Mounting and replacing tubular tires

Triathlon Forum
1

Hi,

I’m new to tubulars and have some ? I replaced my tires after noticeing a small cut in one. The initial tire had been mounted with glue. When I put the next set on I used tape, it seemed to go well. Just prior to nationals, however, the valve on the new front started to leak so I removed that tire and replaced it with the better previous tire. It seemed good to go, of course the race was cancelled so can’t say how it raced. I just mounted the wheel and tire and found that the tape had leaked onto the rim preventing it from spinning well. I just removed that tire. My specific ?'s-Do I remove the tape from the rim, if so how? Most is on the tire. Can I still use that tire as a spare? Definitely I want to get the tape off the brake area, is there a good solvent for this. Still OK to use tape, it seems like a better system that glue.

Sorry so wordy,

Pat

2

Rumor has it that the tape is voiding warranties from some carbon rim companies. Anyone else hear this?

3

Last year, I sent in a Zipp wheel with tire still taped in place. They replaced a defective rim and sent the tire back with the newly rebuilt wheel. The fact that the tire was taped on didn’t seem to be an issue.

Also, when applied the correct side towards the rim, the tape really sticks more to the tire than the rim. All of mine came off the rims pretty cleanly, but I could not reuse the tires again. This has forced me to switch to glue going forward.

4

So you didn’t chance reusing the tire? Is that cause it was too sticky to store? Did you try any solvent to get it off?

Thanks for any help,

Pat

5

Anyone? I’d really like to know the answers, especially how to get gunk off the brake surface.

Pat

6

Pat- Zipp once told me that acetone is the best thing to use to clean carbon rims. Goof off also works well. Neither will damage the rims, but don’t use anything to try and clean up the tires.

I would stay away from the tapes and just use traditional glue: Vittoria Mastik is the best.

Chris

7

Thanks sweet. The goof off/acetone advice is what I was hoping to hear. If it’s not belaboring the point may I ask why you prefer using glue? Tape seems so much easier.

Thanks again,

Pat

8

If you really want to know more about tubular adhesives than you ever thought you needed to know, read this study:

http://www.bsn.com/Cycling/articles/cements.html

It found that glue-tape had the poorest bond compared to other traditional adhesives. The glue-tape was originally designed as trim adhesive in automotive applications and then later used by cyclists. Get yourself some flux brushes and after a couple mounting jobs you’ll find that glue is not really that hard or time-consuming to use.

Chris

9

Thanks Chris, that’s a great link.

Pat