Revracer

The nature of this question begs insanity, but I am readying one of my vintage steel steeds for a few randos this year, starting this weekend and this bike has tubulars. Granted, they are great tubulars with Stan's inside, Veloflex Vlaanderen with latex inside that should seal, but alas I have never changed a tubular on the road. I always carried a spare, but I would love to hear if others have ever tried a Rando on tubulars. I get it, tubulars are lite and created for races where speed matters and you have support teams to swap wheels, but is the modern tubular with Stans or another brand suitably reliable?

Steamer

I think you already know the answer.

ThermionicScott 

I would have DNF'd on a couple brevets if I couldn't have fixed a flat. And if there's anything worse than riding a brevet in crummy weather while you're hungry, thirsty, and tired, it's not getting credit for it because you couldn't get to the end.

That said, I know of people who have and do ride brevets on tubulars, but they bring spares and are prepared to change them.

atwl77

I have no experience with tubulars, but I would assume the same thinking as tubeless.

I mean, for tubeless, it's "bring spare tubes in case the sealant fails to seal"... so for tubular, bring spare tire(s) -- with sealant -- in case the sealant fails to seal.

unterhausen

never a good idea to ride a bike when you can't change a flat. I used to ride tubulars everywhere without a second thought. But I could change a tire.

I rode tubless a couple of times last year. Got a bottle of sealant, had spare tubes. I worried about it the night before the rides, but it worked out fine

adamrice 

This comes down to how risk-averse you are.

The problem with changing tubulars on the road is that you're basically riding an unglued tire. You might get some limited adhesion depending on the condition of your residual glue, etc, but not enough to prevent rolling a tire in a tight turn.

So if you think your sealant will probably see you through, and if you think you can avoid turning on an unglued tire if it doesn't, and if you're ok with the consequences of rolling a tire if you do need to turn, then go for it.

FWIW, I have changed tubulars on the road, but I've never ridden tubulars with sealant in them. I have not ridden a brevet per se on tubulars, but I did do a 300k ride on tubulars where I flatted about 270k into it, and did ride the rest of the ride on a dry tubular. That probably wasn't the smartest thing, but it was almost entirely straight-line riding. I don't ride tubulars anymore.

kingston 

I would never ride tubulars on a brevet, but if I did, I would make sure there was someone I could call if I got a second flat. I would be pretty annoyed as a ride volunteer to have to pick someone up who thought it was a good idea to run tubulars on a brevet. I always carry two tubes and a patch kit and have had to use the patch kit more than once. If you want to ride your vintage bike on a brevet it would be a lot smarter to pick up a clincher wheelset to use for those rides. Plenty of decent sets out there for under $200.

ThermionicScott 

Another data point: Harriet Fell reported using all four of her spare tires, and needing a spare wheel on her fifth puncture on PBP 1975: https://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/fell/PBP1975.html

David in Maine

Rene Herse and Jan Heine have just become the US distributors for FMB tubular tires (according to Instagram), so maybe big fat tubies on brevets will become the next big thing! I've personally never tried them.

David

clasher

I would think the tape for tubulars might be a better way to go but I've yet to swap the punctured rear tubular on the wheelset and it's just been hanging there for years. I'd run sealant next time, if I ever try again, seems like cheap insurance.

Revracer

This is all helpful advise and I have swapped my clincher wheels to my planned distance bike and since I am new to brevet it is best not to explore too far from the norm. Tomorrow a few more bits arrive to ready the bike, but the weather in Philadelphia looks dry for Sunday, so the half 107km (is there a term) will not beg for fenders / but no doubt I will wish for more baggage as the temp swings could go from 25F to 50+F.

Revracer

Scott, this is a really good read, thanks for sharing!

ThermionicScott 

You bet. Good luck on Sunday!