenders hadn't tried them,
or not under similar conditions, and the manufacturers' Web pages were
not very helpful), a few were tricky to get in the UK, and the rest
involved importing from the USA.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

[Danny Colyer]

On 06/09/2021 14:45, Nick Maclaren wrote:
> I am thinking of going electric, but my problem is tyres :-( Even on
> paper, Shimano STEPS is not really man enough for my requirement with a
> 26" wheel (mainly torque), even dropping my top gear by 20% (which I
> would rather not do). It's OK on a 20" wheel, though. The problem is
> that I want something for highly unsupported touring, with 90% on-road,
> 10% off-road (including wet grass, 2" rough granite lumps, gravel and
> dirt), and capable of handling moderate mud, both on- and off-road. The
> Marathon Plus Tour and Marathon Mondial, both meet the bill, with the
> latter being preferable, but neither are available for 20".

This might or might not be helpful, but...

I fitted a pair of Schwalbe Road Cruiser Plus tyres to the Street
Machine yesterday:
https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/road-cruiser-plus
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schwalbe-road-cruiser-plus-tyre/rp-prod193348

So far I've only ridden 14 miles on them. They're slower than I'd
usually like, but they're so comfortable that I can forgive them for that.

On road, I think they might be exactly what you're looking for. I'm not
sure, though, that they'll have the off-road capability that you want.
I reckon they'll meet my off-road requirements, but I haven't put them
to that test yet, and of course my requirements aren't the same as yours
anyway.

I'm happy to provide an update when I've taken them through mud, which
is likely to be within the next few weeks.

--
Danny Colyer
"I'm riding a unicycle with my pants down. This should be every boy's
dream." - Bartholomew J Simpson

[Nick Maclaren]

In article <B_adnVqwdpR236v8...@brightview.co.uk>,

Danny Colyer <news...@colyer.plus.com> wrote:
>
>This might or might not be helpful, but...
>
>I fitted a pair of Schwalbe Road Cruiser Plus tyres to the Street
>Machine yesterday:
>https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/road-cruiser-plus
>https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schwalbe-road-cruiser-plus-tyre/rp-prod193348
>
>So far I've only ridden 14 miles on them. They're slower than I'd
>usually like, but they're so comfortable that I can forgive them for that.

Thanks, but they aren't really. They are Schwalbe's cheap and, er,
cheerful line and nothing like the quality of the Mondial.

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/marathon-mondial
https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/road-cruiser-plus

Even discounting that, I have heard that people have had unpredictable
failures on Schwalbe's cheap lines, which is NOT what I want when on
tour, miles from the nearest bicycle shop (or even post office).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.