What are your thoughts on tubular tires.

[Grant]

I have these on a bike and they actually rode d much faster and smoother than the clincher equivalent. Both of them got slow lakes and I haven't had the time to replace them even if I have a new set. What's holding me back is it's gonna be a struggle to remove the old glue off the wheel completely due to the tape having to stick. I think I'm just gonna go ahead and buy more glue so I don't have to be as meticulous with removing all the gunk. I can use the tape I have on a bike with cleaner wheels.

 

[rickpaulos]

I used to race on tubulars, aka sew ups. Rode on them for about 20 years. Yours look like cyclocross tires. Not smooth riding at all. Wait until you put some road tread on and you will find out about smooth.

We always glued them on. No tape. I used to prep them for new bikes and other racers when I worked the a race bike shop. But really racers were expected to learn how to do their own. There are solvents that will remove the old glue. The wrong glues are much easier to remove. Name brand glues like Clement were the best. Tubasti (tube nasty) wasn't as sticky. There is a 3M product that was acceptable and a lot cheaper. Similar to what the auto industry uses to attach interiors to steel car bodies. A version of contact adhesive. Weldwood contact adhesive was used by cheapskates. Sold in quart cans that would last forever or until you spilled it. That stuff works great on counter tops and other smooth surfaces but the backing tape on sewups isn't very smooth. I don't think I would race crits using it. Rolling a tire in a race isn't good. Race bikes used to get pre-race inspections for properly glued tires, then they changed the rules so riders were held responsible and faced suspensions if they rolled a tire in a race. A ruptured tube of glue in a tool box was a bit of a disaster so we never kept the glue near tools. Most glues are best applied like contact adhesives: put glue on both surfaces, smooth it out, let dry til not sticky to the touch, then lift on to the rim, don't slide them on. Some models needed pre-stretching to make it possible to get them on without sliding. Another method is to put them on the rim without glue, then use a skinny glue applicator and lift the tire bit by bit, put the glue in and work your way around the wheel. it's easy to make a mess and that's the sign of a newb. You will need some solvent to clean any stray glue off the rim braking surface. A small dab on a rag and only wipe the rim clean, not the tire.

Long ago tires were listed in ounces. 7 ounce was a light tire. In the 1970s, they were listed in grams. 290 grams was medium weight, 230 grams was light. 190 grams were super light. Tires were made with cotton casings or nylon or silk. Of course the silk tires were the most expensive, lightest, smoothest, etc. Some would brag about using "Egyptian" cotton. Whoopie do. More urban myths that many athletes subscribe to.

Rim weight was a factor too. A popular rim was the Fiamme brand. Yellow (aka Ergal) were about 230 grams, red about 300 grams. There were some crazy light rims like the Hi-E rims. Tubular rims needed less metal , ie, no sidewalls sticking up, so they are usually pretty light.

Most better sewups had latex inner tubes. Lighter but they leak out faster. Needed more air daily. The Japanese nylon casing tires had latex tubes so they were preferred for training. Most racers had race wheels and training wheels.

Race spokes weren't 14g or 2.0mm like is so common today. The lightest I used were 15/17g double butted.

Tubulars can be far lighter than clinchers. Less rotating mass means faster acceleration and climbing up hills. One advantage of tubulars is you can ride on a flat with much more control than clinchers. Flat clinchers flop around and will want to come off the rim and jam up. Decently glued on tubulars stay put.

New tires were put on old rims and partially inflated to age in a dark place. Inflating them off a rim causes them to shrink and invert and makes it all that much harder to install.

There aren't nearly as many brands and models available now. During the bike boom cheap tires were $10 and the best were $30. Now they can cost as much as $160 each.

 

[us56456712]

I don’t like tape, I use glue. I don’t race on them but I have 4 bikes that use them. I’ve read that tubeless and clinchers with latex tubes are being used more and more for specific applications in road racing. Some feel tubulars are on their way out, only a matter of time. That would be a shame. It would make tubulars even more expensave.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I started racing on clinchers, moved to tubulars out of peer pressure, and then back to clinchers. Tubulars are a pain. My disdain for tubulars is probably what will prevent me from ever riding tubeless.

 

[us56456712]

I started racing on clinchers, moved to tubulars out of peer pressure, and then back to clinchers. Tubulars are a pain. My disdain for tubulars is probably what will prevent me from ever riding tubeless.

Tubeless tires are good for mountain bikes, as long as you can get them off to stuff a tube in there if you get a flat. Tubeless tires are too tight to get on and off. What good is a tire you can’t get on and off in the field. Fat bikes with tubeless carbon wheels are notorious for burping off in the winter with the low pressure required for single track. Some people use a narrow strip of Gorilla Tape around the inside of the bead rim to prevent winter burping. I use tubes on my fat bike. I have two mountain bikes that are tubeless. Their making tubeless tubular tires now. I’m wondering if that’s to make them cheaper. These tires seem to have more heavy duty casings. I have some 28 x 40 tubeless tubular gravel tires.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

tubeless tubulars??? That's like the nexus of the universe!

how can a tubular be tubeless Jerry??

