I just turned an old tri bike into an aero road bike, I like it and have used it for a group rides and it really felt fast. However, after a few years of riding larger tires and lower tire pressures, I’m not wild about riding 23mm tires at 80 psi again. I’m thinking of building a tubular wheel/wheelset so I can run lower tire pressures while running a max 25mm tire that will clear my frame and fork. Sooooo…
Do you have a reliable tire you use to go fast for everyday quick riding. I don’t want to put dogs on there (been there, done that with old Tufo’s on my Zipp race wheels) just to ride tubulars.
Does it really matter enough to bother with this? Can I run a tubular at 50-60 psi comfortably?
I build wheels and tubular rims are cheap on ebay, but I’m curious what you are still riding and why. Unless you know a source of tubeless, rim-brake wheels or rims that are no more than 25mm total width.
I still have a set of Tubulars laying around that I use during the late fall/winter/early spring.
For fast, everyday tubulars I would say can’t beat Vittoria Corsa Pros in 25, they’re still a decent ride. They used to be all over eBay for a steal of a price, now you have to set an alert and get luck. I have a couple sets of Challenge Strada Tubulars that are getting prepped, will be the first time I ride these in Tubes. I have switched over to Challenge for my non-TT bikes and really do enjoy the ride.
The conti sprinters in 25 mm are a good all round tubular that rides well and is durable.
Used to love the vittoria corsas, but the latest one I got felt very dead. Tread seemed to have thick rubber and maybe way too much glue between casing and tread. Older ones had a great feel but didn’t last terribly long.
Corsa Speed and Pro go on and off the rim easily. A spare is quite easy to wrap and stow during races as they’re thin and flexible. 25mm still needs to be 80psi to roll at its fastest on smooth road though. Might feel a bit weird wasting them on training rides too. I’ve overheated them on rollers.