The Old Dutch and I are celebrating our three year anniversary around this time of the year. As a bike owner, I've gone from a terrified first year grad student to a seasoned fourth year with a dissertation topic and comps committee. I've gone from a casual campus rider to an aggressive daily city commuter. I have even started to tackle the art of bicycle maintenance.
I have mixed feelings about the Old Dutch at this point. Don't get me wrong- I love it and have no intent to ever get rid of it. The rigor of my longer commute-- now around ten miles a day-- leaves me longing for a lighter bike. With a lock and loads of books, hauling 50+ pounds of bike up and down the hill leaves me pretty exhausted. As someone with anxiety issues who otherwise has difficulty falling asleep at night, this is not necessarily a bad thing. But it is a thing. Additionally, that some of my components have not held up very nicely (skirt hards, chain guard, headlight, I am looking at you) leaves me a little sad. Bike shops hate working on this bike. Hauling it up narrow stairs for a year took its toll, on me and the bike.
Still, I love my rolling bike church. Putting new tires on it has renewed this love. Philly's streets demand a substantial tire-- there is too much broken glass and pothole-ery for anything less. The Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires have increased the smoothness of my ride-- I now merrily bounce over bumps. The tires have great traction. The Schwalbe Marathon Plus are the urban assault tires that my bike has needed. I am happy to say that I even installed them myself (though my roommate checked my work). I feel confident that these tires will serve me well during the miserly winter bike commute.
I love the clear caps on the Schwalbe tubes.
4 comments:
I've had the Schwalbe Big Apples for the past 9 months or so, which aren't quite as puncture resistant as the Marathon Plus. 2500ish miles on hard, pot holed and glass strewn streets and I haven't gotten a flat yet [knock wood]. If the faint treads have worn at all I can barely see it. Schwalbe now owns my ass.
-dukiebiddle
Happy Anniversary! Those tires look good. I do love those clear caps.
I keep hearing good things about Schwalbe tires, and I'm pretty sure I'll get some Schwalbes for my next tire purchase. I've started riding at night more now, and really like the side visibility the reflective stripes provide.
Happy riding!
Rob
Yah, I have Schwalbe Big Apples on my folding bike and have been really happy with their performance, though I think for a bike with that amount of flex they need more tread. My brother has Schwalbes on a couple of his bikes as well-- I think amongst people who usetheir bikes for transport, they are really becoming the standard.
The Marathon Plus are great if your fenders can't accomodate the Big Apple-- otherwise I would be mighty tempted by the Big Apple, they are so wonderfully cushy!
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