MooneyBloke

Thanks for the warning. I will not buy this Maxxis; it is scratched.

smontanaro 

By "unround" I meant in cross section. The pair I have mounted nice and true and seem to ride fine so far.

MooneyBloke

That's how I understood it. I expect a round cross section in a quality tire.

Biker Pete 

Got FMB tubulars now on both wheelsets for my 1975 Motobecane. One wheelset has large flange Campagnolo Record hubs with polished alloy Super Champion rims, the other wheelset has low flange Campagnolo Record hubs with dark anodized Mavic GP4 rims. Loving the ride!

equinoxranch

Clearly, superior "quality of ride" which, alas, so v. few who dare to understand and choose instead not to, eschewing classic geometry lugged steel for somethin' right outta China, right outta the box and down the road.

Fredo76

Don't eschew with your mouth open. It's not polite. ;-)

sbarner 

Riding sewups is like adopting like a religion; if someone has to convince you it's the way to go--it isn't.

gaucho777 

I've been on the hunt for a Vittoria Terreno Dry tubular tire. I bought one, and like it, and figured I'd be able to find a matching one to make a pair, but they seem to be discontinued. I see lots of tubeless options, and Terreno Wet or Mixed tubulars, but I'm specifically looking for a Vittoria Terreno Dry tubular in 33mm with tan sidewall. A store named Smoke House has them in stock, but I'm hoping to avoid having to pay $99 + shipping (I only paid $40 for the other one). Anybody got one to sell or know when I might find one?

Fwiw, this is something for my vintage Motobecane Grand Jubilee. I'm a fan of fat gravel cross tubulars intended for gravel/hard-pack on my vintage road tourers and sports tourers. The "dry" terrain treads are fine on the road, and give a really plush ride, as well as the option for some trail riding.

gaucho777 

On my commute home today, I had a bit of an issue with my Dugast tubular. My ride home is about 4 miles mostly downhill. The tire felt fine on the way to work, but on the way home it didn’t feel right, kind of squishy and unstable like when you go around a corner on a slow leak. After about a half a mile, I stopped to check the tire and felt fine. Another half mile and I noticed a bit of wobble so I checked for a broken spoke. Nope, not that. Another half mile and I spotted a bit of a bulge where the sidewall was starting to open. I took a bit of pressure out of the tire and kept going. Another half mile and things were getting worse with a new, bigger bulge. What the heck is going on?! I stopped again to find this:



OK, time to put on the spare. It was a hot day today, but I wasn’t riding the brakes hard enough to overheat the rim all that much so I was surprised when the tire was practically melting off the base tape.



I’m glad I stopped to change the tire before I reached the next sharp turn.

Fwiw, this is an old tire I’ve had hanging in my garage for a couple years, but it still has plenty of tread left. I only glued it on this wheel a few weeks ago. Ridden it about a half dozen times and maybe 80 miles since re-mounting it, and no indication of any problem until this afternoon.

spclark 

Yikes. Glad you noticed the problem before something really serious happened.

FWIW I'm riding on a decade+ old Giro tubular still. Sidewalls look better – by a wide margin – than what your pics show. But it's been in a coolish basement for the first nine years we lived where we do now, I didn't get back on it until mid-summer last year. Your post reminds me I should get on with gluing tires onto a pair of wheels I built this spring:


Tires & spokes new, everything else newish enough to work well...

- simply 'cause the MAVIC wheels that came with my MBGR deserve to retire gracefully before they give up & send me askew.

(Yeah I know I should have gone back & re-laced 'em to leave more headroom at nipples... maybe over next winter I'll get that done! Running butyl-tubes Continentals they don't need air as often as the latex I've been trying out.)

Trakhak

That tire had long since passed its expiration date. Sidewalls that dry indicate that the base tape glue is likely equally dry and useless.

once had a tire that was pretty dried out---not as badly as yours, but not far from it---that exploded (while I was walking the bike, luckily) because the stitching had given way. That was back in the late '60's or early '70's, so the thread used was cotton. Gotta love the move to nylon thread.

due ruote 

Pumped up the tires yesterday for a ride on my long neglected Motobecane. Before I could get out the door there was a loud hiss and the tire was flat. I opened it up today and found this. Repairable? Too close to the stem? These tires are over 10 years old but look good and have very low miles.
(edit) What worries me is that, given the age and the location of the punctures, it seems more like a case of random material failure than a traumatic incident. So even if I manage to patch it, what’s next?

MooneyBloke

Tube failure in a place that shouldn't even have any contact with road nasties? I'd say the latex in the tube is pretty cooked.

due ruote 

Yeah, that’s pretty much what I am thinking. Maybe still worth sending out for new tubes though. The casings look great and the tread is barely worn. I should have ridden this bike more!

DiabloScott

Looks like insufficient meat in the thread area to be re-stitchable.