…any recommendations? After going through a puncture fest of late, I need new tyres and I know there are ‘puncture proof’ tyres out there. Never gonna be 100% puncture proof obvs, but anyone use any? Any good?

I rode Conti Hardshells with slime tubes last winter.

No punctures, but no feel or confidence going round corners either.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus

If all you care about is puncture protection: Marathon Plus
For very high puncture protection but faster and better rolling: Marathon

Are we talking about road / hybrid type bike? If so, I don’t think I’ve ever had a puncture on Schwalbe Durano Plus tyres having done several 100 miles commuting on them. Probably a bit of luck involved but I’m not arguing having come from around 3 or 4 punctures a month running various other tyres including those wooden feeling contis.

I now mostly commute on a mountain bike though and keep i fun through the woods. Tubeless all the way! 3 days ago, I would have said, no punctures in just over 1000 miles since fitting them…but I’ve just had two days in a row having to put a tube in in the dark and mud because I picked up two different chunks of rusty wire which wouldn’t seal. Wondering if someone has dumped an old fence or barbed wire on the edge of the trail and I haven’t seen it in the dark as both punctures occurred in a similar place. Bloody annoying, whatever the cause was.

Or if you’re feeling flush Marathon Supreme is almost without a drag penalty and extremely tough…about as durable as the Plus.

EDIT: also your should invest in a pump with guage or a cheap standalone guage…. Correct pressure helps enormously.

If all you care about is puncture protection: Marathon Plus
For very high puncture protection but faster and better rolling: Marathon

+1

As the OP has mentioned they’re obviously not puncture proof but they’re pretty good!

No punctures, but no feel or confidence going round corners either.

Similar to my experience of specialized armadillo tyres. The only puncture i suffered was caused by a nail which seems fair enough but they were definitely a bit sketchy in the corners and the wet. Not unusably dreadful but just needed a little getting used to when you first started using them.

Another vote for the Marathon Plus, 40 thousand miles over 4 and a half years of commuting, no punctures. (had my fair share on other bikes though…)

I do 5000k a year commuting on a road/gravel bike.
I had the same issue and greatly reduced the amount of punctures I was getting by using Continental Grand Prix 4 Seasons. The key is also to keep the pressures really high, 110psi. Less chance of pinch flats.
Winter is a real issue as you can’t tell pot holes from puddles in the dark, nomatter how bright your lights.
I also agree with gofasterstripes above, get a pump with a guage. A CO2 inflator is a must-have too. The best I’ve used is the “Topeak C02bra” although there are others people swear by.
Hope this helps

If all you care about is puncture protection: Marathon Plus
For very high puncture protection but faster and better rolling: Marathon

+2

Just taken off some Conti 4 seasons and replaced them with 28mm Marathon. They are heavy (500g+ each) but roll well and seem comfy. Cheap too.

Couldn’t face Marathon Plus! They’ll be a last resort if the normal Marathon doesn’t hold up.

Marathon Plus are the most puncture-resistant I’ve used, but they’re horrible to ride and have a tendency to split on the sidewall if you have the pressure too low.

I favour Specialized Armadillo or Panaracer Ribmo for tarmac, Landcruisers for anything else.

If you really want puncture-proof and your commute isn’t to far, then get Tannus Tyres, solid tyres, but nowhere as you’d think they would be. Good rolling resistance, grip isn’t bad and i’ve done nearly 3000 miles on mine so far.

Don’t have to carry a pump, tubes or tyre levers either.

Schwalbe City Jets

my marathon plus tyres have been on gravel tracks, rock, ice, sheffield roads, smooth tarmac, forest tracks and more. No punctures in 5-6 years and very little wear.

But they are slow and uninspiring. When they wear out, I’ll swap them for something else. That will be at the heat death of the universe.

I have Marathon Pluses. They do seem pretty close to puncture proof, and they’re not too bad on my commute (lots of potholes, roots under tarmac, broken glass, that kinda thing) but they do feel pretty horrible. They’re ok for 6 mile get home with as little fuss as possible winter commuting but once I start doing more scenic rides again in spring they’ll be getting replaced with something a bit more sprightly and I’ll put up with the odd puncture.

