Ok, with all the bad press that Tufos have been getting around here I’m getting a little worried. I did just buy a set of S3 lite tubulars but I didn’t glue them on my new wheels yet?(zipp disc/hed3 front) I am racing IM CDA in a months time so I need to either use them or get some new tubulars.
Should I use them or get another brand tubulars? Is the rolling resistance that much faster or does Ashburn have me worried for nothing…
Tom D. – you still selling a lot of S3 Lites in the store?.. its what you recommended to me last time I was in the store, but that was before this whole RR thing.
I am looking to post a decent bike split. 5.15-25 –
I’ve turned in some top 5 bike splits at dannon duathlons last year on tufo’s, including avg over 26mph. Rode 5:32 at an IM on them. Mine don’t seem slower as not many have passed me riding other tires, fwiw
edit: Mine are glued, would not even think about taping tubulars - any tubulars. Are also glued on straight
At the very least…the consensus seems to be that you should mount them with track glue…use the standard Continental stuff only if you must…but by all means…DON’T use the Tufo tape…even the red heavy duty tape…
If you are going to worry about it, then don’t use them. There are plenty of other things to worry about going in to an Ironman - tires should not even be in the top 20.
Personally, I think the Elite Road tubular clinchers are slower than my Vredestein’s or my Conti’s, not sure about the tubulars, though. I had some Tufo HCC’s on my Zipps, but stripped them off and re-mounted some Vittorias. Are they faster? Don’t know. Do I worry about them? Not a bit.
Since a lot, but not all, of the evidence against the Tufos is quite circumstantial then I don’t think you should worry. I have been using a Tufo S3 lite with the glue tape for all my spring races and I have been faster than ever before, to include my first ever 25 mph bike split. I’ve never had a flat, they were pretty easy to install and I have always been faster on my race wheels than the training wheels.
I was doing fine on mine until all this slowness hubbub started, and now I honestly think they are. I put the sealant in after mounting so I felt I was on a pair of wheels that were just about flat proof. I think that is just as important as a few performance seconds.
What’s wrong with Tufo? I used to eat it all the time. I know vegetarians love the stuff. It’s low in fat, and has a lot of nutrients. It’s made from soybeans and it’s kind of cheesy. I just would never put it on my tire; just don’t see the point or how it would stop air from leaking out.
Glued on S3 lites at the end of the winter on a new set of race wheels, (well, one new and one second hand, new to me). Rode 3 times. Immediate subjective impression was that something was wrong. 2 of the three times involved TTs on known courses. The other ride I swapped back and forth with my training wheels. All 3 rides indicated the race wheels were slower than my training wheels.
Bought Zipp tires. Spent a lot of time test mounting them before gluing them, also test mounting an unused S3 Pro that I had, which is a training track tire that was recommended to me for TTs, fairly inexpensive. Came to the conclusion that stretching and mounting technique was key to getting minimal hop; I could have done a better job of gluing on the Tufos, and this might have been a contributing factor to the observed performance. If properly glued on, the Tufos were straighter and had less hop than the Zipps. However, the S3 lites were noticeably stiffer, or less supple, than the Zipps. The S3 Pro was much less stiff than the S3 pro but not quite as supple as the Zipp.
First ride on the Zipp tires was inconclusive, at first the wheels felt great, but then I seemed to get slower, my time on the same TT course was disappointing, but I attributed this to the cold. When I got home found that my freehub body had come loose during the ride and the wheel was wobbling to the extent it could rub the brakes on either side. I’m virtually certain I would have noticed this play during the gluing process, not to mention installing the wheel, if the freehub body was already loose, but can’t say with 100% certainty that the loosening process had already started.
Fixed the freehub body. Did another TT, results appear to be as expected, wheels seemed fine and I was satisfied with my performance.
All of this presented in the spirit of entertainment and not as any kind of scientific or reproducible result. On a purely subjective level, I have no intention of remounting the S3 lites and using them, but feel that if these tires could match the suppleness of Vittoria/Zipp and other high-end tubulars, they would have a winner due to the straightness and roundness. I don’t think it is fair to extrapolate to any other model in their line. Also have to give the Tufos credit for being lighter than advertised, the tire switch added about 150 grams of weight, though can’t say I noticed it out on the road.
All I know is the 2 pros I´ve seen so far in Brazil are running Tufos.
Olaf was loaning me some tires for my friend´s wheels(after multiple flats) and Petr Vabrousek walked by and said “Ahh, Tufo. The best tire on the market!”
