Brompton Marathon Racer Tanwall folding tyre

The Brompton Explore was out last year and as predicted sold well, despite not really being my cup of tea. One feature I know many showed an interest in was the tan wall folding tyres. These have been available to buy for a number of weeks...but at a cost.

The features are as follows:

• ETRTO size: 35-349 
• Tyre pressure: 65 -110 psi or 4.5 -7.5 bar 
• Bead: Folding 
• Casing: Classic Skin  
• Compound: Addix SpeedGrip 
• Average weight: 260g (9.2 oz)  
• Suitable for all Brompton bikes, including the Brompton Electric.

Now these are lighter than the standard Marathon (that I actually have on all my Brompton bikes and rate very high) and do have 'Raceguard' that offers good puncture protection. 

A nice tyre, that is very useful as a spare as they can be folded, but they are only available in a few locations and cost £40 a piece. I think that this is rather steep when you consider the ordinary Marathon Racer (which doesn't fold of course) can be bought for £22 or less.

The only other tyre out there that looks like these are the tanwall Kojak ones - that cost even more. For me, I will be sticking with the ordinary Marathons!