Bicycle Touring 101: Schwalbe Offer Feedback

Schwalbe recently offered to sell their products at a significant discount to people who provided content for this website. The details of this offer can be located here.

The rest of this page has feedback from Bicycle Touring 101 web site contributors who have taken advantage of the Schwalbe offer.

Jakub Ner is one person who stepped forward with both a contribution of content to the website and a request to be put into contact with Schwalbe.

Jakub's new winter tires. Notice the metal studs in the tread area. The reflective sidewall is also shown
Click to enlarge.

Currently Jakub is riding through his first winter prior to going on his first formal long distance tour early next year. He has toured in the past with a couple of short two to three day excursions. These tours have been more of the unplanned, let's just go to this place, type of tour. Jakub is also a restless inventor who is constantly modifying his bike to work with off the shelf components rather then high priced commercial parts.

He decided to purchase some studded tires for winter riding in advance of new tires for his upcoming tour. Here is what he had to say about his recent tire purchase.

"This year, being inspired by Jamie's ice biking last year, I knew is the year for me to chuck the old Nissan and start ice biking myself. Fairly late in the fall I decided to act, start preparing the clothes, and get studded tires. My problems started soon after some research; finding out that the least recommended tires I read about on the Net are the only budget tires available at the local bike shops.

After procrastinating for another week or two and wondering whether I should risk asking my significant other for permission to get the quite expensive other brand available at the local shops or to get their cheapies and risk lost or worn out studs half way through the winter, not to mention general dissatisfaction, I noticed the Schwalbe offer on the Bicycle Touring 101 website.

After providing the website with some bicycle touring related content I asked to be put in contact with Schwalbe so that I could purchase some tires.

I ordered the Snow Stud tires from Celeste (Schwalbe rep in B.C. Canada). I figured that it would be a while before I received them and I was hoping that the temperature wouldn't drop before I got them.

To my pleasant surprise the tires were shipped immediately and I received them in less than a week.

Thanks to the offer on www.bicycletouring101.com the higher quality tires cost me $10-$15 (CDN) less than the unmentionable budget brand!

I couldn't be pleased more! Quality tires at a steal and I also helped the website grow with new content.

Once the tires arrived they exceeded my expectations! I guess I didn't read into the details, but the engineers at Schwalbe put in reflective strips and special rubber teeth on the side walls. The rubber teeth are a boost as I do use a side wall dynamo which now has a better grip on the tire!

Eric St. Mary is preparing for a long tour through South, Central and North America. While preparing for his tour he has been kind enough to contribute numerous articles to this website (not all of which are posted yet unfortunately). Here's what he had to say about his experience with Schwalbe.

"In preparation for my multi-year tour of the Americas I decided to purchase a few extra sets of tires to have shipped to places that I would be visiting. Using Schwalbe Marathon XRs for the trip was my first choice.

Jamie kindly provides the great service of connecting contributors to his website directly with Celeste, the Director of Schwalbe Tires of North America. Celeste is a pleasure to do business with, and is a wonderful person to correspond with.

After Jamie introduced me to Celeste via email, I directly corresponded with her in processing my order. I was shocked at the discount Celeste provided, and delightfully surprised by the prompt and polite service. Not only did I save enough money to travel on for a week, but without asking Celeste was kind enough to include some much needed tubes as well.

Thanks to Jamie for putting me in contact with Celeste; and many thanks to Celeste at Schwalbe Tires for helping me further my travels!"

Jim Oliver is currently bicycle touring his way across Canada in segments. He has already completed from Chetwynd British Columbia to St. John's Newfoundland. This year he will make it to the western coast of British Columbia in preparation for his turn North next year to head for the Artic Ocean. Jim recently purchased some Schwalbe tires. Here's what he had to say.

Schwalbe’s generous sponsorship offer for Touring 101 was too good to pass up. They offer a significant discount for contributors to Touring 101. Even the shipping was cheap and as they have a Canadian office, there was no duty.

I mentioned the fact I wanted to take advantage of the offer to Jamie and he contacted Schwalbe. Celeste from Schwalbe immediately contacted me. She is extremely accommodating and knowledgeable: a good combination. After a few questions and several emails my tires were on their way.

The tires are a delight to behold. The Marathon 38’s are notably heavier than the Conti 37’s that they are replacing; however, they are certainly more than 1 mm wider. They look like they are basically bullet proof. I predict that there will be zero flats on my Big Loop British Columbia trip this summer (4000 km)!

The tubes seem to be as good as I have ever seen. They even included a simple, almost weightless, pressure gauge with every tube. I tested it and it agreed with my pump gauge. Definitely a class act.

I took the tires for a test ride. They instilled a lot of confidence and I was soon looking for gravel. They performed well and the bike felt very stable. After I return from my tour in September 2005, I will report on how well they held up to a true test."

I am looking forward to hearing Jim's report upon his return from the next leg of his adventure. I too haven't yet suffered a flat tire with my Schwalbes despite almost a year of heavy service.

If you would like to provide your feedback after taking advantage of the Schwalbe offer please drop me an email.