Schwalbe Marathon GreenGuard 20" Tire - 406 ISO Diameter; Width: 1.5", 1.75"

Poor sizing = lumpy ride!!

I'm familiar with Schwalbe Marathon in the 700C size, where they are a bit tight to put on but are of legendary durability and quality. I purchased three of these for a recumbent tricycle, thinking that these would be of similar quality... big disappointment. They actually might be durable, but they are driving me crazy and will have to be replaced soon. The problem is that they are undersized in diameter, which means that when you put them on the rim there is one spot where the tire pulls in toward the hub in order to satisfy the physics of something too small mounted on something too large. Replace three of these tires on a tricycle and you have a literal boneshaker going down the road, as each wheel encounters its flat spot. The Internet is full of advice for situations like this: overpressure the tire by 20 pounds, re-mount with soap lubricant, re-mount with KY jelly lubricant, wait it out... none of these have worked, and after remounting a half a dozen times I'm done with these. I'm going to move two of these tires over to our Burley trailer, and hope that the lumpy spots don't scramble the eggs when we use the trailer for groceries.

Pros: Might be durable
Might be thick enough to resist flats

Cons: Very poor sizing that makes them practically unusable

Would Buy Again: No
Would Recommend: No

Reviewed on: July 05, 2017
Reviewed by: Kurt L.

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