I did the Tufo test today.........drum roll

Triathlon Forum
1

I tested the following rear wheels:

  • AC Carbon (Zipp 404 wheel with AC hub) with Tufo S3 Lite < 215 gram at 160psi

  • AC Carbon (Zipp 404 wheel with AC hub) with Tufo S3 Lite < 215 gram at 125psi

  • Hed Alps with Vittoria Corsa KS & Latex tube at 125psi

  • Hed H3 with Axial Pro Light & Latex tube at 115psi

The test was on an 8% grade course with power measured by an SRM pro. I only did the rear wheel since I got rid of my front tufo a while back.

It probably won’t suprise you that the AC with the Tufo did the worst. It actually performed slightly better with the lower PSI. However, the Alps-Vittoria Corsa and H3-Axial Pro combos beat it consistently in every trial.

I will post details on the biketechreview.com insider’s forum.

– Jens

2

So how big of diff was it?

3

Why not test the Elite Jet, since that is Tufo’s nicest tubular? How do you think that tire would stack up? It is a high TPI (400+ tpi), low weight (<165g) tire.

4

Jens you da man!!!

Dan…

5

Nice! Thanks :).

ot

6

I haven’t done the complete calcs yet, because there were some slight power variations in the trials – one or two watts this way or that. However, it’s looking like ~7 secs over about 4:50 minutes.

Doesn’t sound like much. However, that means almost a minute and a half an hour. And that’s at a measly 9mph. Just for the rear wheel.

– Jens

7

Did you use the same cassette on each wheel? Or could some of the variations be from different wear in the cassettes?

8

Brand new cassettes on both the H3 and the AC. Slightly used on the Alps.

– jens

9

Was the Tufo S3 glued or taped?

10

Taped with the extreme tape.

-jens

11

9mph is an important figure here based on the calculation rmur posted in another thread. Another important one…approx. how much weight (you and bike)?

ot

12

Weight as follows (I stepped on the scale with everything - bike, shoes, helmet, cell phone, etc.)

with the AC wheel: 178

with the Alps wheel: 179

with the H3 wheel: 179.5
.

13

curious as to why you did the test on an 8% grade? On something like that, I think the wheels themselves would be more of a factor then the tires.

For this to be more of a valid test on a grade that steep, you might have been better off using the same wheel and changing the tire. Could be wrong though, I’m no scientist.

14

Mike:

The reason for this is that I wanted to eliminate aerodynamic differences in the wheels and my body position as a factor. The low speeds (~9mph) on this grade accomplishes this.

Using analyticcycling’s calculator, I adjust the wattage for the weight differences between the wheel/tire combos, e.g. ~1.5lb difference between the H3 and the Zipp/AC. FYI, at the speed/power I used, the weight difference amounted to ~1 watt (out of 280).

– Jens

15

Yes, why are people testing Tufos low end tire? Big money on wheels, extremely cheap on tires.

16

How could this possibly be considered conclusive?

I did a 11.77 flying 200 on my 28 spoke Suntour Hubs laced to Sun Buzz Carbon rims with Vittoria Pista CS tires.

I did a 11.94 flying 200 on my iO and Comete with Tufo S3 Lite <125s.

Same Suntour wheels in the 3km pursuit 3:54
Mavic wheels in the 3km 3:42

so the Tufos are faster, unless you are going over 60 kph?

Your test is absurd.

17

Yes, why are people testing Tufos low end tire? Big money on wheels, extremely cheap on tires.

The S3 by far the biggest seller among triathletes. Makes sense to test what most people own.

The German magazine mentioned on another thread did test the Jet, and it scored horribly.

18

The difference for just the rear tire comes out to about 10 watts. At 1200 watts, or whatever you do in a 200, 10 watts (or even 40 watts) is noise. For an AG triathlete, whose average power might be under 200 watts, 10 watts is a big deal.

– Jens

19

Your test is absurd.

No, actually, it’s not.

20

Dave:

Maybe we’re misunderstanding each other. You don’t provide any power data, but looks like your data just confirm what I was saying.

You’re right. Tufos are slower at both high and low speeds. If you don’t believe me, keep on using them. I have 4 of them for sale, BTW.

– Jens