Currently got a mix back and front: a Kenda CX tyre on the back and a Marathon Plus on the front. The bike (Genesis CdF) came with the Kendas but I moved my dynamo wheel over for the winter and that had the M+ on it and I couldn’t be bothered to swap tyres.

The 32C version of the M+ weighs 800g 😯 which is virtually the same as the Bontrager XR4 on my 29er MTB 🙄

OP: Depends on your priorities really, as others have said if you are prepared to trade sprightliness for reliability then get the M+

Edit: I see Wiggle have the M+ under their “city tyre” category which would suggest – short distance, high reliability, sod the weight.

depends where you are riding. I used marathons for two 3.5k touring trips a few years back and didn’t get a single puncture. However I wasn’t in the cities at all so that probably helped, ie no glass and crap on the roads. For the last 5 years on my commuter I have been using gaiter skins, which have been pretty good – considering all the debris on London roads! They have now become thread bare and I have gone for some Vittoria randonneurs – havent tried them yet so cant comment on those.

It’s a loaded question, this age old one of what commuting tyres to choose, as we often still need to get to work at a decent pace but the conditions we face in terms of puncture hazards could be and often are wildly different.

A previous job involved commuting along an industrial park road that was littered with hazards, so I was ultimately forced to fit Marathon Plus, which were mighty heavy (not to mention draggy and dead).

My current job commute faces nothing like those hazards of old, but wanting some moderately wide tyres, I’ve been using Marathon Cross as a “Jack of all trades” tyre with no issues. Low tarmac rolling resistance; decent light off-road and tarmac grip; moderate weight; low wear rate; middle of the road price.

Going tubeless is no doubt the way forward, hopefully this will start coming as standard on moderate price commuters, but in the meantime we can always try “ghetto.”

I’ve fancied buying a set of G-Ones for a while, especially if I finally tried tubeless, but at ~£40+ each I’m a little wary… Not helped by the 2-star Schwalbe wear guide (whatever that means).

Other Schwalbe tyres I wonder about trying are the Marathon Almotion and the Marathon Supremes.

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour.html

Marathon plus on my arkose commuter. I’ve never had good tyres on a road type bike, it’s always been used as a commuter. Had Bontrager hard case and spesh armadillo

I don’t find the marathon+ significantly better or worse, but they’ve been very robust. I commute more now and they’ve been reliable. I’m often ride over glass and there’s been no problem

I have normal marathons on my brompton, they punctured when going over a drawing pin (there was a spate of people leaving piles of drawing pins in cycle lanes at the time). Very annoying. Marathon+ tyres don’t fit well on a Brompton I heard, not enough clearance for the amount they flex or something

I like both these bikes! The tyres haven’t stopped me going anywhere in particular on normal commute detour, and the peace of mind is very welcome

If you are looking at wider tyres then it’s worth mentioning the Conti TopContact 2, which is a touring tyre similar to the Schwalbe Marathon puncture-proof version mentioned above – but about 400g lighter (when comparing the 38/37 sizes). I rode a 37c pair for 5,000 miles without a single puncture. I’m currently running 41c Knards because of their comfort and grip, although will probably return to the Contis if I get many punctures.

with the amount of glass that gets dumped in my way, i have no choice but to use Marathon plus tyres.

they’re fast and grippy enough for shared path cruising and the occasional scenic bimble, i think they’re ace.

I use M+ on my 13 mile commute, mix of country lanes and a small town. I am realy happy with them! I am worried about ever getting a puncture with them, as they were a very tight fit on my wheels!

I’m currently running Marathon Supremes (35c) and they’re a bit porky but nothing ridiculous, and not too slow rolling (they’re much improved recently).

So far* I haven’t had any punctures on them in around 800 miles commuting, and was getting a few in the rear of my Conti GP4000S II’s I had on in summer just before I replaced them – although the rear was needing to be replaced due to wear anyway so that won’t have helped.

* I look forward to the flat tyres I will find on my bike when I get on it tonight after writing this.

Continental Super Sports.

