What are the best tufo’s to buy…the jet special or the S33…or any other good tubluars.
Personally, I train on the C S33 Special’s, but I will be racing on the Elite Road tires. I also pre-load them with sealant.
The Elite Jet is the hottest Tri/TT tire going, 160g/220psi. The S3 Lite series are also better than most things out there.
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John, when you race with those pre-loaded tufos, do you also take a spare? And do you have any experiences with getting a puncture on them? Do they seal up without having to stop and pump the tire up?
- The Tufo site is informative abt what to expect each tire to do.
- the sealant works w/o having to repump up. My tires have a few sealant oozes to prove I never noticed the nasty things on the road and I am sure that the pressure never went down enough to measure w/ the normal inaccurate guage.
- The only problem comes in that they are almost too good. I use them on my race wheels and so put them away in a box after races. Well, my life changed and they stayed away in the box for several years. Now I have taken them out to consider racing again this year and the sealant has sealed the valves. I called Tufo and asked what to do. Since the core is removable, just take them out and manually clean. Then put a bit of something like carnouba wax on the valve core, add more sealant into the tire, re-insert valve core, and go. I like Tufos.
I am not planning on taking a spare with me, and I am racing 1/2 and full IM distance this year - just sealant preloaded.
Since I have used these tires - for a year now, I have only had three instances where I lost any pressure. The first time was when I ran over a bottle, caught a large piece of glass in the tire, and went a ways before I stopped and pulled it out. 5 miles later I noticed my front tire was low - this was without sealant. I added the sealant on the road (which I don’t recommend) and haven’t had any problems with that tire since.
The second time I lost pressure was in my garage - I was washing my rims, and noticed bubbles forming whenever I put pressure on one section of the tire. I found a piece of glass embedded in the tire, popped it out with a paperclip, then sealed the tire and no problems since.
The third time was on a descent - I noticed the back end was riding a bit different - a little loose. I stopped, looked at it and the pressure was probably around 70 PSI. I had preloaded the tire with goop, and the leak had stopped. I rode back to my car, pumped it up, and have had no problems since.
The tires have a ton of nicks in them, but compared to the VeloFlex Pave’s and Vreidstein Fortezza’s I used to ride, these tires are bullet proof.
Thanks John – just ordered the sealant. Will pre-load, but I don’t know if I’m going to invest in IM Australia and not take a spare with me… With my bike time, I don’t think it’s worth the stress! Good luck with your races this season.
can anyone offer advice on tufo tubular clinchers? I tried them on a 650c bike last year, but couldn’t get them on the wheel. Are they all that hard to stretch? Also, how easy is it to remove the valve and put on extenders? Finally, how much sealant do you use?
I can’t offer advice on the tubular clinchers, but as far as the tubulars, I can vouch for the smoothness and puncture-resistence. I train and race on tubulars, and did a few races on Tufo Jet Specials, and now train on them with the sealant.
These things have so many digs, holes, and slices in them they look like swiss cheese. I’ve gone through broken glass, tacks, and all kinds of gravel. They do get knicked and debris in them, but the sealant takes the threat of puncture out of them. As far as making it through all the garbage on the road, there is no equal.
My beef with racing on them was even at low pressure, I felt that they were hard as a rock. I’ve heard of it being that model of tire, and some of the other ones are better. I think that I will be racing on them in the future, though, due to the peace of mind of not worrying about flats- take it from one of the racers who has flatted at IM- VERY NERVE-RACKING.
I think the few seconds that may be lost on rolling resistance (wasn’t there a thread months ago about the higher rolling resistance on these tires?!?!?!?), is worth it when you won’t have to worry about a flat. PLUS- before I used the solvent, I had flatted on these things on a long training ride. I rode home on a flat tire (which the company says is alright), with hardly any loss of speed and NO DAMAGE to my rim.
FLASHBACK TO '97 (or ‘98, can’t remember the year) - Zack flying down the Queen K, blowing the field to shreads on the bike. @ mile 70, he flats, but he is still cruisin’ along- his tire? Tufo’s.