colnago62

So I was listening to a recap of the race the announcer said the whole team was on clinchers. I assume he was referring to tubeless given the race was a spring classic and there cobbled sections. Pretty significant that they also won in that setup.

chaadster

The team had committed to tubed clinchers for the ‘21 season, but there was some uncertainty around the classics, so yeah, you could be right about tubeless.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/bor...yres-entirely/

GrainBrain

"Rode" and "Road" - gotta love English

It was my understanding that quickstep was running tubeless clinchers but they were still using inner tubes instead of full tubeless. Education First was also running tubeless last year with prototype foam inserts.

Dirk de Chablis

Remember as a Pro, the best product you ride is the one the Sponser tells you to ride

msu2001la

If they're riding clinchers anyway, what would be the disadvantage of setting them up tubeless? Isn't the rolling resistance on tubeless generally better than tubed?

WhyFi

Generally, but with the right combination of tire and latex tube, the clincher could eek ahead. Specialized thinks that their Turbo Cottons are the fastest things around and they're so confident in them that their new high-end wheels don't support tubeless and opt for lighter weight, instead IIRC.

msu2001la

OK, that makes sense and I read the article above after posting my question. I guess I didn't realize that the Turbo Cotton is not tubeless compatible (that's what the RapidAir is), so if Specialized wants to feature the Turbo Cotton in races, they need to run it with tubes.

I assume for races where they run the Rapid Air instead, they use a different wheelset that's tubeless, or are they running those tires with tubes on the same wheels?

Dirk de Chablis

The main benefit to Tubs are if you puncture you can still ride on a flat till you can get service, with a clincher the tyre comes off and you're on the rim. All the test will come out in favour of the manufacturer as to who has the fastest tyre, whether it's Conti, Michelin, Pirrelli, Spesh, Schwable and all the tests ore done on a nice indoor rig. In the real world and the road there's too many variables with surface, air pressure, humidity, wind direction and rim profile for a difinitive answer. Anyway Tubs feel better than clinchers and sound better

WhyFi

Pfft - I don't know. Honestly, I really don't understand why they say that their Rapide CLX aren't tubeless compatible. I mean, they say that tubeless exerts more pressure and that the Rapide aren't built to withstand that pressure, but I'm not following how they can handle 120psi if it's in a tube but not when it's tubeless.

cb400bill

Fixed thread title typo

chaadster

You wouldn’t think there would be any disadvantage to running tubeless, would you? Besides having the resources of a pro team, including dedicated techs to manage maintenance and readiness, Specialized say they developed the RapidAir in conjunction with Deceunink-Quickstep, so you’d assume the team had their basic concerns met in the final design.

That said, there’s a lot of unclear messaging going on just in the article I posted upthread alone, so it’s not at all clear to me that we know what the situation actually is. I can easily imagine that the RapidAir tubeless might be constructed to be more of a poor conditions or perhaps wet weather performer, and the Turbo Cotton clincher the max performance dry tire. However, the article made it seem that the team may not have use RapidAir on the race cobbles, so does that mean they ran tubulars despite the assertions they’re all clincher this season? Or that they ran the Turbo Cotton for that section but will use RapidAir tubeless generally? Or that they ran the RapidAir tubed for the cobbles, perhaps because the new Specialized wheels aren’t tubeless compatible?

Iride01 

Tubeless are clinchers too right? I suppose tubular tires might could be tubeless if someone makes them. Never looked, are there tubeless tubulars?

WhyFi

I believe that there are some out there, but not at all common.

DiabloScott

No... although Tufo's innertubes aren't exactly "tubes".

HTupolev

Yes. Dugast makes some, for instance.

alcjphil

Tufo tubular tires are tubeless

gsa103

Modern tubeless rims don't let go of tires, ask anyone who's tried to change a tire on a newer rim lately. Especially for the one-day races, tubeless vs latex makes very little difference. With a latex innertube your day is over. If tubeless punctures and doesn't seal quickly your day is still done because the rolling resistance will be high.

msu2001la

I have a set of Donnelly's CX tubulars that are tubeless. Donnelly PDX
They are supposedly less prone to pinch flatting, and sealant can help seal up small cuts/holes like a standard tubeless tire, but they don't need sealant. I've never added sealant to mine, which are now 2 years old, and they hold air fine.

msu2001la

Also aren't tubular wheelsets lighter than clinchers?

I have a feeling if it weren't for sponsor input, pro teams would be on tubulars 100% of the time. The downsides to tubulars (cost, setup hassle, more complicated/impossible roadside fixes) are all negated by having huge budgets, pro mechanics and team cars.

I'd be curious to know if any pro riders actually prefer the Turbo Cotton (with tubes) over a tubular setup. Pro riders probably all hate tubeless because the casings are a little stiffer.

WhyFi

Yes, but with UCI regs on minimum weight, I don't think it's uncommon to have to ballast the bikes, anyway.

GrainBrain

It was my understanding that clinchers are faster during say a TT but tubulars are safer on a decent and you could continue to run on a flat tubular.

awaumans

Israel Startup Nation apparently rode tubeless all year last season, Dowsett said and had the least flats of the whole peloton throughout the year.

rubiksoval

Generally the same with latex tubes.

rubiksoval

Not really. Lots of good info about the fastest setups out there. There are a couple of leading sources on this info that are very well regarded.

Branko D

Or just ride disc brakes 😁
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