I recently bought new 2004 Zipp 404s tubulars and mounted Tufo S3 lites on them and expected to be faster on these wheels than the Richey clinchers which came with my Cervelo three years ago which have Bontrager racelites (?) mounted on them. Unfortunately, I am more than a minute slower on a 16-mile nonstop course which I have been training on for years. I put the Richeys back on and my times were more than a minute faster than on the Zipp404/Tufos. I didn’t know whether it was the Zipps, the Tufos or the new skewers or cassette I installed until I started reading the numerous posts alleging that the Tufos are slower than other tires. These posts have convinced me I need to replace the Tufos. Is there any clearcut favorite tubular tire people like for triathlons?
Clear cut? No.
But I like my Conti Comps. I’ll probably get a fresh pair of those again this year.
I’m using the zipp tubs on my zipps. Very nice, and it seems that zipp has done a lot of good things to optimize these tires for use with their wheels. Search for some of the posts made by joshatzipp.
-Colin
More then a minute slower. I think your getting caught up in all the TUFO bashing. I like the zipp tires along with the zipps.
I just did a time trial on Vittoria Corsa EVO somethings that are smooth tread. I thought they were very nice.
Even a badly worn cassette won’t reduce speed that much. Skewers make no difference whatsoever.
As far as the tires go…without perfectly windless conditions and a powermeter, you really can’t tell for sure if it’s the tires or not. To give you an example: before I had a powermeter, I tested some Mtb tires and became convinced that one set was much faster than another. After testing with a powermeter, I realized the real issue – I was going faster with the one set because they had a larger circumference which was giving me effectively larger gears and inducing me to generate more power.
That being said, I know of 5 different individuals who have tested Tufo tires with powermeters and every one of them has the Tufos being significantly slower than clinchers and/or other tubulars. I have yet to see a post where someone says “I switched to Tufos and got faster”!
-Jens
hm… I switched and got faster. But they were the tubular-clinchers.
I have Cane Creek tubs and Schwalbe Stelvio tires and I always seem to be a touch faster with the Ritchey’s and crappy clinchers. I am wondering if it is the Tufo tape I used rather than the tires.
I had the same experience last year. I bought new 404’s with Tufo S3’s and expected to be faster on my personal TT route. I wasn’t and attributed it to over hype of the wheels. After reading the recent Tufo postings I changed to Conti Competitions and rode the route for the first time on them last night. The conditions were excellent so that accounted for some of it but I still posted my best time out of 19 runs (2 on Tufos, 17 on training wheels/tires). My effort was actually less than many of the earlier runs.
I hate to think that I spent $1200 or whatever on wheels last year and actually got slower. At least we may have figured it out now.
I’m also going with the tubular clinchers but I’m not quite sold if they are any faster (or slower) then a good high performance clincher. The thing I do like about them is the fact that you can ride them flat if needed.
Dave in VA
I’ve used the tubular clinchers in cross races and rolled them off when they were not flat. YMMV.
you might want to ask this guy, I think he knows a thing or two about racing on Tufo’s
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I had the same experience with Zipp 303’s and Tufo tubulars. They were just plain slower than my training wheels (Velocity) with Michelin Ironman tires. This year I moved up to a new bike with 700c wheels and had my first race Sunday on my new Zipp 606’s (2006 edition) with Vredstein Fortezza Pro’s. These wheels are DEFINITELY faster than my training wheels (Krysirium Elite), no doubt. I also don’t know if it was the wheels, tires, bike, or rider, but this new combination is sweet. The bike is a Guru Aero-ti and I’m wild about it. Much, much better than the Kestrel KM-40 I had before.
Imagine how fast he would be on Vittorias…
I just did a time trial on Vittoria Corsa EVO somethings that are smooth tread. I thought they were very nice.
I have read people on bike forums say Vittoria have very low rolling resistance, but they only last very short because the rubber is too soft. The soft rubber is probably what makes Vittoria roll fast, but the short durability makes them a bad choice for training tires. Many dislikes Vittoria because of the short life.
I’m using the zipp tubs on my zipps. Very nice, and it seems that zipp has done a lot of good things to optimize these tires for use with their wheels. Search for some of the posts made by joshatzipp.
-Colin
Isn’t Zipp wheels just rebadged wheels from another tire manufacturer?
Imagine how fast he would be on Vittorias…
…and if he wasn’t sitting bolt upright. Scary.
They used to be just Tufos but in another thread the Zipp guys says they now buy from some factory where a bunch of other manufacturers buy from but not Tufo anymore IIRC.
Yeah, noticed that. Very rare that a triathlete’s bike position matches his run form… 
I just did a time trial on Vittoria Corsa EVO somethings that are smooth tread. I thought they were very nice.
I have read people on bike forums say Vittoria have very low rolling resistance, but they only last very short because the rubber is too soft. The soft rubber is probably what makes Vittoria roll fast, but the short durability makes them a bad choice for training tires. Many dislikes Vittoria because of the short life.
I think it is just a matter of selecting the right Vittoria for the job. You don’t necessarily put on the Vittoria EVO Corsa tires for training. You’d be better served to run their Diamante Pros or Rubino Pros. Both sport a less soft tread compound and also lower thread count casings than the Corsa or Open Corsa tires. The soft rubber may play less of a role in lower rolling resistance than the tire casing itself. The higher thread count casings should yield lower rolling resistance, but you will pay a price in reduced durability over tires with a lower thread count casing. I’d suspect that alot of the reason for the softer rubber compound is for traction purposes first, any positive impact on rolling resistance second.
One big plus that Vittoria offers is a much broader selection of both tire models and tread patterns for you to choose from. You can’t label all Vittoria tires based on performance experienced from a single model.