Marathon Tyres

How the fuck do you get these on your fucking wheel?

Literally impossible; I get one side in and then as soon as I make the slightest attempt to get the other side in, the first side pops back out. What total cunts. They had better not puncture because at the roadside this would be hell.

Pics or video please

Marathon Plus? Try some zip-ties/string to hold the tyre in the rim... What size did you get? I found 28s impossible to get on so swapped them for 25s... Much easier but still a chore...

It is as though the tyre itself is too inflexible to be sufficiently convex.

These are the 25's, on 17mm rims (700)...

In that case, HTFU! Mine weren't a problem, getting the last bit of bead in the rim was a bit of a struggle but tbh I expected it to be far worse... 28s were impossible, I gave up after about an hour...

When people said they were hard to fit it was the usual last bit that i thoguht they were mentioninng that you mention above.... ie the tightness.

This is the opposite, if anything, its the looseness, they just found bend and fit in the rim either end, its almost as though the tyre is too wide and inflexible for the rim....

and by side I mean cross sectional side, from, looking at the bike from behind, say, the left and the right side.

If you eventually try Halo Courier Berlin tyres, you may never go back to Marathons.

Easier to get on, just as puncture resistant, if not even more than the Marathon Plus versions.

The 700 x 24 is a winner. Though for consistency of handling, I'd say Marathons win on that point.

You basically have to fight the whole time to ensure the bead of the tyre is correctly seated. Once inflated they will hold the rim incredibly well. But for the first day or two you will need to check that they haven't unseated (that you didn't seat them right).

Any used thos Panaracer tour ones? They're supposed to be at least as good but easy to seat

Panaracer Paselas are great... Not as hardcore as a Marathon Plus tho', different kinda tyre entirely...

From what I've gathered in my searches on tyres, the Panaracer Ribmo are the best for puncture protection from the Panaracer stable.
But for bad weather grip, the tread on the Panaracer Touring tyres looks similar in functionality to the standard Marathon tyres.

Depends really what appeals to you most - grip, bad weather handling, mileage, puncture protection, ease of fitting.

People always blame the tyre for issues with difficult fitting but it is usually the rim.

I have been using Halo Aerotrack rims for 6 months and have tried 4 or 5 different types of tyres (yes I have a problem with tyres!)
Every tyre I have tried has gone on so easily some have even fallen off one side when putting on the other.
Tyres were Marathon Plus, Ribmo, Refuse, Michelin City, Armadillo.

Oh, and I got a puncture on second time out on my new Ribmos so not impressed! I will put it down as very unlucky at the moment as I like the tyres (large size, good comfort, relatively low weight) but when using my Marathon plus' I never even bothered taking a puncture kit with me...

Marathon+ 700X25 on Open Pro rim.

When I bought the tyres the bloke in the shop warned they would be difficut to fit gave me some cable ties to secure the tyre during fitting.

In the end I didn't need the ties and had no problems.

700x32 c Marathon plus

Found that using my feet helped.

Had this problem last year with ultragator 700x25 on halo aerorage ...got so pissed off i bought one of these after trying and failing to HTFU. Works a treat.

http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=17&item=TL-10

i fit my Marathon Plus'es 700x32 with my thumbs, with relative ease, piece of cake with levers. So i cannot comment on this in particular

I found the Conti GP4000 much much harder i think due to the smaller diameter of the bead.

Yup, these are a bit of a bastard, owing (as mentioned above) the the tyre casing's stiffness "between" the beads- so it won't make the requisite U shape that will drop both beads into the rim. 25mm in a narrow rim like an open pro is tough. The Park seating tool (vilified on another thread for some reason) will help seat the bead properly- it will let you grab the casing and man handle it inwards or outwards. Also, consider soapy water to let the bead settle evenly- as above they do occasionally crawl off the rim if not evenly seated. BANG! big mess if you had a slime filled tube in there....

at a bike shop i used to work at, we charged a seperate price for fitting marathons for this very reason.................

Only advice i can give is use tow straps, 2 or 3 of em to keep the pressure on, and fairly liquid on the rim tape to help the seated side slide over. Otherwise, get a mate to help, by both pushing dow the sides of the tyre in opposite directions until the last bit not on is at the bottom. you can sort of stretch the tyre a small amount this way to get it on.
Last resort, a small amount of fairly liquid in a spray bottle of water to spray on the rim. Then use a rim block to clean the breaking surface when you're done, assuming you're using rim brakes.

I can fit a 25c Marathon Plus onto a Halo Aerotrack rim with one hand.

Not helping the discussion, just showing off :-)

.

hold the bead in, go round tyre, man up. I've fitted 28s, 32s, 35s like this.

2 minutes, max.

If it took me as long as 2 minutes to fit a Marathon Plus I would be too ashamed about it to post the fact :-)

I can fit a 25c Marathon Plus onto a Halo Aerotrack rim with one hand.

some rim tyre combinations are tight some are loose.