im going on my second season on my tubulars. i have continental competitions glued to hed jets. as long as the tires hold up how long before before they need to be reglued
I’ve been told to re-glue annually, but I don’t.
I simply check the bond around the whole tire for the firmness of the bond. If I’m getting areas where the glue is overly dry or it’s easy to peel away the tire I’ll re-glue the whole thing. If the bind is firm I’ll leave it. I’ve got a set of tires going into their third season and they bond is still good enough to ride with confidence. I think the biggest variable are what glue you’ve used, and how the wheels are stored.
It depends on the glue and where the wheels are stored (hot dry places can dry out glue faster). You can usually get 2 years under normal conditions, but a semi annual thorough inspection is important.
My “rule of thumb” is that if I can start to pull the tire away with my thumbs, then I re-glue.
I just checked mine the other day – 3 different sets, all glued last year with Mastik One. 2 sets have Conti Competition 22’s. The other – TT wheels – has Zipp tubulars. The Contis are on super tight. I cannot budge them. The Zipps I can start to peel off in some spots, so they will be re-glued.
Not all that surprising, because I recall thinking that the Conti base tape was really nice, and held a lot of glue. I used more glue on those tires than normal. (it was the first time I had used that tire).
i’m on my first season with tubies, so i have a quick (potentially dumb) question: when you’re testing the tire and pushing with the thumbs, are you pushing on an inflated tire to see how much or little force it takes to move the tire?
i’ve tested my glue job by deflating the tires and then pushing the tire around to make sure there is good contact (and good elasticity of the glue) between tire and rim. when the tire is inflated, if i push on any of my wheels/tires, i cannot get them to budge. deflated, of course, if i were to try hard enough i could break the bonds.
thanks!
i’m on my first season with tubies, so i have a quick (potentially dumb) question: when you’re testing the tire and pushing with the thumbs, are you pushing on an inflated tire to see how much or little force it takes to move the tire?
i’ve tested my glue job by deflating the tires and then pushing the tire around to make sure there is good contact (and good elasticity of the glue) between tire and rim. when the tire is inflated, if i push on any of my wheels/tires, i cannot get them to budge. deflated, of course, if i were to try hard enough i could break the bonds.
thanks!
I do it with the tire mostly deflated – just enough air to give the tire a little shape. When mine are glued on well I usually can’t get them off without the help of a lever to get it started. Though I have a friend with much stronger thumbs than me who can rip pretty much any tire off with his bare hands. I ask him for help 
Another potentially stupid question, when you re-glue do you use a new tire or can you re-glue the same tire? Is there any special prep for tire?
I do it with the tire mostly deflated – just enough air to give the tire a little shape. When mine are glued on well I usually can’t get them off without the help of a lever to get it started. Though I have a friend with much stronger thumbs than me who can rip pretty much any tire off with his bare hands. I ask him for help
thanks! i’m of the strong-thumbed variety (rock climbing background), and i haven’t wanted to push all that hard because i know i could break the bond, and i figure that is not great. thus far, i’ve been deflating fully and then pushing the tire (and/or pinching it a bit) to see if the glue at the tire-rim surface is still there, or if there are gaps. if there are not gaps and it’s pretty firm, i call it good.
(i glue my tires with 2 coats on both tire & rim with 24h to cure, then a 3rd coat on each before mounting.) my coats were probably a little thicker for the initial mounts than i would do now (5 mounts later).