Touring Bike Tire Test: Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus
Contents and Test Summary
- Introduction
- Manufacturer Specifications
- Size, Weight, Thickness
- Rolling Resistance: 27.4 Watts
- Puncture Resistance: 163 Points
- Static Wet Grip: 72 Points
- Conclusion: 5.0 / 5 Highly Recommended
- Comments
- Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus
(100% is best)
The Schwalbe Marathon Plus has been regarded as one of the most puncture resistant bicycle tires that still has a relatively low rolling resistance. With the rise of e-bikes, puncture resistance has become even more important as most people expect trouble-free operation these days. At the same time, today's e-bikes come with powerful motors and batteries which makes a low rolling resistance less important than it was in the past when we had to rely solely on our legs.
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This is where the Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus enters the market. The Marathon E-Plus has been made even tougher than the Marathon Plus (read our review) by adding 2 layers of thin, but hard to penetrate, RaceGuard anti-puncture fabric underneath the 5 mm thick SmartGuard layer. The 5 mm thick SmartGuard layer is made of a soft material that is actually quite easy to penetrate.
The SmartGuard anti-puncture system is based on the principle of objects that want to penetrate the tire simply not being long enough to puncture the inner tube. The problem with this approach to puncture resistance is that when something that is long enough to reach the inner tube, it will work its way through the soft material and eventually reach the inner tube resulting in a flat tire.
The 2 extra layers of RaceGuard fabric provides a best of both worlds approach when it comes to puncture resistance. Of course, these additional layers will make the tire even stiffer and slower rolling but when you're on a powerful e-bike, the higher rolling resistance isn't such a big issue anymore as it was in the past.
Manufacturer Specifications
| Manufacturer Specs | |
|---|---|
| Brand | Schwalbe |
| Model | Marathon E-Plus |
| Year | 2020 |
| Supplied By | Bought in store |
| New or Used | New |
| Mileage | 0 km |
| Price Range | High |
| Buy At | Ad Amazon.com |
| Manufacturer part number | 11159077 |
| TPI | 67 |
| Compound | Addix E |
| Bead | Wire |
| ETRTO | 37-622 |
| Size Inch | 28" |
| Width mm | 37.00 |
| Specified Weight | 930 grams |
| Max Air Pressure (psi) | 85 |
| Made In | Members Only |
| Available Sizes |
37-622 (28x1.40) 40-622 (28x1.50) 47-622 (28x1.75) 50-622 (28x2.00) 55-622 (28x2.15) 50-584 (27.5x2.00) |
Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus Test Results
Size, Weight, and Thickness Measurements
| Size, Weight, and Thickness Measurements | |
|---|---|
| Specified Weight | 930 grams |
| Measured Weight | 911 grams |
| Measured Width | 32 mm (un-round) |
| Measured Height | 33 mm (un-round) |
| Tread Depth | 2.3 mm |
| Total Tire Thickness Center | 8.8 mm |
| Total Tire Thickness Sidewall | Members Only |
| All size measurements are taken at an air pressure of 60 psi / 4 bars on a 17.8 mm inner width rim. | |
Rolling Resistance Test Results
| Rolling Resistance Test Results | |
|---|---|
| Inner Tube | Conti Tour 28 (170 gr butyl) |
| Rolling Resistance 75 PSI / 5 Bar |
25.5 Watts CRR: 0.00764 |
| Rolling Resistance 60 PSI / 4 Bar |
27.4 Watts CRR: 0.00821 |
| Rolling Resistance 45 PSI / 3 Bar |
Members Only |
| Rolling Resistance 30 PSI / 2 Bar |
Members Only |
| All numbers are for a single tire at a speed of 29 km/h / 18 mph and a load of 42.5 kg / 94 lbs. Use the formula: RR (Watts) = CRR * speed (m/s) * load (N) to calculate rolling resistance at a given speed and load. |
|
Puncture Resistance Test Results
| Puncture Resistance Test Results (higher is better) | |
|---|---|
| Total Puncture Score Tread | 163 Points |
| Total Puncture Score Sidewall | Members Only |
| Tread Puncture Force Sharp Needle | 16 Points |
| Tread Puncture Force Blunt Needle | Members Only |
| Tread Total Tire Thickness | 8.8 mm |
| Sidewall Puncture Force Sharp Needle | Members Only |
| Sidewall Puncture Force Blunt Needle | Members Only |
| Sidewall Total Tire Thickness | Members Only |
Static Grip Test Results
| Static Grip Test Results | |
|---|---|
| Wet Grip Average | 72 Points |
| Wet Grip Center | Members Only |
| Wet Grip Edge | Members Only |
| Grip in points = coefficient of friction * 100 Tour/E-Bike grip test rim width = 23.0 mm |
|
Conclusion
- Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus
(100% is fastest - lightest - thickest - strongest)
With the addition of 2 layers of RaceGuard fabric under the 5 mm thick SmartGuard layer, the Marathon E-Plus now uses both a hard to puncture layer as well as a soft-but-thick layer to further improve puncture resistance over the Marathon Plus. The result of this is that the Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus is the most puncture-resistant (Puncture Factor) tire we've tested to date.
As expected, rolling resistance has also gone up but we're surprised the increase is at most 2 watts per tire which will be hard to notice on the road.
Something else we noticed is that the Marathon E-Plus has been downsized quite a bit, the 37-622 version of this tire measured just 32 mm wide as opposed to the 37-622 Marathon Plus that measured 34 mm wide on our 17 mm inner width rim. We've seen this downsizing with some road bike tires as well as there seems to be a trend of moving to wider rims.
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RATING:
5.0
/ 5
TEST VERDICT:
Highly Recommended