Quote from jman on Apr 23^rd, 2008, 10:14am:

 
Don't let it bother you, Joe -- attribute it to the fact that they probably weren't carrying your size spare tube with 'em, anyway...    Besides, the "common wisdom" is that, if the rider by the side of the road is head down, working on the repair, he/she probably has everything needed -- but if they're standing there looking hopeless trying to make eye contact, they probably need help.
 
Quote:

 
'Tis true -- don't stray too far to the right of the white line if you can avoid it, it's trashy over there!
 
I haven't had a whole lotta experience with patched tubes, but all but one I've used one patch on have good life left.  If you're patching ON a patch, well....  

I rode marathon plus tires on my xtracycle in the 32mm width. They had to be the biggest 32mm tires made. They are a little heavy but didn't slow me down too much. I took a roofing nail in a tire and rode it over 50 miles before I noticed the tire was running low, and finding out what that annoying click was. I wore them down to the blue layer before replacing them in around 3500 miles I think and replaced them without hesitation. They carried me (over 300 at the time) a 75 lbs bike and 100 lbs of dog food and assorted items many time without fail.
 
I was going to get them for my giro 26 but the one place that had the 1.35 (everybicycletire.com) at the time charged my credit card and told me weeks later they couldn't get them and gave me a gift card I could use in the future. errr.  The 1.75 are too big for my giro with fenders so right now I'm using some vredstien touring tires and hoping for the best.

I think I read similar comments on the comets. Oddly though for the last 400 miles I rode on them I didn't have any flats even riding my commute which often times is littered with glass, though oddly due to all the construction has been pretty clean lately. I had gotten the regular comets since they were the only 26" slick I had heard of that my LBS had (bluebonnet) and I didn't want to ride on my OEM kwests that got all torn up after about 300 miles.
 
FYI: I switched to the vredstiens because I had ordered a folder as a just in case for 200k+ rides and it seemed pretty nice. I like reflective sidewalls which is why I ordered it over some other tires so I ordered two more to replace the comets and am hoping for the best.
 
Just be aware of the big downside of marathon plus which you probably already saw. Depending on your rim they can be either tough to get on to an epic wrestling knuckle splitting event.  
 

Same here.  Regular primos are very flat prone.  I'm reserving judgement for the kevlars.   The marathon plus that I rode on all last winter still looked brand new when I took it off the wheel, but it's heavy and slow!

Quote from aikigreg on Apr 24^th, 2008, 12:35pm:

What size Plus is that if I may ask and if it is a 559 would you sell?, The Primo Racer on my rear is a 1.35 a tad skinny for my purposes. It is fast but at a trade off in slixk muddy wooden bridge I am at war with   I've busted my buns twice on that stinker in RLP and it takes forever to clean all the mud off my clothes,body and shoes and bent   so skinny fast aint where it's at if you don't want to bust your a@s on da wood when it's wet

I've put 1.35" Kojaks on Terrie's bike -- we'll see how they last!

Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Apr 25^th, 2008, 11:11am:

Sounds like we have a true tire test under way. I am going to keep the Primo Racer 1.35 on the rear of the Tango as well, so we'll see what happens. I'm not saying I'm paranoid or anything, but I have not one but two spare tubes for the front and rear in my bag on the Tango.