I was surprised to see that the Schwalbe Marathon has a better pattern and offers better off-road riding than the Marathon Plus. In my opinion, this would make more sense the other way around.

I cannot say I remember having as much difficulty getting them on. But I got shown good a good technique for fitting tyres from a mate who ran my LBS many years ago. I also have pretty strong hands so I'm often surprised when I hear people complain and resort to tools.The rest of the tires are well protected against flats, so I felt comfortable running them even at lower pressures, which made them slightly more comfortable. Not being able to ride 1000s of miles with each of them to see which one lasted longer, I did some skidding tests with each of them and observed how much the surface was worn at the end. This is an indicator of how they compare in real life.

I was curious to see if and how much the weight of these tires affected their speed. I tested this on a local hill.

What stands out to me is that the weight of the tires comes into play much less than I expected, so much so that you can’t even tell the difference based on this experiment.

That's right: a road bike. The Touring Plus is narrower than its nominal size, to the extent that you're unlikely to want to fit it to your tourer or cyclo-cross bike. My vernier calliper says that while the height from the rim is about 28mm, it measures just under 24mm at its widest when fitted to a normal, 14mm-internal road rim.So let’s take a look at the second most important decision making tool we can use when shopping online, price. Whether your goal is to just get the cheapest Bike Tyres available, or to get the best quality at a reasonable price, there’s always going to be a need to do your research on price. Continental RIDE Tour 700c Tyre price analysis In my experience, none of these tires were straightforward to mount, probably because they are all wire bead tires. Folding tires stretch easier, so they are easier to put on the rim.