I am trying to decide what tubular tires I should get for racing triathlons. They are going on a set of zipp 404 FC. I was looking at the continental sprinters and they seemed like a good deal (good rolling and puncture resistance for the price).
I also would like to know what is so bad about tufo tires. Are they really that bad. (I am a poor college kid and if the tufos really aren’t that bad I would get those because of the price.)
Lots of threads on this. The general take is that the Tufos not only ride poorly, but have very high rolling resistance.
Now, I’m as big a weigh weenie as the next guy, but I don’t understand using tubulars in a race long enough that a flat wouldn’t end your day. Carrying a spare tubular negates more than half of the weight savings. If you don’t glue them hard (3 coats on the rim and 2 on tire), the rolling resistance isn’t as good as clinchers. If you do glue them hard, then they’re harder to get off, even with a razor blade and you lose time changing them.
I learned to glue tubulars in 1970, so the extra effort doesn’t bother me.
Full disclosure: Since I only do TTs that are 30 miles or less, I use tubulars with a little sealant and take my chances. I also replace the tubies on the race wheels long before necessary.
So, what tires do you recommend?
Based upon his testing Tom Anhalt at one point recommended the Schwalbe Ironman tubulars - no definitive 3rd party aerodynamic testing, but the Crr was great.
I have tubulars as well. There are pros and cons. And there are plenty of threads on ST and all over the internets debating it.
As long as you are eyes wide open about that, race your heart out.
And for people who argue about flatting on tubular vs clincher - just remember - there are those that don’t flat too. They just don’t get on a message board hollering about it.
Just be prepared - whether that means extra inner tubes and co2 or tubular tyres or pitstop, etc. Do your own risk management. No risk, no reward.
So, what tires do you recommend?
Sorry, I forgot to answer that. Like the other poster said, you can’t go wrong following Tom A’s low crr testing. I’m currently on Vittoria EVO CXs, but as soon as they’re gone, I’ll move to the Schwalbe’s. That said, I have about 2 years worth of the Vittorias in the garage, so there will likely be something better by then.
you can’t go wrong following Tom A’s low crr testing
I would caveat that with - lowest Crr doesn’t always mean ‘fastest’ if you take into consideration how much flat protection is built into the tyre.
Some tyres have a reputation of flatting more often than not.
For training/general riding you can’t go wrong with continental sprinters/competition (look out for GP4000sII hopefully soon) as their puncture protection is pretty good. Just realize you’re giving up around 1-2sec/km approx based on some testing others have done (Tom A and Al Morrison) with respect to Crr. If you are saying you are a ‘poor’ college student - i would tend to err on the side of slightly more robust a tubular than not as even on the cheaper end, replacing a tubbie at 50-60 bucks isn’t fun.
Like I said, manage the risk. Debris/junk in the road that flats a tubular would likely have flatted a clincher also.
conti sprinters… cheap and fast 
I went to the tufos per nytros recommendation, they told me they were more round, contis seem to have had some batches with big humps, the last few batches have been better though, I didn’t notice any more resistance or significant ride quality issues over the conti competition, they are not as smooth as Vitoria with latex, I have had less flats with tufo than conti as well.
I use Tufo S33’s (240gr) for the rear and Tufo Elite Pulse (180gr) on the front with Caffe latex in both. Good handling, wear like iron, very durable, good price. Sure there are more expensive tires out there but they aren’t nearly as good. Over the years I have raced Clement Criterium Seta’s, Continental Sprinter’s, Competitions, GR480’s, Veloflex Carbon’s, Kenda Forte, Challenge Strada 66, Vittoria CX PRO TT’s, CX’s and CG’s, Barums, some Russian tires. This Tufo combo has been the best.
I rode this combo across South Africa and then did the Cape Argus PicnPay road race in Cape Town South Africa (1400km in 8 days) with no issues.
peter
wear like iron
they probably wear like iron because they have the Crr of an iron tank wheel.
what are you racing that you’d pick those tubulars?? Oregon Trail the videogame?
i think I just dated myself.
I’m leaving the tufo elite on for my next race, certainly there was not enough difference between it and my continental competition on the powermeter.
that doesn’t even make sense.
it’s the translation of that power into speed via the relative resistance of material that matters.
you can push 1000 watts all day long against a concrete wall and not move anything or you can push 1000 watts against a rubber ball and move it at an astonishing speed.
think about it another way - would you rather have a sports call putting out 500hp using race tyres or winter tyres. it’s still putting out 500 hp.
that’s basically what you’re saying - you’d rather use winter tyres because your ‘dyno’ or in this case a power meter tells you you’re still putting out 500 hp.
I’ve never understood why so many folks would spend 1 - 2k on a wheelset, and then put sprinters or tufos on them. I’ve even seen some folks with Gatorskin contis on their race wheels…
I like sprinters too for training wheels, but they are not exactly the fastest or smoothest tires in the world. And, in fact, I stopped buying them since for $10 more, I can get the Vittoria Corsa Evo tubies. Life is too short to ride shitty tires. And if I’m gonna ride a 3k+ bike, I’m not gonna cheap out to save $10-$20 and put crappy tires on it.
Knock on wood, I’ve had great luck over the past three years on both Vittoria Evo CX tubies, and Veloflex Carbon tubies, no flats in three years. That said, the roads I tend to ride on are pretty good. I just wait for places like PBK and Ribble to put them on sale (usually just over $50 for Vittoria’s on sale with coupon codes) and stock up.
The person who said carrying a spare tubular negates any time savings, not sure why??
Anyway, I can change a tubie very quickly, and hoping I wouldn’t need to anyway in that the can of pitstop I keep tucked away might do the trick anyway. So far haven’t had to do either.
Hey guys, I found Tom’s CRR results. Am I right in comparing his “Flat Surface CRR…” vs. AFM tire testing rev 9 results? CRR quite a bit lower in the AFM data.
Thanks.