I know a lot of this has been debated intothe ground, but I was wondering how many people used tubulars for daily use. I have never used tubies but am willing to learn the intricacies. I am looking at a set of wheels that are tubies but my philosophy is a bit different…race wheels should be used failry often to be familiar with them. Also, why spend all that money to keep the wheels in the closet 90% of the time? I want to enjoy them.
Knowing that, however, are tubies even a viable option or should I go for clinchers.
I have a pair of Chris King hub, dt revo spoke, velocity escape tubbie rim wheels on my road bike. I like them for the smooth ride and cornering characteristics. I live by the mountains and fast descents on the tubulars are amazing.
I, however, wouldn’t do it without being a confident tubular gluer and would think twice if I didn’t have access to cheap tires.
It would depend how often you get punctures, especially if you want to run some nice fast racing tires with low RR, they arent very puncture resistant. You can repair punctures in tubulars (I used to do it) , but its time consuming and a PITA. In Arizona with cactus thorns and construction debris flats are common. Last year I took my race wheels out for a training ride, ran over something I didnt see and slashed the rear Vittoria Crono tire-an expensive ride! A month ago a rider on a group ride did the same thing with a rear Conti GP tubular. Then you are looking at heading home as its tough to carry two spares.
Not worth it IMO. I run Maxxis Refuse with liners.
My tubular equipped race bike became my main training bike somewhere around 1989 and is still in use perhaps 25% of the time right now.
I have had only 2 flats ever in that time, but I’ve been using heavier training tires. Having a flat is a pain because you need to put on the old tubular that’s wrapped up behind the seat. It’s annoying living with it there too…always moving and rubbing my hamstring until I readjust it.
Once you put it on and inflate it you are scared to corner for the rest of the ride because the glue isn’t fresh and you don’t trust it.
Then you have to go buy another $40+ tire to replace the flat…or else go through the hours of hassle to remove the backing tape, cut the threads, unsew the casing, find the hole, patch the hole, resew the casing, reapply the backing tape…
I enjoyed tubulars OK, I always figured they perform better and were a necessary evil…but now I plan to go clinchers from here forward. I’ll still have the tubulars on that vintage training bike of mine, but no more new investment in tubulars even on my race bikes.
tubulars are the way to go I tell ya. i didnt come into tri with a road cycling background and never handled a tubular prior to race wheels many years ago now.
There seems to be this mystique abt tubulars like you have to be some kinda mechanic to use them, its just not the case. Its insane how many people
race on them in one or two IM a year and are just praying to God they won’t flat. I practiced changing a couple prior to racing them and when I realized how easy it was
I bought tubular training wheels. I never flat and when I do, no big deal, 10 minutes and i retape the new tire roadside, no worries abt rolling it off the rim etc. use tufo extreme
tape, if you do it right you wont roll a tire, i train in 90 plus and humid, no problems. Get tubies baby!
I got my first set of tubies a couple of years ago after killing one of my regular wheels. Since I spent a bunch on them I never really got around to buying another set of ‘training’ wheels. I really like the way that they ride and have’t taken them off the bike since. I blew one up last summer after a panic stop wore the tread too thin (the tires already had several thousand miles on them) and had to call for a ride home since my flat solution at the time was just a can of PitStop. No big deal.
I changed the tires myself, and have to say I’m not sure what the big deal is. I streched preped the new tires (the day before) and preped the rims, got out a new tube of glue and had two perfectly mounted tires in about 20min. I’m not sure who came up with the idea that you had to be some bike god guru to mount a tubie, but I thought it was pretty easy.
True enough tubies are more expensive, and more of a hassle, but if I’ve got nice wheels I’m going to ride them and my nicest ones are tubie. I figure I’ll feel better breaking a rim with 10,000 miles on it than breaking a rim with 100miles on it.
Gotta say, all of you at this forum are awesome. Well put forth opinions…no flaming answers…just helpful opinions. Thanks you all so much. Just gettin into this sport and I have to say, this site is great.
Which Tufo’s are you using? I am switching to tubular’s for both training and racing. I just like the ride of them better. I have Corsa Evo CX’s on my 606 wheelset but for my EA70X’s I am looking for something a little cheaper but still decent.
There is nothing wrong with training on tubulars. I would not run expensive race tubulars though. Use something durable for training and then swap the tires for racing.
I’d love to train on tubulars and do race on them. I rotate tubulars every season for racing, so I have spares lying around to have for training. If I lived in an area with low risk of flats, it would be great. However, being in a city poses lots of challenges to tires. Putting tubulars on isn’t that hard, but I’d rather have a decent quality clincher on a training ride. Carrying a spare tube in your jersey pocket is a little easier than carrying a spare tubular. Plus, a flat only costs you $3.
The tubulars vs. clinchers debate is endless and likely never to be resolved, but if ride quality is your top criterion, then tubulars are the way to go. People frequently complain that they are expensive and too difficult to change, but I would counter that good training tubulars (such as those made by Tufo and Continental) last upwards of 3000 miles and that changing them is actually no trouble at all if you obey a few simple rules (such as pre-stretching them). I train and race exclusively on tubulars and do not intend to change this at any point…
I too am considering going to tubies for training. Here are a couple of advantages I see. 1) any time I flat I get to practice changing a tubie and will be better at it if it happens in a race. 2) Assuming you are using a different wheelset to train and race you and buy new tires to race and then when they get old enough that you don’t trust them 100% for racing, they go on the trainers. Right now, I’ve got a few tires sitting around that are too good to throw away, but I wouldn’t want to use them in an “A” race.
Thats all I ride on. I race and train on the same wheels. Zipp 404 wheels vittoria cx 650 tires. I have 3 bikes set up that way. I have a set 404 clinchers, the tubies are way better. Ride and weight are why. IF you would like to take the fear out of gluing tubies on ,Richard Cuningham worte a great piece with pictures in Road Bike Action acouple months ago. The only thing I would add would be to work in short areas at a time. While spreading the glue work 2 to 3 inches at a time.