tubies are still a little lighter, still easier to design a fully aerodynamic shape with (carbon brake tracks are tricky to do well), and allow for less user mistakes that can cause flats.

those are all nice advantages

but tubies are a hassle in their own way too.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Can you get a nice mellow buzz and enjoy a bottle or two of red wine while setting up clinchers in your basement-sure, but it is not as cool as a three day glue session. And at the moment only zipp firecrest clinchers are as fast as their tubular counterpart.

I suspect it's much like the VHS versus Beta, or Unix versus Windows debate. The best technology is not necessarily the one that's going to dominate.

i totally agree. yet most of the competitive wheel manufactures continue to sink tons of money into tubular wheels. the new ENVE and 3T have great aero shapes but mean very little to most of the population b/c theyre tubular only.

clincher + fast shape + handling advantages what makes the zipp firecrest clincher, flo cycling, hed jet rims so desireable

There is a reason the entire pro peloton rides tubulars, and it is not because they have follow cars...

theres a whole lot of reasons I imagine

1. its lighter overall since they aren't carrying spares with them

2. many of them believe they are faster/more comfy because they haven't tried good clincher tires with latex tubes

3. if zipp or hed is your sponsor, the tubie was a faster wheel aerodynamically until very recently

4. less things can go wrong on installation that will cause a flat during the race

did I miss anything?

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

My understanding, from talking to the odd pro, and several mechanics, is that it mainly comes down to less flats (for various reasons) and safety (no blowing off the rim, and safer when a flat does occur). Also, I hope the OP in this thread was joking when he made the comment about 3 days to glue a tire. :)
I totally agree that high quality clinchers ride very nice. But that really doesn't have much to do with how a pro chooses their tire..

If rolling resistance made that big a difference, and clinchers were thus so great, don't you think every pro would use them? It isn't a sponsorship issue, since every tire manufacturer that makes tubies also makes clinchers..

Cheers

the rolling resistance is basically the same. so that argument stops before it even gets started =)

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

But Jack, can't you put way more pressure into a tubular?

I think the real issue is that we all know that tubulars will spontaneously roll off the rim unless you have 17 coats of glue applied over a 3 week period, on tires that have been properly aged in the basement of an authentic Italian eatery.... :)

Well, before this descends into another tubie vs. clincher debate, let me re-focus by asking this: What are the MOP racers that you know actually buying?

I heard today from 2 different LBSs that Zipp is now on a pre-order basis for clinchers, and that the wait was 4 weeks. Tubulars are available immediately.

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Punching cockroaches from day 1.

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http://www.tri-junkie.com/

A Pro can ride a tubular tire after a flat occurs for quite sometime if need be. That can be a big deal if the follow car is no where to be found. That being said, if a flat occurs they are off to the side of the road in a second. And there are many flats everyday in the peleton.

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Ian

The fewer the people racing on tubulars in my area is fine by me. I just hope demand stays high enough for the companies to continue making them.

I'm not so sure about this comment, even the pros don't train on tubulars. If there is no number on their back and no support car fallowing them chances are they are using clinchers just like us mortals. I'm sure through out their years of training and riding they have been on a number of different tires some good some bad.

Yeah but they probably aren't on both top level clincher tires AND latex tubes on those training rides.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

I would say that's because a greater range of people are buying aero wheels. In our club there are definately more people buying them and most of them would not consider tubs due probably in honesty because they are a little daunted by them, get others to maintain there bikes and can already change clinchers. They want something quicker than box rims that look good, perhaps with a well know label but are not that worried to have the absolute fastest.

I have thought about clinchers just for the benefit of when abroad at races they are a bit more friendly for post race long rides and travelling with 2 sets of wheels is a pain.

So there's the thing. When it came time to order wheels, I did a cost/benefit analysis. I mean, I got down into it, spreadsheets et al, spare configurations, etc. Went fricken nuts. Annoyed the hell out of my coach, even called Zipp directly and grilled them (sorry guys). Got numbers, prices, aero numbers, CRR numbers, went over it left and right. If you read my posts from the last 2 months, you'll see it.

What I found out was that it came down to the spare! I spent 3 weeks trying to fold a tubular into an aero shape. I kid you not. I bought 3 different tubulars trying to do it. Bugged my LBS stupid trying to find the smallest fold. Searched ST. Nope, wasn't going to happen. Tubular technology was .5 lb lighter, but I had to lug around this aero lump of a spare and I still had to carry some tools. Clinchers were .5 lb heavier, but the spare fit into my aero bottle along with a small tool kit. SO - for me the answer was clinchers.

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Punching cockroaches from day 1.

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http://www.tri-junkie.com/

My opinion is that most people are scared of tubulars. They do not want to learn how to glue them, do not want to pay someone to do it, or use the flat excuse. I have flatted less than 7 times in my racing life during a competition (over 300 races) and find this excuse ueseless. For the average person with no desire to learn the skill of gluing on a tire a clincher is just easier to deal with. I like tubulars, especially for cyclocross, but also ride clinchers 90% of the time.

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Contemplating a multi-sport comeback

The main reason is they have no good reason to switch. The scary parts ;-) about tubulars don't exist for a top pro,

Styrrell

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Styrrell

Until you find a way to keep a clincher tire on the rim after a flat the pros will still use Tubulars, so will the track racers.

Are flo wheels avaiable yet?

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Official Polar Ambassador
http://www.google.com/...P7RiWyEVwpunlsc2JtQQ

Perhaps - but that's not what we're talking about. MOPers, specifically, Triathlon MOPers have to carry their own spare, change their own tire, and pay for their own wheels, including tires. When it comes down to it, clinchers are more convenient and still come within a hair's width of matching tubular performance.

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Punching cockroaches from day 1.

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http://www.tri-junkie.com/

not yet

I can't believe we're going to talk about this again! That being said, I'll give my standard anti-tubular reason - flats are expensive!

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