 

[Grant]

Tubeless tires are good for mountain bikes, as long as you can get them off to stuff a tube in there if you get a flat. Tubeless tires are too tight to get on and off. What good is a tire you can’t get on and off in the field. Fat bikes with tubeless carbon wheels are notorious for burping off in the winter with the low pressure required for single track. Some people use a narrow strip of Gorilla Tape around the inside of the bead rim to prevent winter burping. I use tubes on my fat bike. I have two mountain bikes that are tubeless. Their making tubeless tubular tires now. I’m wondering if that’s to make them cheaper. These tires seem to have more heavy duty casings. I have some 28 x 40 tubeless tubular gravel tires.View attachment 218430

Looks like a similar tire to what I originally had on the front of my Schwinn.

 

[Grant]

tubeless tubulars??? That's like the nexus of the universe!

View attachment 218432

how can a tubular be tubeless Jerry??

Someone told me about those. It's so confusing and I haven't looked into it.

 

[us56456712]

tubeless tubulars??? That's like the nexus of the universe!

View attachment 218432

how can a tubular be tubeless Jerry??

It’s a cloth rubber injected fire hose. I guess they skip the latex inner tube. I’ve only seen a mention of them in bike gear blogs. No explanation about them so I’m kind of guessing. Seems to be used on heavier duty applications though?

 

[Tallbikeman]

Sew ups. Dredging more "good" memories from the early 70's. Very fast tires for the time but when you get a flat guess how easy they are to fix. Did I mention sewing skills? As soon as good 700c clinchers came out I changed my rims and tires. Much happier with the result. I was just as fast either way so it was a boon changing back to clinchers. I have stayed away from sew ups ever since and have not taken up the modern tubeless tires being promoted now a days. I have had the misfortune of fixing modern tubeless tires several times while out riding and the liquid inside the tires makes this a horror. They belonged to people who had run through their supply of CO2 bottles and had no real tire pump or weren't carrying a tube. In all the cases I either supplied a tube to go into the gooey mess or the rider had a tube and we successfully got them back on the road with my tire pump. One way or another the tire sealant goo was everywhere. I'm trying to remember why I need either of the mentioned tire schemes.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

^^^ some of the reasons I'll never go tubeless.

 

[us56456712]

The Challenge 700C x 40 mm tubulars fit perfectly on the 1890 - 1920s single tube wood rims that originally were designed for 28” x 1 1/2”. There is no side gap from the poor fit with the Challenge tubulars, like when people try and fit 700C x 33mm tubular cyclocross tires on these rims. These Challenge 40 mm tubular tires can be purchased as smoothies from the Challenge web site. They have a nice balloon like profile, just like the originals.

 

[Tallbikeman]

The Challenge 700C x 40 mm tubulars fit perfectly on the 1890 - 1920s single tube wood rims that originally were designed for 28” x 1 1/2”. There is no side gap from the poor fit with the Challenge tubulars, like when people try and fit 700C x 33mm tubular cyclocross tires on these rims. These Challenge 40 mm tubular tires can be purchased as smoothies from the Challenge web site. They have a nice balloon like profile, just like the originals.View attachment 223027

That is such a lovely tire rim combination.

 

[93EXCivic]

^^^ some of the reasons I'll never go tubeless.

Honestly tubeless isn't that hard generally. There are some rim and tire combos that can be a right pain.
On my mountain bike, I don't find putting tires on any harder then tubes. Put it on as you would with a tube (just minus a tube), inflate with compressor until it pops in place, take the core out of the presta, inject sealant, inflate it. Done. It can be a bit more messy on trail repair but imo no harder then swapping tubes. Downsides, tires need to be air up more often in my experience, sealant needs to topped off occasionally, presta valve cores sometimes get gummed up and need to be replaced. Upside at least for me about a 100x times less flats. I can think of one time I needed a tube and couple where I needed plugs. Before I went tubeless, I was changing tubes about once a ride or pumping up the tires pretty rock hard.

That being said I have tubeless in my gravel bike and to be honest, I don't think I really need it. So probably going forward I would probably only run tubeless in bikes that see singletrack.

 

[us56456712]

Honestly tubeless isn't that hard generally. There are some rim and tire combos that can be a right pain.
On my mountain bike, I don't find putting tires on any harder then tubes. Put it on as you would with a tube (just minus a tube), inflate with compressor until it pops in place, take the core out of the presta, inject sealant. Done. It can be a bit more messy on trail repair but imo no harder then swapping tubes. Downsides, tires need to be air up more often in my experience, sealant needs to topped off occasionally, presta valve cores sometimes get gummed up and need to be replaced. Upside at least for me about a 100x times less flats. I can think of one time I needed a tube and couple where I needed plugs. Before I went tubeless, I was changing tubes about once a ride or pumping up the tires pretty rock hard.

That being said I have tubeless in my gravel bike and to be honest, I don't think I really need it. So probably going forward I would probably only run tubeless in bikes that see singletrack.

Some manufacturers are calling their tubeless tires “open tubulars” which makes shopping for real tubulars hard. A lot of sites are selling “tubulars” which are tires with tubes. This is now quite common. In England a lot of folks call tubular tires “ track tires”. I call the vendor to make sure I’m getting real tubulars.