Sorry to restart the religous wars, but I never thought I would be in this situation and I need to get some good info.
My wonderful wife ordered my a front 404 clincher for my birthday. This will be paired in the near future with a Renn disc. She ordered me a clincher to go with my existing wheels under the assumption that good clinchers are good enough for race wheels and that since all my other wheels are clinchers it would be more convenient.
So the wheel comes in and it is a tubular. Should I return it and go with all clinchers for training and racing or should I continue to train on clinchers and race on tubulars?
I always had a feeling in the back of my mind that I was compromising with a clincher race wheel, but I can’t find a good set of reasons to go tubular.
I read the debate you started recently and didn’t get too much out of it. Here is my summary:
People don’t like the glue mess - not an issue for me.
Clinchers flat too much - I might buy this argument, but I only get 1 flat per 7k miles if I change clincher tires appropriately.
There is little of no speed difference
Time required to change in a race is of little significance to me.
Weight difference in wheels is of little significance to me.
Tubulars are too expensive. Sounds like a non-issue if only used for racing esp if they don’t flat too often.
You state that you are going to pair it with a Renn disc in the “near future”. If the disc will be tubular, keep the 404. If the Renn is to be a clincher - send it back! Your race set should be matched as far as clincher or tubular.
