Originally Posted by
Baby Puke
They are REALLY slow on rollers. I mean really, really slow. Maybe on par or worse than garden-variety clinchers. They are slow to the point that I have to change my workouts as I just can't finish the efforts I was doing before, and my old training tires were Sprinter Gatorskins, which are not exactly reputed to be fast. I basically cannot do recovery rides on the rollers with them, they have too much rolling resistance. I'll be riding them on the track Sunday, so I'll report back on that, but I'm a bit scared. I mean, these are training tires, but I was hoping for a bit more performance.
Some people think Tufo's are fast because high pressure, but there's a lot more that factors into rolling resistance than tire pressure. Whenever they're tested, Tufos tend to be bottom of the pack in rolling performance, with literally twice the rolling resistance of the best tires. Google "tufo rolling resistance" and you can find plenty of discussions and test results. For instance
Why do people hate TUFO tubulars? - Weight Weenies
The definitive rolling resistance thread.....
I'll be riding them on the track Sunday, so I'll report back on that, but I'm a bit scared. I mean, these are training tires, but I was hoping for a bit more performance.
I'll be surprised if you get better results on the track with them, since rollers are pretty much the best case scenario. Even the best indoor tracks aren't going to be as smooth as a roller, and as the surface becomes less smooth, the penalty for a given increase in Crr is magnified.
I'm wondering if part of the problem is the max pressure. These are rated at max 8 bar/115 psi, which seems really really low to me. Anybody have knowledge of what kind of pressures they can really take? They certainly seem robust enough to take more, maybe 150?
Raising the pressure will help to a certain extent, although probably nowhere near enough to make up for having twice the Crr as other tires. And if you go too high (exactly how high depends on the road/track surface),
things will actually get worse. BTW that entire 5-part series by Silca is a worthwhile read if you want to learn about all the factors that go into rolling resistance. Some of their conclusions are surprising in that they directly contradict conventional wisdom, but they did a pretty good job of showing the science behind the conclusions as well as test results that validate them.