Brompton tyres

[rogerzilla]

The Marathon+ should really be the standard factory tyre, assuming most people buy Bromptons for everyday transport.  Changing a flat is such a faff that the weight penalty is soon forgotten, and they have an unusual combination of decent grip and durability (normally you get one or the other).

In a different size, I have been running the same pair of M+ tyres on an all-weather, 4 or 5 day a week commuting bike for three years now and they have only ever been off the rim in that time so I could swap to spiked snow tyres.  The rear tyre is barely worn and they grip on slimy roundabouts like the previous Stelvios couldn't.  I also rode the Dunwich Dynamo on them and averaged 17mph rolling.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Not in my experience. I'll stick with something that rolls better and still rarely punctures.

[CAMRAMan]

Reviving this ancient thread, are there any tyres better suited to gravelly bridleways these days?

[grams]

What would that look like given the limited clearance available?

[CAMRAMan]

You tell me...

[jiberjaber]

Reviving this ancient thread, are there any tyres better suited to gravelly bridleways these days?

When I got my Brompton they had the Brompton Marathons on and they were pretty good for gravel canal paths etc. I've since moved on to Conti Urban and I am not sure I'd want to ride the same paths with them on (though I have endured some COR with the kids on courses I've taught on...

[grams]

You tell me...

Well they do Marathon Racers and Kojaks/Ones in tanwall now if you're after poseur points.

[CAMRAMan]

My Marathon racers were distinctly skittish on damp gravel on Sunday. I see that Schwalbe do Winters - with the advisory that the frame needs to be protected. No good at the moment though.

[drossall]

I've been really happy on Marathons (think they might be the Plus, have to check). Seem to roll along fine to me, but then I use them on other bikes and for some Audax events too. I'd use them on gravel, in so far as I'd choose a Brompton for gravel in the first place.

[CAMRAMan]

I've little choice. It's a gravelly bridlepath that hasn't been maintained since opening or a significant detour on a busy A road. It's easily rideable in the dry, but not so user friendly in damper conditions. Once it gets to tarmac it's then a roadway to multiple big houses and they appear to have spent nothing on maintaining their access road in many years. It then becomes a pothole-avoidance slalom. Still better than the alternative...

[Kim]

That newflangled marathon-winter-without-the-studs doesn't appear to be available in Brompton sizes, unfortunately.

I've got non-plus Marathons on mine, after the untimely demise of the original Brompton greens.  Seems okay for not-too-muddy off-road, as I'd expect for a Marathon, but I fitted them late in the year and they haven't had the thin-film-of-leaf-slime test^[1].


_{[1] Which the 40-406 equivalent failed spectacularly on my tourer a couple of years ago, unceremoniously dumping me in a heap.}

[CAMRAMan]

SJS have very cheap semi-knobbly Raleigh tyres, but I thought those were crap...? https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tyres/raleigh-record-tyre-black-qtyrral-16-x-1-38-inch-37349/

[LittleWheelsandBig]

They are.