Marathon Slicks

[LSMike]

Just put some new schwalbe marathon slicks on my 'bent, and I have to
say I'm really enjoying the ride comfort compared with the Stelvios I
had on there before. I put the front on a week ago, and the rear on
Friday. Even with the rear suspension I noticed an improvement, not
that the rear shock is particularly good quality. I'm hoping for a
little more toughness too.

I'm surprised to find that I can't really notice any difference in
rolling resistance, although there must be some since tyre noise is
very slighly increased.

 

[Call me Bob]

On 6 Mar 2006 01:24:40 -0800, "LSMike" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Just put some new schwalbe marathon slicks on my 'bent, and I have to
>say I'm really enjoying the ride comfort compared with the Stelvios I
>had on there before. I put the front on a week ago, and the rear on
>Friday. Even with the rear suspension I noticed an improvement, not
>that the rear shock is particularly good quality. I'm hoping for a
>little more toughness too.
>
>I'm surprised to find that I can't really notice any difference in
>rolling resistance, although there must be some since tyre noise is
>very slighly increased.

I'm probably going to try Marathon Slicks on my Taifun once my current
Contact Sports are shot, although hopefully that won't be for some
time yet.

It's very interesting that you should find them, at least
subjectively, no slower than the Stelvios as that agrees with the
surprising results I read in a rolling resistance test recently.

I'm buggered if I can remember where it was printed, might have been
AtoB mag but I can't find it in my back issues. Anyway, it seemed a
reasonably useful test of several 406 sized tyres, including Slicks,
Stelvios and a couple of other contenders. The Marathon Slicks came
out very well indeed.

Have you had a chance to give them a thrash yet? Would be interested
in your opinion on their road holding and grip when cornering.

Incidently, Challenge have recently spruced up their webpage a bit and
there's now more pictures and tour reports of their models to browse
through.

"Bob"
--

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

 

[LSMike]

Call me Bob wrote:
>
> It's very interesting that you should find them, at least
> subjectively, no slower than the Stelvios as that agrees with the
> surprising results I read in a rolling resistance test recently.
>
> I'm buggered if I can remember where it was printed, might have been
> AtoB mag but I can't find it in my back issues. Anyway, it seemed a
> reasonably useful test of several 406 sized tyres, including Slicks,
> Stelvios and a couple of other contenders. The Marathon Slicks came
> out very well indeed.

I think it might have been Velovision, I can't remember either.

> Have you had a chance to give them a thrash yet? Would be interested
> in your opinion on their road holding and grip when cornering.

I think it's good, I didn't quite have the courage to really heel the
bike over at about 35mph down corkscrew hill in West Wickham. My mates
were commenting on the brake light coming on (SON + DIWA lights).

> Incidently, Challenge have recently spruced up their webpage a bit and
> there's now more pictures and tour reports of their models to browse
> through.

Ooh, nice one, thanks for the heads up.

> "Bob"

 

[Mark McNeill]

Response to LSMike:
> > I'm buggered if I can remember where it was printed, might have been
> > AtoB mag but I can't find it in my back issues. Anyway, it seemed a
> > reasonably useful test of several 406 sized tyres, including Slicks,
> > Stelvios and a couple of other contenders. The Marathon Slicks came
> > out very well indeed.
>
> I think it might have been Velovision, I can't remember either.

*I* thought it was Cycle mag - perhaps because I seem to remember
feeling mildly surprised that there was an interesting article in it!

Coincidentally, just this afternoon I replaced the not-quite-knackered
Conti Grand Prixes on the front of the trike with Contact Sports, which
IIRC came just-about-bottom of Mike Burrows' rollout test. Just been
for a quick spin, and so far they feel quite good, thobut.


--
Mark, UK
"My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right."

 

[Mark McNeill]

Response to Mark McNeill:
> Response to LSMike:
> > > I'm buggered if I can remember where it was printed, might have been
> > > AtoB mag but I can't find it in my back issues. Anyway, it seemed a
> > > reasonably useful test of several 406 sized tyres, including Slicks,
> > > Stelvios and a couple of other contenders. The Marathon Slicks came
> > > out very well indeed.
> >
> > I think it might have been Velovision, I can't remember either.
>
> *I* thought it was Cycle mag - perhaps because I seem to remember
> feeling mildly surprised that there was an interesting article in it!

Replying to myself - no, it *was* Velovision, issue 17: spring last
year.

--
Mark, UK
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always
so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."

 

[squeaker]

Damn! Another reason for not buying them bites the dust!
Must start doing donuts on the Mistral to wear out the S-Licks faster
And thanks for the heads-up on the Challenge site.

 

[LSMike]

Call me Bob wrote:
>
> I'm probably going to try Marathon Slicks on my Taifun once my current
> Contact Sports are shot, although hopefully that won't be for some
> time yet.
>
>
> "Bob"

Forgot to mention that I didn't like the Contact Sports much, although
other people seem to think highly of them.

Just rode my marathon slicks in the rain this morning, they handled
great and seemed to have rather more grip than the Stelvios. Perhaps
that's not a very high goalpost though.

 

[Phil Cook]

LSMike wrote:

>Call me Bob wrote:
>>
>> I'm probably going to try Marathon Slicks on my Taifun once my current
>> Contact Sports are shot, although hopefully that won't be for some
>> time yet.
>>
>>
>> "Bob"
>
>Forgot to mention that I didn't like the Contact Sports much, although
>other people seem to think highly of them.
>
>Just rode my marathon slicks in the rain this morning, they handled
>great and seemed to have rather more grip than the Stelvios. Perhaps
>that's not a very high goalpost though.

Come now, that should be crossbar. But then would you be aiming over
or under it, or indeed at the high or low end if you had a compact
upwrong?
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"