Help Me Pick my Tubular! Convert Story

After listening to the debates and drooling over 404’s for about 3 years. I have decided to commit. I can get a great deal through my lbs. Here are my questions. I want the best tubular out there, for racing only. Considering Conti and Tufo at the moment. It has to be great for TT’s, tri’s, and road race with the occasional crit. That said, I think 22mm or so is the way to go. What do you think? Plenty narrow for TT, but not too narrow for crits, or should i go narrower or wider? I want something that rides very well too.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Anyone care to chime in about dugasts?

Also, for mounting, what is the proper glue procedure. Zipp says one on the rim and on the tire after stretching. let dry, then one on each again for the final glue. is the first coat necessary and of any help. also, is stretching necessary?

thanks

Asking who has the best tire is like asking who has the best wheel. It is subjective. I personally use Contis. I had Tempos, and they were very nice, but very expensive. I used a Vittoria, but it didn’t hold air very well and the sidewall eventually blew out. I now have Conti Sprinters and they work very well.

I also have used Vittoria Juniors, but they were crap and I only got out 700 miles on them before they developed tread defects that made them unrideable.

I have also used ZIPP Tufos, which are pretty good, but I don’t like them as much as the Contis.

As far as the gluing procedure goes, that is the way that I do it. I don’t know the physics of it, but applying the 2 layers like that has some purpose.

You pre-stretch the tire to make installing it easier without getting glue all over the place.

Ed

You try to mount a dry tubular for the first time and you’ll know why we all pre-stretch.

Gule on tire/glue on rim, let dry. Glue on tire, glue on rim, let dry. Start at valve stem and immediately start stretching the tire on. You’ll want to be pulling hard right from the start. Once on, adjust the tire so that it shows the same amount of tape on both sides and all around. Once you inflate, making small adjustment (even if you let the air out) is near imposible. Let them sit overnight and they should be good to go.

When I put new dry tires on old rims to pre-stretch, I stand on the tire and pull, hard. I use my arms and legs to stretch the tire, put it on the old rim with no glue. Inflate the tire and let it sit overnight.

This is bunnymans article for glueing tubulars… has worked for me so far.

"Wear rubber gloves and old clothing as noted elsewhere in this thread. Lightly sand down an aluminum rim (don’t touch a carbon rim with sandpaper). Clean the rim after sanding with acetone. Let rim dry (which takes all of thirty seconds or less). With a tooth brush or an epoxy brush (available in the model section of Hobby Lobby), apply a thin coat of tubular cement (I use Tubasti, but some prefer the red or translucent glues) with the brush down the centre of the rim. Brush out to the edge, but not too far (as it will end up getting all over the braking surface, albeit not if you use electrical tape as a smart poster said in this thread). While allowing the rim to dry, do the same with the cotton part of the tyre. Let dry for ten minutes, and apply in the same manner as described previously. After ten minutes (or the glue feels tacky, rather than wet) mount the tyre (I centre up the valve stem), and inflate to about a bar or two. Check that the tyre is centred (as well as the vavle stem is straight) and make any adjustments. When satisfied with the manner in which the tyre is mounted, inflate to ten bar, roll it using pressure to make sure it is seated correctly and let it sit for twenty four hours. I usualy roll it with pressure about two or three times, check it, and roll it again. You can’t be too carefull about making sure the centre of the tyre has contact with the cavity of the rim.

White Lightning Race Day (spray) works great to remove the glue that is not 100% cured, just make sure to clean the braking surface off with acetone after using the White Lightning Race Day spray. You don’t want to contaminate your brake pads.

Prestretching a tubular: mount onto old tubular or clincher rim (I tend to do it on the latter, as I have a few clincher rims sitting around), and inflate to 10 bar and let it sit at least overnight. Take tyre from rim and stretch , stepping on tyre and pulling with hands upwards. Put tyre back onto rim and inflate, repeating process. I found that I needed to do this twice, as the Vittoria tyres I had tried were a VERY tight fit (and thusly made centred mounting VERY dificult).

Pre-glued spare: Paint two coats of tubular glue as described in the previous instructions. After drying twenty-four hours or more while inflated, use waxed paper cut in small strips to prevent the glue from sticking to itself when folding the tyre. I use a pants hanger (with the clips) and hang the tyre from the valve stem.

Other hints: a round tubular is easier to apply glue to rather than a flat one, so inflate the tyre just a tad (where it is round). Lew rims (or the new Reynolds) by virtue of their design will not need nearly as much glue, so one can have a lot cleaner braking surface when finished with less fuss. If you lack a truing stand but have a turbo trainer, I use a rear whel skewer to make my turbo trainer into a nice stand to work from. Just make sure that there is no contact from the roller and use drop cloths to protect the roller and resistance unit.

Hope this helps. Let me know if I left anything out.

bunnyman"

as for best tire… i dunno, i have conti sprinters on my ksyrium race wheels… and they seem to work fine, they’re pretty cheap, and my bike shop said the difference between those and the tires that are twice the price is pretty much negligable. But its race wheels… so in my opinion price shouldn’t matter ;)… (my problem is that its real life, and people already think i’m crazy for spending $500 for a used set of wheels, and i didn’t even bother telling them full price… but they’re not triathletes so in my opinion don’t understand the intricacies of spending large amounts of disposable income on something like bike wheels)

I am starting a crusade to get everyone to use 3m Fast Tack Trim Adhesive. Everything else is crap and won’t hold your tire on if you have to change a tire. When I get home, It requires almost the same effort getting the spare off as the “correctly glued” tire I replaced mid-ride. Plus I have mounted a tire and ridden it within an hour down some knarly bumpy 10 mph curvy ass roads! Nope never have rolled one in over 20 years. And I’ll kick all your asses down twisty, scary descents!

One other point: leave about 2 inches unglued directly opposite the stem so that you have a starting place for a quick peel in the event of a flat.

You get a more supple ride out of Veloflex’s and Dugasts, but the most important feature in a tubular to me is flat resistance. Continentals and Vredesteins do very well in this department and cost less.

As for width, you generally get better aerodynamics with a narrower tire (ideally tire width should match rim width), but wider tires give you a little more cushioning and handle a little better in corners. A narrower tire is also lighter and will generally take a higher psi. Note that there are very few tubulars wider than 22-23mm, the Paris-Roubaix is the only one I can think of and it’s a monster.