Anyone Tried Tannus Armor in a Schwalbe Marathon + Tire?

[6zfshdb]

I've been using puncture resistant Schwalbe Marathon + tires with Slime filled Schwalbe downhill heavy duty tubes for two years now (2000+ miles) with no flats. Would adding Tannus Armor offer much additional protection or is it overkill? Would they even fit in the Marathon + tires due to their distorted interior shape caused by the thick tread?

Assuming you could install the Tannus Armor in the Marathon tire, what would the ride and handling be like? The tire makeup would be close to half rubber and half air. Has anyone tried this?

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Would adding Tannus Armor offer much additional protection?

YES

Or is it overkill?

NO

Assuming you could install the Tannus Armor in the Marathon tire?

YES (They fit.)

Has anyone tried this?

YES

 

[Deleted member 18083]

I'm now heading out on my Friday morning ride on extremely rough surfaces. Wouldn't do it without either…

• Schwalbe Marathon Plus + Panaracer FlatAway + Tannus Armour + Slime (R&M Homage)
• heavy-duty tubeless (Trek Powerfly)

 

[6zfshdb]

I'm now heading out on my Friday morning ride on extremely rough surfaces. Wouldn't do it without either…

• Schwalbe Marathon Plus + Panaracer FlatAway + Tannus Armour + Slime (R&M Homage)
• heavy-duty tubeless (Trek Powerfly)

Thanks for the information!

I went ahead and bought Tannus Armour. It just arrived but I haven't installed it yet. The instructions recommend deflating the tires after every ride to avoid compressing the insert foam. Since I use Slime in my tubes, it makes a big mess when deflating. Rotating the tire so the valve is at the top helps but Slime still sprays out. Doing this once in a while is one thing but after every ride is a deal breaker. Sure, I could stop using the Slime but that would just be trading one level of protection for another.

I see you use Slime with your Tannus. How do you manage the repeated deflation process?

 

[Deleted member 18083]

I’ve never deflated my tyres; haven’t thought of doing so!

 

[steve mercier]

I never deflate them either but I replace the inserts whenver I replace a tire ,even though they are guaranteed for 7 years. If you are putting them on yourself you might get an assistant so you can have at least 3 hands on. The ride is better with them in. NO flats yet with approx 38,000 km between our 3 Ebikes.

 

[6zfshdb]

I'm reviving this old thread to post an incident that happened yesterday. I was riding the paved WMRT trail in western Maryland, when I hit an unseen rock in the shadows. I had the bike heavily loaded and the shock broke a section of the rim on my rear mag wheel:

Although not a puncture, the Tannus Armor insert kept the tube from blowing out. I was 16 miles from my truck with no way to deal with that kind of damage. I was able to ride slowly, and got back without getting a complete flat.

FWIW, the Tannus sure saved my bacon!

 

[PCeBiker]

I'm curious about what needs to be done to fix your ebike.
I believe you have a hub drive, so are you able to replace just the mag wheel ?

Can you pull the motor guts out of your broken wheel and install them in a new wheel, or do you have to buy an entire rear wheel including the motor ?

 

[6zfshdb]

I'm curious about what needs to be done to fix your ebike.
I believe you have a hub drive, so are you able to replace just the mag wheel ?

Can you pull the motor guts out of your broken wheel and install them in a new wheel, or do you have to buy an entire rear wheel including the motor ?

The motor stator is integrated into the wheel but the armature and associated hardware could in theory be reused. I called Pedego and found these mag wheels have been discontinued. They no longer stock just the bare wheel with stator. They did however have two mag wheel assemblies left with motor included, in stock for $309 each, so I ordered both. I have 3 identical bikes that use these wheels so this will fix the busted one and I'll have another as a spare.

These bikes all have over 10K miles on them now and one motor is making a grinding noise. Luckily, it's the one on the busted wheel so this will fix both problems. These bikes are so highly modified to suit me that I hate the though of starting over with a new one. To me anyway, $600 is worth it to keep the "fleet" operational.

 

[PCeBiker]

Well that worked out great !!
Now you've got all kinds of parts and pieces to keep your ebikes going.

$600 really isn't that bad for two complete wheels, especially when a few tanks of gas in your truck to get to where you wanna ride would cost about the same.

Even getting "rescued" somehow and delivered back to your truck might have cost that much?

 

[stompandgo]

There's a Pedego dealer in my town. They rent bikes next to the rail trail. If you ever need a part you can't get from corporate, let me know, and I'll see if they have one.

 

[PCeBiker]

FWIW, the Tannus sure saved my bacon!

The Tannus didn't work out for me.

The Only reason I bought the Tannus inserts was because they say you can ride on a flat tire at 10 kph, so I could ride the ebike home to deal with the flat.

That wasn't the case with my 26" X 4" Fat tires.
When those tires go flat, they fall off the rim and get jammed in the frame so the wheel won't turn.
So not only can I not ride the ebike, I'd have to carry the rear end of the 85 pound ebike with one hand, while steering with the other.
And of course, it's Only the rear tire that's ever going to get a flat.


Then, after removing the tire a few months later, I found the Tannus had squashed down to the thickness of a quarter.

,.. The instructions recommend deflating the tires after every ride to avoid compressing the insert foam.

I didn't know that when I bought the Tannus inserts.

Not only are you supposed to let the air out of your tires after every ride, you're also supposed to suspend the ebike in the air so that the bike isn't sitting on flat tires.

Are You Kidding Me ??!!
That's Fricken Ridiculous !!!

Can you imagine if you had to go to all that trouble with your car, or motorcycle, or anything else with tires??


I didn't remove the Tannus from those tires, but I didn't bother spending another $220 for inserts for my new ebike.
I installed Shwalbe Super Moto-X 27.5" X 2.8" tires, along with Flat Out, when my ebike arrived.

,.. Schwalbe downhill heavy duty tubes

I like the sound of those tubes,..
I may invest in a pair?

I figure flat protection is well worth the investment.
I spent over $350 on flat protection alone on my first ebike.

 

[stompandgo]

Thorn resistant butyl or TPU tubes work well for flat resistance.

 

[6zfshdb]

In my experience, those issues have been relatively minor. Yes, the inserts do compress over time, but even after 5 seasons, mine still retain over half their original thickness. Even compressed, they still offer a degree of flat protection. I don't deflate my tires when not in use, but I do use a lower tire pressure. The recommended pressure for my 26x2.25 Marathons is 65# but I use 35 - 40# to soften the rather harsh ride.

I guess the results with these inserts varies greatly from bike to bike and rider to rider.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

The instructions recommend deflating the tires after every ride to avoid compressing the insert foam.

Ive had Tannus Armor in the same tires for 3 years now and have never done that. I did buy smaller inner tubes when I installed the armor and have 25PSI in each 27.5x2.4” tire.

I think having the smaller tube doesn’t compress the foam as much as having the original tube. It seems like users who report bulging or the armor being compressed too much is due to using the original tubes at the original tire pressure.

I’ve only had one flat since installing the armor. No slime or any other protection.

 

[PCeBiker]

I've got Flat-Out, Tannus Armour, new tubes, and Mr. Tuffy tire liners on my first ebike.

I found out later that the tire liners can chafe, or dig into the inner tube where the overlapped liner ends and cause leaks.
You're supposed to taper the end of the liners so it doesn't dig into your inner tube.

I have the liners installed between the tire and Tannus, so the liners would be digging into the Tannus instead.

So my Tannus inserts are actually helping to prevent Flat tires.


I had No Flats in the ~4500 km on that ebike, but my wheels weigh half a ton. (there's ½ a liter of Flat-Out in the tubes.)