When you get a flat with a tubular tire, you normally throw it away right?
When you get a flat with a clincher, you swap the tube, and ride some more…now with a tire that has a hole in it already, and may still have debris in that hole to cause another flat.
discuss
Uhm, no Fred. You get the debris out of the tire before putting a new tube in. If the hole is big enough for more debris to get in then you boot it or get a new tire.
Good tip: carry a pin or something pointy in your seat pack to help remove anything caught in the tire on the road.
Uhm, no Fred. You get the debris out of the tire before putting a new tube in. If the hole is big enough for more debris to get in then you boot it or get a new tire.
Well yes that is what one SHOULD do but the vast majority of the proletariat do not check carefully enough for debris, and even those little holes surely increase the odds of a flat a bit.
i always thought it was a pinch flat issue.
I still have my orange tin veloflex sew(ing)up kit 
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i always thought it was a pinch flat issue.
Installation error pinch flats are definitely an issue for noobs
“snakebit” pinch flats are pretty rare unless the person underinflates (perhaps noobs do this too?)
perhaps in the end it is simply that clinchers take more user competence.
When you get a flat with a tubular tire, you normally throw it away right?
When you get a flat with a clincher, you swap the tube, and ride some more…now with a tire that has a hole in it already, and may still have debris in that hole to cause another flat.
Besides tubies resistance to pinch flats, I would say that most clincher flats are caused by improper installation of the tube.
All of the blowouts from being in the car, or sitting in the sun on the pier, are from improper installation.
I suspect that the number of flats due to foreign objects is similar between the two.
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Sometimes a piece of glass or something may get stuck in the tire. When I coach new cyclists on changing tire, I instruct them to carefully inspect the tire itself for any punctures. But as the reason as to why “tubies flat less than clinchers”, there are plenty of other reasons IMO. The debris thing is not all that common IMO, not as common as pinchers, for example.
proletariat
Come on dude, too big of a word for Friday afternoon.
rough translation: “Morans!”
proletariat
Come on dude, too big of a word for Friday afternoon.
I think it is because people simply ride clinchers more often than they do tubulars…most people. I mean, if you put 1000 miles a month on a tubular, I would hazard a guess that you would get the same number of flats if you put 1000 miles a month on a clincher.
Unless the fact that your tubular cost 2x as much as your clincher…so you watched where you were going a little better.
It’s pretty easy (and way cheaper) to repair a tubular, rather than throw it out.
My flatted tubulars are repaired with patches, new tubes, or Stan’s and then delegated to training duty. I rarely throw away a tubular, unless it is severely cut, or just has no usable tread left.
FWIW, I ride (train, race, whatever) almost exclusively on tubies.
I think it is because people simply ride clinchers more often than they do tubulars…most people. I mean, if you put 1000 miles a month on a tubular, I would hazard a guess that you would get the same number of flats if you put 1000 miles a month on a clincher.
I suspect that if you looked at an IM bike leg, you would still see more clicher flats percentagewise than tubular, just from installation error. Heck, just look the number of clinchers that blow in the transition area before the race starts.
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our family got our first two tubies yesterday.
one of them was flat 30 minutes later!
haven’t even ridden it yet!
I think its just a bad valve or something.
Yeah, I’m taking that out of the equation. Assuming all else equal, most people just don’t ride tubulars as much.
I’ve also never really understood the need to replace tubes before a race…except from butyl to latex!! Maybe it’s tires and tubes, but so many times I’ve been asked by athletes if they should replace their tubes before a race…
Yeah I just put some new latex in at the beginning of the season (defined as E-rock duathlon) and leave them all year.
Yeah, I’m taking that out of the equation. Assuming all else equal, most people just don’t ride tubulars as much.
I’ve also never really understood the need to replace tubes before a race…except from butyl to latex!! Maybe it’s tires and tubes, but so many times I’ve been asked by athletes if they should replace their tubes before a race…
Yes, all things being equal, a properly installed clinchers won’t flat more than tubulars, aside from the occational pinch flat.
Replacing tire/tubes right before a race is inviting trouble, especially considering the number of people who install them wrong.
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Hmmm. That’s plausible. I can’t necessarily argue that away…
Except.
Wouldn’t that sort of presume a puncture or something in the exact same place as the first puncture? That’s improbable to me.
Well I with a sufficiently large hole (doesn’t have to be huge) chip-seal that normally wasn’t a problem can actually dig into the hole. Since chip-seal is constant eventually one will poke through exactly where the little cut is and bam.
Ive definitely had this happen with a set of clinchers that had a few small cuts.
People who ride where there is lots of debris/gravel would have a similar risk.
Hmmm. That’s plausible. I can’t necessarily argue that away…
Except.
Wouldn’t that sort of presume a puncture or something in the exact same place as the first puncture? That’s improbable to me.
Hmmm. Yes- that has happened down here on clinchers to me actually. Some of our roads are absolutely beautiful. Others are pretty darn rotten and torn up by the sun and heat.