Available in 28mm upwards, roll a significantly faster than Marathon’s, (I’ve tried) and the last pair I replaced after very nearly 2 years/6000 miles had NO PATCHES AT ALL on either inner tube.

When I did more commuting, I used Schwalbe Big Apples in 2.0″ width.
Every few months I’d go around the tyres with needle-nosed pliers and pull out all the embedded glass, gravel & metal shards.
Don’t recall ever needing to repair one.

Durano plus for me on my 20 mile each way commute, no issues so far touch wood. Plenty grippy too until this morning, could’ve done with ice spikes, ouch.

Vittoria Hyper Pros. They only start puncturing once they’re worn out (through the carcass in my case). I got about 18 months out of mine without a single puncture, on a daily commute. They roll well and aren’t too heavy.

I did about 5000 miles a year for four years on a single set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres and LOVED the confidence they inspired as I rode through Cathays (Cardiff’s university neighbourhood), strewn with broken glass as it is.

That bike got stolen, though, and I have to admit that, on the new tyres on my new bike, I am reminded how fun commuting can actually be.

So the Marathon Plus definitely represent a trade-off.

on the new tyres on my new bike

Care to share?

Hmmm. have order the Pluses and was in a meeting and now seen all the comments about them being draggy and heavy! Ah well, time will tell. It’s a 6 mile each way commute, but come the lighter evenings I tend to a longer ride home, so might be a pain for that!

Care to share?

I will as soon as I am downstairs in my office and can look at them. I know they’re Continentals, but can’t remember which.

Schwalbe G-one run tubeless here.

Reasonably fast, not to heavy and very very grippy.

And full of Stans.

Had some Vittoria Hyper Pros which were nice to ride but I did get quite a few punctures, more so in winter. Switched to Marathon + and not had a single puncture since, roughly 4000 miles. I came down on the side of bomb proof after having to change a couple of punctures when I was half way home in the pissing rain with 1 degree temperatures.

I’ll probably drop the Vittoria’s back on when the weather gets a bit nicer.

Just got back in to the office. The tyres I run are Continental Sport Contacts. I think they’re 28s.

Marathon pluses here, couldn’t believe the change in the bike they are really hard and bouncy compared to the original tyres.

Took some getting used to but I’d rather have reliability than anything as I can’t be late for work and getting a puncture whilst teaching bikeability with a bunch of 9-10 year olds to control would be a nightmare.

I couldn’t face the drag of the marathon pluses, or any marathon until they revamped the range a bit ago – 10-11 miles each way…

The surpremes really aren’t too bad. They’re only just noticeably slower, you still get up a decent speed down a hill/with a tailwind – and most of the winter slowness is down to the weather.

@philjunior Not all the Marathon range are draggy (high rolling resistance), four models (Almotion; Supreme; Cross; Racer) have 5 out of 6.

Only the G-One Speed has a higher rating of 6 in the “tour” range and the Pro One in the “road” range.

I bought a pair of 35c Randonneur Pros in 2014, with the intention of fitting them to my Tricross Singlecross, once I repaired it after my RTA. They didn’t see light of day until I bought the FatNotFat wheelset for my Wazoo and holy cow, they felt draggy compared to the Jumbo Jims!

The Marathon Cross I replaced the Randonneur Pros with were almost as much of a revelation as replacing the OEM Mission Commands with the Jumbo Jims.

I’ve only done two short rides since replacing the front 700×38 Marathon Cross with a 29×2.3 BSC Type 1 (rebadged Vee Speedster, with the odd honeycomb central tread), but so far, the Vee tyre seems to roll pretty well too. However, I don’t expect the Vee tyre to do well at all on my current favourite mixed terrain loop, which currently has some semi-sloppy off-road sections (so I will be swapping back to the Marathon Cross for now).

But this is all very much one of those YMMV situations. 😉

Run Marathon Green Gaurds, slightly less protection than some of the other marathons but roll a little better supposedly

I have some schwalbe dureme things that I bought from on-one or p-x
They describe them as tandem-specific and I believe the missing word there is (tandem)tank

I’d be surprised if they ever puncture (in my lifetime anyway) and my commute is fairly short and almost totally flat, so weight is moot. They do seem to roll “OK”