I just bought my first tri bike from here on ST and have a tire question. It has tubulars on there and they will need to be changed before road riding. Do I have to use glue on tubulars or can I use clinchers. Are there specific tires to use with specific brand wheels? And if anyone has something lying around I can buy or can point me in a direction. My LBS won’t open again for a while and I want to get set before spring.
Thanks
You have to use tubulars on a tubular rim (and vice versa for clinchers on a clincher rim).
As you seem to be very new to this, make sure you know what size your wheels are before buying new tires.
And you should really throw the rev-X in the bin, it’s one of the stupidest and most dangerous wheel designs in history (do not replace with mavic r-sys).
Regardless of what others may say (who may or may not have actually owned a pair)… I found the clincher rev-xs to be a very robust wheel and have only good things to say about them. I’d recommend getting some help mounting them the first time.
Firstly, the OP is talking about tubular rev-Xs. Secondly, I have had at least one rev-X pass through my hands and was able to inspect it carefully. It was damaged, no way was I riding that thing. Thirdly, the OP is obviously not experienced with this kind of thing, you need to know what you’re doing to be able to inspect a used wheel for damage. Finally, when those things do fail, it ain’t pretty…
Firstly, the OP is talking about tubular rev-Xs. Secondly, I have had at least one rev-X pass through my hands and was able to inspect it carefully. It was damaged, no way was I riding that thing.
I have also held a broken Zipp wheel, what’s your point?
A damaged zipp is less likely to send your teeth straight into the pavement…
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I just bought my first tri bike from here on ST and have a tire question. It has tubulars on there and they will need to be changed before road riding. Do I have to use glue on tubulars or can I use clinchers. Are there specific tires to use with specific brand wheels? And if anyone has something lying around I can buy or can point me in a direction. My LBS won’t open again for a while and I want to get set before spring.
Thanks
Just in case you haven’t be able to pick up what a few people are saying here, the rev X’s have had a few instances where they have failed in a bad way. Next time you’re out riding imagine what it would feel like if you wheel suddenly came a part. Not trying to scare you, just inform you. You may want to take a good look, or get someone else to take a good look at the wheels to see what condition they’re in. I think the wheels look cool, but I don’t think I’d risk riding on them unless I’d owned them since new.
When a rev-x fails, it generally fails completely where a “spoke” joins the rim and this is sufficient to collapse the whole wheel, the fork hits the ground (assuming a front wheel) and you go over the bars and eat the pavement.
When a spoked wheel such as a zipp fails it is usually at one point and there are usually enough bits left to hold it together (a notable exception being the mavic r-sys whcih has now been recalled). It will go out of true or round but you’ll generally be able to stop, maybe even ride home depending on the build.
One of the big problems with the rev-x is that one of the factors identified in the failures was leaving them in a hot car in the sun was sufficient to weaken the bonds and thus the wheel substantially. As a second hand buyer you have no way of knowing whether this has happened. It can also be harder to spot visible damage as it may not be as obvious as on a normal spoked wheel.
Hence my suggestion that second hand rev-xs are best avoided, especially for the inexperienced.
I had good experience with clincher rev-x. They were of the newer model, with additional support between the spokes. I sold them though. Fast wheels, but I´d check them regularly too.