They're not that precious. But they are race-only, and not your weekly local races. I've never had an issue and have only ridden on an indoor velodrome a handful of times. Use 'em, I bet you will like.

I'm curious what tubulars would be appropriate for racing primarily at Kissena and T-Town. I'm guessing whatever tire would be appropriate for those tracks wouldn't necessarily be suitable for Forest City or the Pittsburgh track (is it rideable yet?).

My first choices would be Vittoria or Conti, though from what I hear, the Vittorias might be too delicate for Kissena, and Contis seem to have random issues. Strange, since I'm loving my Supersonic clinchers at Kissena.

from my experience you can run pretty well any tire you want on indoor wood. Obviously some are faster than others, but Ive had track tires, old road tires and everything inbetween at FCV. If you only want 1 set then buy something for the concrete (vittoria corsa?) and it will be fine on wood. Only concern at FCV is if its brand new you should scuff it up a bit with sand paper.

You must weigh 120lbs.

:o

Not recommended to use just any tyre on timber!

From Safety Information - National Cycling Centre Mancester

For tyres that run well on both concrete and timber, I use all black Vittoria Corsa Evo CX tubulars. For clinchers that run well both outdoors and indoors I recommend Vittoria Diamante Pro Lights.

sorry I should have been more specific. Not any tire will do, I meant most road slick tires will do and you dont need specific track tubulars. I run old GP4000s clinchers and some vittoria slicks at FCV all the time (like 3xweek) without issue. I dont race on them, but for training I dont see the problem. All the rental bikes are just low end road tires (slicks sanded down). And im 195lbs btw!

But no, your touring tires or CX tires are not going to work out :)

Hello all... I'm looking to get back into track riding at a velodrome in Los Angeles. I used to ride on the Olympic Velodrome at Domiguez hills which was concrete outside. Now it is a inside wood track. Any suggestions on tires? I'm 6'2" and 275#'s - I have nightmares about a tubular rolling off when I'm doing a flying 200.

In response to the question about whether you can put nitrogen or helium in tires in the now closed thread (I read through this one and didn't see it addressed):

Yes, you can put nitrogen and helium in them. Helium won't last long-- it diffuses pretty quickly through both latex and butyl, and you'll find yourself refilling throughout the day. Nitrogen is fine. The air you put in them with a tire pump is 78% nitrogen already. I use nitrogen at carson because I'm lazy and don't like to deal with pumping to high pressures-- I keep a nitrogen cylinder with a regulator and fill hose in my locker there. Carbon dioxide will also work, but leaks out much faster through butyl rubber, so it's fine in the little emergency fill cartridges, nitrogen is preferable and comparably cheap.

A little late because I don't check in here so often anymore, but in case you haven't been there yet...

There's a summary of the accelerated class at the bottom of this page that includes discussion of tires in the equipment section.

Tubulars are less likely to cause problems if you do flat-- clinchers will leave you riding on the edge of a rim. I've taken squishy tires to the apron safely, and seen others take flats down safely. You do need to know who's gluing them and that they're any good. I glue my own with mastik 1.

So I ordered a set of Vittoria Pista CS Elite tires for my 'regular racing/training' wheels. Figure on the smooth indoor wood they would be a good training and racing tire.

Well velodromeshop sent me the EVO CS instead, the same tire I run on my disc (only use it for kilo/pursuit). I of course did not notice this until I am pumping air into them after they are glued on haha.

Do I need to pull these off? Or would they last a season at indoor wood track? Milton has a brand new surface, so as smooth as it gets, but obviously overkill. Im not super upset as they only cost me about $100, much less than a new pair should cost. But will save them if I should...

As a Clydesdale (255lbs) racing on an outdoor track, I went with Vredstein Fortezza Tricomp Slick clinchers with Challenge latex tubes on 36 spoke Velocity Deep V wheels for most races, and used Vittoria Corsa SL road tubulars on FFWD carbon wheels mostly for State & Regional type events. I generally inflated the clinchers to 145-150psi and the tubulars to 150-165psi range. Given my excess weight, I didn't see the need for the competitive edge offered by lightweight track tires, I just wanted tires without too much rolling resistence.

A review on the Vittoria Pista CS, the training tire they sell:

pro
-easy to mount as usual (not as easy as the evo cs)
-takes some good pressures, which I like on wood tracks, run them around 160
-thick tread looks like it will last for-ever. On indoor wood, I bet they would last years.
-they dont leak air at all. After a week they still had 120+psi

cons
-very slippery out of the box. I didnt sand them and they were extremely slippery on steep wood. The evo cs is good to go out of the box, these need sanding. I nearly lost it twice first time out
-no where near the grip of the evo cs, as expected. Not sure if I would say they are squirmy, but they definitely don't respond the way I like. Perhaps as I wear them in.
-pretty average weight for road tubular, heavy for a track tire.


Overall I would say they are probably a reliable tire for concrete, and still ride decent at high pressure on a smooth track. That said they feel overkill for wood, and wish I had ended up with the CS Elite (which was out of stock). They are basically the exact opposite of the evo cs in every way haha

Are you referring to a tubular or clincher?

I just learned that Vittoria has a Diamante Pro Pista clincher: Diamante Pro Pista - Vittoria.com

http://www.vittoria.com/wp-content/u...-PRO-PISTA.png


DO WANT.

I hate reviews like this:

Vittoria Diamante Pro Pista Track Tire -Clincher | Backcountry.com

2/5 stars.

The guy actually writes "This tire is designed for banked turns as found in velodromes." and "I have mistakenly used this tire on the front wheel of my road bike and this resulted in two crashes going around corners on patchy wet pavement and also on damp pavement."

That's like using a hard rubber training tire on a front wheel and wiping out and giving the trainer tire a 2 star rating because you admittedly used it incorrectly.

The Diamante Pista is a nice tire. Rolls better than the EVO CX clincher on rollers and grips ok, never slipped with it. Probably on the same order as the crono tubular. Would also be similar to a Conti Supersonic.

haha I used to see the odd review for race tires for cars like that, would give it lower score because it was useless in the snow or the guy used it for daily driving and they wore out fast.

and Im on tubular for all my track wheels. I've come to love the glue, especially on friday nights, put some music on...really takes you on a trip.

I now live on tubulars, but was extremely happy with the Vittoria Diamante Pro Lites on both concrete and timber... :thumb:

Why do I see so many videos of tubulars getting ripped off of wheels for no apparent reason? It's the 2nd reason I'm not running tubular, next to cost :).

The glue needs to cure and be put on properly. Whenever I see that I assume they were put on that day or something.

are there any track tires/slicks that are also ok for road use? my bike will mostly be used for the road, but i would like to have something that would be ok for the track (new velodrome in milton) when it opens...if it ever opens to the public. i cant afford 2 seperate sets of tires at the moment.

i was looking into getting a pair of conti gp 4 seasons 25c

Not really. Track tires don't have the puncture resistant belts that are added to road tires.

Ya I noticed that. Track tires are meant to be as light as possible so manufacturers ditch the protection.

Are there any road tires that would be OK on the track?

Tubular: Conti Sprinters may be one option.
Clincher: Conti Supersonics.

Personally I would never ride my track tires on the road - you never know when damage due to road use might cause a flat.

If you search around tire bargains can be found.

My local velodrome (52 degree indoor track) insists on using tires with a diamond tread pattern and not slick tires. Are there decent clinchers that fit this requirement? Or should I be looking for clincher wheels?

Why not check out what other riders are using at your local velodrome.