Touring Bike Tire Test: Schwalbe Marathon Racer

The Schwalbe Marathon Racer is the lightest member of the Marathon family and its name suggests this to be a very fast tire. The Marathon Racer has a 67 TPI carcass, SpeedGrip compound, RaceGuard puncture protection and LiteSkin sidewalls. Unlike the Marathon and Marathon Plus, the Racer doesn't have a thick and heavy anti-puncture layer under the tread. On paper, the Racer should have a much lower rolling resistance than both the Marathon and Marathon Plus.

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Specified weight of the Marathon Racer is just 465 grams, this makes it a lot lighter than the Marathon which has a specified weight of 730 grams. The biggest savings seem to be in the anti-puncture protection. The Racer uses a double layer of thin nylon fabric instead of the 3 or 5 mm thick latex layer the other Marathon tires use. Natural thinking suggests lower weight = lower rolling resistance... Let's just run the tests and find out if this is true.

Manufacturer Specifications

Manufacturer Specs
Brand	Schwalbe
Model	Marathon Racer
Year	2015
Supplied By	Supplied by Schwalbe
New or Used	New
Mileage	0 km
Price Range	Med
Buy At	Ad Amazon.com
Manufacturer part number	11100290
TPI	67
Compound	SpeedGrip
Bead	Wire
ETRTO	35-622
Size Inch	28"
Width mm	35.00
Specified Weight	465 grams
Max Air Pressure (psi)	95
Made In	Members Only
Available Sizes	40-622 (28x1.50) 35-622 (28x1.35) 30-622 (28x1.20) 40-559 (26x1.50) 40-406 (20x1.50) 40-355 (18x1.50) 40-305 (16x1.50)

Schwalbe Marathon Racer Test Results

Size, Weight, and Thickness Measurements

Size, Weight, and Thickness Measurements
Specified Weight	465 grams
Measured Weight	450 grams
Measured Width	33 mm (un-round)
Measured Height	32 mm (un-round)
Tread Depth	1.5 mm
Total Tire Thickness Center	4.6 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.

As previously mentioned, specified weight is 465 grams, my sample comes in even lower at 447 grams. The measured width and height is 33 mm and 32 mm respectively. Width and height both come in slightly below the rated size of 35-622.

Tread depth is 1.5 mm, which is less than both the Marathon (2.3 mm) (read review) and Marathon Plus (2.0 mm) (read review), but still reasonable. The Total Tire Thickness Tread measurements clearly show the Racer doesn't use a thick anti-puncture layer. With a total thickness of 4.6 mm, it's a much thinner tire than both the Marathon (7.3 mm) and Marathon Plus (9.0 mm). At 0.8 mm thickness, the sidewalls only have half the thickness of those tires.

Rolling Resistance Test Results

Rolling Resistance Test Results
Inner Tube	Conti Tour 28 (170 gr butyl)
Rolling Resistance 75 PSI / 5 Bar	22.6 Watts CRR: 0.00677
Rolling Resistance 60 PSI / 4 Bar	24.6 Watts CRR: 0.00737
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.

Shockingly, rolling resistance of the Marathon Racer is HIGHER than the plain Marathon with 3 mm thick anti-puncture layer and much higher weight. The Racer is also only barely able to outperform the 'flat-less' Marathon Plus. On average, rolling resistance is some 3 - 5 watts higher when compared to the plain Marathon and 0 - 1 watt lower when compared to the Plus.

I'm really disappointed by the performance of the Racer in the rolling resistance test, it's quite misleading to call this tire Racer when it's slower than the plain Marathon. Only providing a lower weight shouldn't justify the name Racer, rolling resistance should at least be on par with the plain Marathon.

Puncture Resistance Test Results

Puncture Resistance Test Results (higher is better)
Total Puncture Score Tread	97 Points
Total Puncture Score Sidewall	Members Only
Tread Puncture Force Sharp Needle	16 Points
Tread Puncture Force Blunt Needle	No Data
Tread Total Tire Thickness	4.6 mm
Sidewall Puncture Force Sharp Needle	Members Only
Sidewall Puncture Force Blunt Needle	No Data
Sidewall Total Tire Thickness	Members Only

How does the double layer of thin nylon compare to the to the thicker anti-puncture layers of the Marathon and Marathon Plus? The Racer sets a higher score in the raw puncture resistance test than both those tires. With a score of 16 points, this is 2 points higher than the Marathon and 3 points higher than the Plus. In the sidewall test, the Racer scores 4 points vs 5 points for both the plain and Plus Marathon.

Because both the tread area and sidewall of the Racer are very thin, it doesn't do so well in the Puncture Factor calculation. Puncture Factor Tread comes to 72 points, which is still a decent score. Because the sidewalls only have a thickness of 0.8 mm, the Puncture Factor Sidewall calculation comes down to only 3 points. 3 points is very low, the Racer is the lowest scoring tire in the Puncture Factor Sidewall calculation to date.

Static Grip Test Results

NOTE: Grip test data is only available on tires tested after November 2018. You can find more information about our grip test here: Introducing Grip Testing

Static Grip Test Results
Wet Grip Average	No Data
Wet Grip Center	No Data
Wet Grip Edge	No Data
Grip in points = coefficient of friction * 100 Tour/E-Bike grip test rim width = 23.0 mm

Conclusion

After testing the Marathon Racer, it leaves a bad taste. Because this is the 'Racer' version of the Marathon, I expected this tire to outperform the Marathon by at least a couple of watts in the rolling resistance test. An interesting theory could be that the Marathon and Marathon Plus are just too good. Those tires sell a lot more, which means more R&D resources and better materials are available to improve those tires.

If you don't mind the extra weight, just grab a pair of Marathon (GreenGuard) (read review) and have better performance in both the rolling resistance and puncture resistance department. Because the performance of the Schwalbe Marathon Racer is still equal or better than tires from other manufacturers, it gets a Recommended 3/5 rating.

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RATING: 3.0 / 5
TEST VERDICT: Recommended

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