Tandem tyre choice.

[Wowbagger]

Mrs. Wow and I are notorious for being very near the limit for our 100k rides and trying to get back before the time limit can be a real struggle.

We are considering putting some lighter tyres on out machine for audax purposes. Currently we run Schwalbe Marathon Plus 26*1.75.

Thorn recommend Panaracer Pasela but we had bad experiences with them when fully laden on LEJoG.

Does the panel think putting lighter tyres on would help us increase our speed?

If so, would going for Marathon Plus at 26*1.5 help? Or is there some other lighter tyre that people would recommend?

[Polar Bear]

Try a lighter marathon.  I run the venerable HS 308's on tourers and the tandem.   I've never had a problem using them of any sort.

On the tourers I run 26x1.5's, slightly fatter on the tandem, 1.75's.

Clicky

[Polar Bear]

I was googling and found this 

[Andydauddwr]

We've had good results on Specialized Armadillos with the tandem and that would be my tyre of choice.  We're currently running conti ultra gators, but that's because it's what the bike came with rather than out of preference.  Generally We've found that we can get away with a lot more on the front, so maybe change that for something faster first and see how you get on...

As for the increase in speed thing, I think it does make a difference.  We ran a marathon plus on the back following numerous punctures on a previous audax (with gators).  It created so much extra rolling resistance that we had moved to Armadillo again by the following ride.

AC

[clarion]

We have M+ on our tandem - 26x1.75  We haven't done laden touring, but I think I'd be happy with them for that.  Fast enough on the road, and pretty comfortable too.

I wouldn't want to go narrower for anything serious, though my Orbit tandem is on 700x32c

[Wowbagger]

Well, we put some Marathons at 26*1.5 on. We haven't been out to test it yet, but I reckon it should help a fair bit. The Pluses each weigh about 300g more than the un-Pluses.

And it was a 4-handed job getting the tyre on without it jumping off somewhere else. And it bloody hurt!

[JohnP]

I've everything crossed for you in the hope that you aren't visited while out.  You may not find so many (willing) helping hands by the roadside.

[clarion]

If you're riding a tandem and don't have four hands available, you're doing something wrong!

Hope you have many miles of outpacing the faerie, Wowbagger.

[Paulapops]

We have Marathon racers on both our tandems; one 26" 1.5, the other 700C-35, . We like them but the rear tyre does wear out on the long hills round here.  We're not a heavy team and generally the tandems aren't heavily loaded.

[clarion]

Hello Paulapops!  Glad to have more tandemmists on here.

[JohnHamilton]

We tried a variety of tyres on our old Thorn. My summary of 26" tyres:

Panaracer Hi-Road 1.5" reasonably fast but rubbish puncture resistance.
Panaracer TourGuard 1.25" probably the fastest of all the ones we tried but a noticeably harsher ride.
Both the Panaracers have fairly light sidewalls which helps their speed but possibly a bit marginal for loaded tandeming.

Conti Sport Contact 1.35" nearly as quick as the TourGuard but went off them after a sidewall failure.

Schwalbe Marathon 1.5" OK rolling along but noticeably heavier and thus slower to accelerate. V tough though so our choice for skoggy Shropshire lanes in winter.
Schwalbe Marathon Slick 1.35" very similar to the Conti Sport above and my choice for summer Audaxes.
Schwalbe Marathon Racer 1.5" probably the best balance between comfort and speed overall. Folding so keeps the weight down which is where the fatter tyres tend to be noticeably slower. Didn't have them long enough before we sold the bike to comment on longevity but back tyres (and wheels) take a fair hammering on a tandem as that's where most of the work is done, both in weight and power transmission. The front wheel does about the same work as a solo but the back probably does twice as much.

[Wowbagger]

We had our inaugural ride on the Marathons today.

They seemed to be considerably livelier than the Marathon Plusses and our average speed was higher than anything else this year at 10.4 mph. That included a couple of miles off road which would have brought our speed down quite a bit.

I reckon we ought to find 100k audaxes less challenging than previously.

[Polar Bear]

Excellent.  Which Marathons did you go for in the end?

[clarion]

We're in the process of changing the tyres on the Super Galaxy from anonymous Korean 28 front and Michelin World Tour 35 rear to a pair of low milage Marathon 35s taken from Butterfly's Galaxy solo.

It might have been better if I'd got the rim tape & inner tubes in before I started taking them apart...

[Wowbagger]

Excellent.  Which Marathons did you go for in the end?

Well, they are 26*1.5" - is that what you mean, or is there something I don't know about different types of Schwalbe  Marathon?

[Polar Bear]

Excellent.  Which Marathons did you go for in the end?

Well, they are 26*1.5" - is that what you mean, or is there something I don't know about different types of Schwalbe  Marathon?

I was wondering what model..  There appears to be a racer, a slick (maybe the same, and the HS308 model I referred t in an earlier post.

[Wowbagger]

These, I think.

[Polar Bear]

Excellent.  They look like the HS308's I use.

Hope they prove as good for you as they have for us.

[clarion]

I spent a few interesting hours fitting the Marathons to the tandem wheels.  Weinmann rims always had a reputation for being a bit on the generous side...