Schwalbe Winter v’s Marathon Winter Plus

Any experience of both of these for commuting? The Winter Plus have twice the spikes but are £58 a pair compared to £34 for the Winter.

I’ve an easy three miles on a main road but then a mile on a slightly dodgy and damp side road.

Indulgently, I’ve bought a dedicated “rubbish bike” these can be fitted to (very cheap and old cyclocross bike) which can be used just for those few weeks a year when ice might be a risk so I’m kind of relaxed if the Marathon Plus are more draggy. Just wondered how much better the grip was practically. Wouldn’t penny pinch if it was noticeable as it’s cheaper than dealing with broken ribs but no point wasting money if the Winter have insane grip anyway.

Many thanks.

I think I’ve got the ordinary Winters (bought years ago and still running, as they only see service for icy days). As you would expect, they are not a fast tyre, but they work really well on ice, with the usual bomb proof qualities of Marathons. I wouldn’t want to run them all winter, but if you can keep them on a spare set of wheels or a dedicated bike, as you are suggesting, they are a great solution for icy commuting.

I’ve got an old set of marathon winters which look more like the plus in that they have spikes closer to the edge. Even with them there is the feeling on ice of sometimes waiting for them to catch, although clearly much better than non spiked tires.

mr_stru – if even the Marathons are a bit sketchy it does sound like I’d be a bit mad to get the Winter with half the spikes. Just being stingy I guess.

It probably depends on how much ice you are expecting. If it’s only the odd patch they feel a bit like overkill given the noise and rolling resistance. They’re also a total pain if you do puncture. Once you get used to it though they do let you happily ride over sheet ice.

It was never clear to me how much difference the side spikes made as the casing is incredibly stiff so they don’t really deform and I was never keen on leaning the bike over much on ice because, well, ice 🙂

You could always compromise and get a full on one for the front and the cheaper one for the rear.

No point in the Winter Plus IMO. You’ll have to be leaning waaaaaaay over the side for the outer row to engage with the ground.

Used the Winter for three seasons, currently have Winter Plus (as they were on offer).

Jon – brilliant so you’ve used both, that’s great to know.

One thing though, I’ve just spotted a load of moaning on reviews on Chain Reactions about the carcass failing on the Winter and the spikes pushing back into the tube causing punctures. Not sure if that’s an old or current model or if the Marathon Plus would be different, although presumably it would as it has a different anti-puncture layer. What do you think?

That’s exactly what happened on my old Winters, I didn’t notice a difference between them and the Winter Plus when I bought.

I used to use Panaracer Flataway Kevlar puncture protection strips, which possibly helped me extract a little more life out of them (but added to the confusion how I was getting puntures).

I probably got 12 months use out of a rear tyre (4 months, 3 winters?) before it wore through in this way.

I can get home and have a look at what carcass these were, I think I kept one that hadn’t failed yet.

Still worth it.