Nearly finished my Cross Check touring build, and thinking which tyres to go for. Am using Mavic Open Pro Ceramic rims, not sure if that affects anything. At the moment I'm torn between the following choices:
Randonneur Pro
Marathons Plus
Marathon Supreme
Marathon Dureme
Using standard Randonneurs at the mo on my Pompino. The Pro's are lighter but are about twice the price. The Marathon Supreme and Duremes are about £40 each, the same weight as the Randonneur Pros and half the weight of the Marathons Plus. I want to have excellent puncture protection but also the speed to cover some real miles. Any input much appreciated.
I use the standard Marathons (not the plus). Lighter, still with some puncture protection and gnarly enough for some light off-roading. The Dureme looks even better for off-road use and figures highly on my list of replacements.
Plus' weigh a ton, and while I've never ridden them, they feel like they's be as slow as solid tyres.
I've mostly toured on non-puncture resistant tires without problems BTW (600 miles in Europe last year for starters). In fact the tour I had most punctures on, I rode Paselas.
Supremes are nice, I find Duremes pick up loads of grit and stones in the tread pattern. No punctures with either.
Marathon Plusses are pretty slow and heavy, for a long distance tour I would want to try and minimise additional frictional losses tbh.
While they are great for my commuter on shocking Indian roads, and for training rides where I want to make life difficult for myself, I probably wouldn't tour on them.
Cheers, Rich
I use the Marathon Plus and I keep up the the roadies and I ride a mountain bike hard tail. Good tyre for all round stuff! Highly recommended!