Recovering TUFO user, switching to Vittorias. Ordered a pair of Open Corsa KS tubulars (These are slicks, feel very simliar to Michelin Open Pros) at $75 a pop.
Put them on the rim to pre strectch. Both tires have “flat spots”, basically the tires are visibly out of rounds. Now you can say a lot of things about TUFOs, but in my experience the tires were always very round. Anyone have similiar experience with tubulars? Is this really a problem since the part of the tire in contact with the ground is deformed anyway and is flat anyway? Even if this will not slow me down, will this cause the tire to wear improperly? I expect a $75 tire (more than I spend for my car) to be pretty much perfect.
They are handmade and they do typically have a bump. You will not feel the bumb when you ride but you will feel the difference between the Open Corsas and Tufos.
A lot of the sew-ups I’ve ridden over the years have been slightly out of round. Panaracer, Vittoria, CyclePro, Wolber. Practically everything except Tufos. Not a problem if it’s not excessive. But you may be able to feel it when you ride on very smooth pavement.
The tires are mounted okay and teh the areas over the valve stem is okay, no bump there.
Why Vittoirias?
The contis seem to have a rep for puncturing easily. The velomax are highly recommened but are $90 a pop. I have used a Vittoria Nuovo Pro ($40 tire, pretty nice, but not a true racing tire) as rear and was generally satisfied. The Vittoria Open Corsas come in three flavors, CX (regular, minimal tread), SX (all weather, more tread) and KS (slick), which is the best choice for a time trial tire. $75 a tire is the most I was willing to spend, so Open corsas it was.