Testing the Seba Marathon 110
Seba took their time to enter the market of long distance skating. The French brand started with freeskate, slalom and then fitness before taking the leap. We had the opportunity of testing the Seba Marathon 110. Impressions...
Par alfathor
Introducing and testing
Design
The Seba Marathon 110 is in line with the other models of the brand: It has a sober design, black with touches of white and red. Experts will immediately recognize the design of the Trix, one of Seba’s key-models with the Y cuff, also available on the WFSC and the KSJ.
The Shell
The boot weighs 710 grams for a size 41 EU, which is reasonable. It has 3 fixing points for the frame at the rear and 5 at the front, multiplying the adjustment possibilities.
Support
The Marathon 110 has a semi-high upper which makes it a good transition model towards speed skating. The sideways support is optimal, no shell distortion to be felt in bends, the Y cuff does its job. The rigidity is quite good on the whole for a speed/fitness skate.
In order to increase the feeling of support, you can take off the insole to lower your foot and be closer to the shell: You’ll get better sensations and more control.
Tightening
The Seba Marathon 110 has:
- Flat laces from the toes to the ankle
- A velcro scratch at the toes for more tightening precision
- A wrapping strap with a micrometrical buckle on the instep
- Another velcro strap at the ankle
At first you dread the fastidious tightening — common with Seba models. But in the end, the laces soften quickly. They are stiff enough to hold the adjustment into place and sliding enough to adjust the tension.
The central micrometric tightening would have deserved a longer piece of leather on the side of the blocking system to slide better on the other part of the strap. On the ankle part, the velcro strap is efficient but a second micrometrical buckle would have offered more precision. The skate would have been even more speed-skating typed…
Comfort
It is one of the strong points of the Seba Marathon 110. It combines excellent comfort and good overall efficiency, two points that are hard to reconcile. Not a single point of pressure to deplore during the many hours of use. The impeccable finishing of the liner has a lot to do with it. Contrary to other competing skates, there are no folds in the fabric, no seams to be felt. The liner has a generous and quite dense padding.
Flexibility
The V-cut at the Achilles tendon leaves good freedom of movement towards the back. The front flexing is a bit more impeding if you tighten the upper velcro strap too much. The feelings are close to those of the Trix when we tested it. Yet it is good enough and you easily forget you have skates on, all the more as comfort is on the cards.
The Frame
Seba is well known for the robustness of their frames, the 4×110 mounted on the Marathon lives up to their reputation! Heavy weights can challenge it without fearing any breakage. It has many reinforcement bridges and a good central rigidity, with still a little flexibility at the ends. It is then relatively handy for its length. Its manufacturing process, peculiar to high-end models, combines extrusion and machining.
The black frame weighs 209 grams, a little heavier than an aluminum competition frame, but of reasonable weight for a speed/fitness model.
The Wheels
The Seba CC wheels combine rolling and grip features. Their rolling is pretty good for standard wheels. Same for the rebound test, they go back to a good height even if it is a bit slow. They weigh 156 grams, i.e. a dozen grams more than a classic speed skating wheel. Their wear is slow and even. The parting line is still visible after 200 km despite the slight wear on the sides.
Their grip is excellent on dry grounds, you can turn sharp without having to worry. On the other hand, it becomes far more precarious on wet grounds. You can’t have it all, they say!
Bearings
Nothing much to say about the bearings. They are Twincam ILQ9 Pros. They remained noiseless for the whole 2-month testing and we didn’t have to maintain them. Their rolling is smooth.
Screws
Contrary to their freeride and slalom models, Seba equipped the Marathon 110 with only one screw diameter, for which you only need one Allen Key 4 to detach everything.
Finishing
Seba has always taken great care in the finishing of their skates, and the Marathon 110 is no exception. The carbon doesn’t show any bumps, the gluing of the various parts onto the upper shell is perfect, the seams are clean on the whole despite a few pieces of thread here and there. the front of the skate and, especially the outer side are reinforced with protective plastic pads/sliders in case of a fall.
Note: The micrometric buckle on the instep is fixed with a cross-head screw, it is replaceable in case of wear.
First bonus: You can even customize the color of your skates with the kits of the Seba Trix that are totally compatible. There’s green, yellow, red, pink, blue, white and black.
Second bonus: The skates are delivered with wheel covers, they will prevent you from dirtying your bag when carrying them.
Quality/Price ratio
For 519€ the pair, the Seba Marathon 110 is in the high-end section of the market and in the high price range.
It is (partially) justified by the quality of the carbon shell and the manufacturing of the frame.
In the same range, you will find the Fila M 110 for 419€, i.e. 100€ less expensive but also a little less efficient (softer shell, less comfy liner). There is also the Powerslide Marathon 110 for 399€, which we haven’t had the opportunity to test yet.
Conclusion
Even if it is a bit expensive, the Seba Marathon 110 is one of the best long distance skates we have tested over the last years, for its comfort and its efficiency as well as its finishing. Note that there is also a 4×100 version if you think you can’t handle 110 mm. We will suggest a few customized set-ups with this basis in the upcoming weeks!
Strong points and points to be improved
 |
Pluses + The comfort |
 |
Minuses – The weight |
Technical facts
Brand: Seba
Model: Marathon 110
Year: 2014-2015
Sole: Anatomical
Upper: Soft/hard
Liner: Anatomical
Cuff: Y cuff
Tightening: Laces, micrometric buckle, velcro strap
Color: Black
Bearings: Twincam ILQ 9 Pro
Wheels: Seba CC 110 MM 84 A
Frames: Extruded and machined 333 mm 4×110 Seba frame
Interaxial space: 195 mm
Wheel spacers: Metal
Axles: 8 mm aluminum speed-typed
Size: 34-47 EU
Weight: 1650 grams in size 41 EU
Price: €519.90 for 110mm version and €499 for 100mm version
Price of the boots only: €375
Recommended use: Long distance/fitness skating
Useful Links
Our Testing Section on Online-Skating.com
Testing the 2014 Fila M110 (French only)
Translation: Chloe Seyres
Photos: Seba and Alfathor
