Marathon Plus Experiences

[Spaganator]

Hi, has anyone has ridden the CCX\Marathon Plus on unpaved roads much? I wondered how the bike behaved. I'm torn between getting a CCX vs RCS. About half the time I'll be on rails to trails type roads, other half on pavement. Just not sure about the fat tire thing, seems a bit overkill (could be a generational thing haha).

 

[Feliz]

The Marathon Plus are good on our gravel rail trails, I've had no problems but I prefer a 2-3 inch tire. I have a Pedego with 2.35 which works well on gravel but I prefer my Biktrix Juggernaut with its 3" rubber. The Marathons are no different than any other skinny tire on gravel, just not as stable as a larger tire. I used to think fat tire bikes were a joke until I bought my Voltbike Yukon with 4 inch wide rubber and now I prefer riding that bike in nearly any conditions except high speed pavement.

 

[J.R.]

Hi, has anyone has ridden the CCX\Marathon Plus on unpaved roads much? I wondered how the bike behaved. I'm torn between getting a CCX vs RCS. About half the time I'll be on rails to trails type roads, other half on pavement. Just not sure about the fat tire thing, seems a bit overkill (could be a generational thing haha).

I ride a lot of cross country, off road on rail trails, fire roads, farm tracks and mtb trails. I have put more than 10k miles on Marathon Plus tires and they do the job for me. Never had a flat on a Marathon Plus. Currently I'm riding Marathon Plus MTB tires. Prior to Schwalbe offering MTB I rode the original Plus, which are a hybrid style in my opinion. They will work, but aren't the best off road.

I wrote about the MTB tires here: https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/new-schwalbe-marathon-plus-mtb-tires.8792/

That all said, the CCX stock tires are size 45-622. You can mount a 29er tire on a 700c rim and Schwalbe offers the MTB Plus in 54-622. Slightly wider. The first number is width 54mm, second is the diameter 622mm. I ride the 57-622 on my 29er mountain bike.

As I noted in the referenced thread the MTB isn't real aggressive (wide or tall), but I've never tried to run them under hybrid bike fenders. It likely would fit under the fenders, but you'd want to look into that from Juiced or an owner of the bike.

https://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/off-road_tires/marathon_plus_mtb

 

[6zfshdb]

I can't speak for the CCX but like Feliz, I swapped out the OEM Schwalbe Fat Frank 26 x 2.35' s with Marathon Plus 26 x 2.25 MTB's on my Pedego Interceptor. I ride mostly on gravel and the superior performance of the Marathon MTB's caused me to do the same with my other two bikes.

Be aware there are three different tread patterns available on the Marathon Plus:



In my case, I chose the most aggressive MTB tread. It works well on both gravel and pavement but produces a slightly stiffer ride. I compensate by running a lower tire pressure. IMO, the superior puncture resistance and better trail performance more than makes up for the stiffer ride.

 

[Spaganator]

Thanks all for feedback, appreciated!

 

[mdknapp]

Spaganator,
What did you end up doing? I am considering getting an RCS or CCX and find myself stuck in the middle. I want the capability of doing some offroad (as it is not *just* a commuter) but want the flexibility of a slightly smaller wheel width (I don't *need* a super fat bike).

Were you able to mount the Marathon Plus tires to the CCX? From my understainding the stock on CCX are 700x45c, so that equates roughly to the
MARATHON PLUS MTB HS 468 [54-584 (27.5 x 2.10)] because the MARATHON PLUS TOUR HS 404 (42-622 (700 x 40C)) are a little narrow.... right?