trek is satisfactory, but maybe some new tires
first, thanks for the good tips re the water bladders. i'll try them out soon.
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ok, so there is a question about Schwalbe Maraton Plus tires at the bottom of this post. But first, a story. (If you're not into stories, jump to the bottom.
all this talk of bikes has made me hungry to see what else might be out there that's better than my 8 year old Trek 520. my main motivation for trading has been, I want bigger tires than the 37-622's on it, but more than one bike shop had led me to believe I couldn't get much bigger due to frame dimensions & gap between break pads. (Turns out they may have been wrong.)
i've spent a fair amount of time in recent days reading on line descriptions, looking at images, listening to/reading stories about 'my favorite bike & why', etc.
i was most interested in the Surly bikes. Nice look, nice idea, clearly quality with a solid skeleton for a reasonable price (basic preassembled model ~800, fully loaded for 1200. if you're willing to build it yourself from frame up, the same ones will save you a fair amount).
ok, so i found a local Surly dealer. today, i looked at a Surly CrossCheck, their basic model (& perhaps the only one that comes preassembled??)
Clearly a nice bike. this one was bright, but pleasant orange. nice hardware (can't tell you exactly ... i'm not one to remember bike hardware by name, but this was clearly not Walliworld stuff). Good solid frame. Beefy, but not as heavy as i expected. Relative to my trek 520, i'm not sure i could feel a diference. $800.
But what told me right away that i wasn't going to gain too much from a trade up was the tires. for some reason, i expected that the standard tires on the CrossCheck were going to be FAT, like 40's or 47's. (It's hard to tell from images, because all the images were from the side, none from front or rear.
But they weren't fat. At least on the one that i looked at, they were more cyclocross tires, like 37.
Which led to the next question to the sales person, clearly a hardcore biker/bike builder: will you look at my bike to see if i can get a fatter tire that won't be so prone to face plants when hitting edges & cracks.
Well, after he looked at my bike, it's components (it was rebuit and upgraded a couple of years ago), condition etc, he mostly talked me out of a Surly. "I'd love to sell you a bike, but there's nothing wrong with what you got. you wouldn't gain that much. a bit heavier frame, but not much else."
OK, that makes me happy. I didn't even test ride the Surly. No sense tempting fate, right? (I mean, i'd have an extra $520 in my pocket if i hadn't picked up that Kahr K9 at the shop the other day. Actually, less than that with trade in, but you know what i mean.)
OK, so to the tire question: what's the biggest I can get on this trek. He went inside and drug out a couple of the meanest, thickest, biggests tires this side of MTB tires you can imagine: Schwalbe Marathon Plus in a 40-622.
Wow. They're 40's, but look considerably bigger.
Plus, the part of the tire that meets the road is the thickest i've ever felt in a bike tire. They have a 5mm thick rubber protection band built into the tire. Not a liner, but a layer.
Here's a brief snippet from their page about it: " The technicians in the Bohle laboratory had to redevelop test procedures in order to puncture the tube inside the Marathon Plus. None of the usual tire destroyers like glass, flints or shards would penetrate the tread and only by extreme application of force could the technicians break through the protection, that in the everyday life would be extremely improbable. To back up this trial numerous test riders are still waiting for the first flat on their daily travels. This new advance in puncture protection is due to the five millimeter thick Smart Guard puncture protection belt made from special india rubber that in conjunction with the tread and carcass brings the total to almost a centimeter of material between the tube and road. "So strong nothing penetrates", assures Bohle technician Markus Hachmeyer. For example a thumbtack will remain lodged in the rubber and cannot penetrate."
http://www.schwalbetires.com/new_marathon_plus.html
Yep, that strikes me as a good tire for a SHTF situation. <active imagination> After the petrocollapse, there were food riots for days. At 3 AM, as I was trying to ride quietly out of town on my trek pulling a BOB Yak loaded with 60# of gear & food, there was broken glass everywhere. The Schwalbe's worked great. Nothing penetrated...</active imagination>
They aren't cheap: $45 per tire. (Yes, per tire). Still, with a couple of new tubes, and i figure i'm more flat free for a while for just under a C note.
The one issue that i may have a problem with is the back fender; it may not fit with the larger tires. Never liked it anyway, so will probably replace it with a simpler splash guard.
So, finally, here's my question: have you had any experiences with these tires? Specifically, thinking of the Marathon Plus, but at least Schwalbe. Comments? Opinions?
NemA~
