jonwvara 

I'm far from a master wheelbuilder, but have probably build a couple of dozen of them over the past ten years, all of which have performed well. I'm now planning to outfit one of my bikes with tubular tires, and am weighing the pros and cons of picking up a good set of used wheels vs. finding a nice set of Normandy Luxe hubs (or something similar; the wheelset is for a 1970s French bike) and building up the wheels myself.

What do the tubular-knowledgeable recommend for a modern-ish rim if I go that route? I like to keep things period-correct if I can, but I tend to default to modern rims when building up bikes that come to me without wheels. Partly that's because I'm a little bit concerned about the safety of used rims, but mostly because I've had some challenging wheel builds when starting with less-than-perfectly-round used rims. Possibly an old but NOS set of rims would be a good choice? I'd welcome some experienced advice about this.

Bianchigirll 

Rims for a ‘70 would be a basic polished silver box section tubular like a Mavic Monterly Route or maybe an AVA.

Steven_04

Honestly like you said used tubulars you can run into issues not perfectly round, glue residue ect. I just built a new set of wheels for a Raleigh professional I just restored. The sun m13II clincher and can could not be happier, trued up perfect. They have a nice norrow vintage profile but eyeletted and double wall so plenty strong.

PilotFishBob 

I recently built a set of tubulars for my Grand Record with Normandy Luxe Competiton and Monthlery Route rims - the rims were NOS and the build went very smoothly. A year or so back I built up a set with Araya 1 Aero rims - lightly used and that went okay, maybe not as smoothly as NOS or new but not onerous either. That said comparing aero to box section rims is probably not indicative..

jonwvara 

Yeah, I like the look of those old red-label Mavic Montherly rims--they're what came on my previous Gitane TdF, which I bought new in 1971, if I'm remembering correctly that far back.

smontanaro 

I don't have any experience with new tubular rims, but unlike clinchers, i have a feeling that most current production is probably carbon fiber.

Mad Honk 

Jon,
I have been using Weinmann rims lately for my builds. For the clinchers it has been the LP18, but haven't looked into tubulars. I am still a big fan of Mavic GP-4, but they are hard anodized and not 70's era correct. And with Mavic up for receivership I'm not sure about a source for them. If your frame can fit a 27" wheel I have a set of NOS Wolber rims. Lemme know, MH

Dan Burkhart 

If you are happy with 25mm wide tires or wider, the Velocity Major Tom is available in a polished version and would look good on a classic build. https://www.velocityusa.com/product/rims/major-tom-622

Salamandrine 

IMO building new wheels with used rims is a waste of time and I won't do it. If you must, at least check them for flatness against a glass window or something. There are still NOS vintage tubular rims floating around. Try ebay? There was a lot of old stock left in bike shops when tubulars became uncool. It was hard to give them away. I used to have big stack of rims.

Buying a complete built up set has historically been a better way to get a good deal.

I think most modern tubulars are going to be carbon. That Major Tom ^^^ is probably about as good as it's going to get for a modern alloy tubular rim that looks at least a little bit vintage if you get polished. I have the clincher version and have no complaints. The stickers peel off.

Classtime 

I haven't built with 70s vintage Tubulars, but I have built two sets of 80s vintage rims. One of the sellers sold the Record hubs separately on eBay and the other seller kept the Record hubs to build a clincher set. I'm sure you could find a nice pair of shiny tubular rims.

Classtime 

I had a pair of Major Toms for CX and when I was done with that, I thought I could use them on the road with 25s. But the radius of the Major Tom bed is greater than the radius of 25mm tires and when mounted, there is not enough contact at the edge.

ThermionicScott 

The name is goofy, but Mavic Open Pro T rims can still be found online. (In silver, too!)

Narhay

I also second the building of new rims but if the used rims are in very good shape I would be ok with that too but perfectly round rims make it easier.

if you're in Toronto I have a few anodized rims.

Dan Burkhart 

Ok, good to know. Velocity promotes them as a CX rim. Too bad they dropped the Escape. Most of my track riding customers want tubulars, and the rim choices are really slim unless you go carbon. Ambrosio is one option still out there. https://ambrosiowheels.com/en/rims/classics/nemesis/

smontanaro 

Surely the GP-4 isn't still in production, is it? Looking on the rims page on the Mavic website, I saw one tubular (they don't even offer that as a filter, just clincher and tubeless), the Open Pro T. It's very much not like a classic box section tubular rim, what with its not-quite-box-section profile and machined brake surface.

I did see some Mavic SSC rims on eBay yesterday. Again, anodized, so not really 70s-compliant, but tough (and kinda expensive these days).

masi61

I had a set of polished Major Toms built this past winter for road use. I haven’t used them yet. I wondered about that wider bed radius and compatibility with different widths and brands of tubular tires.

Can I ask what brand of 25mm tubular tire did not have enough contact? I notice that the Major Tom has a nice center channel that I thought would let the thick sew-up part under the base tape not interfere with flat mounting of the tire. I have a set of 27mm Vittoria I could try which would probably be nice if they will clear my frame. But actually, I was hoping to be able to use standard width road tubulars.

SJX426 

I've been collecting tubular rims over time. Find them on CL occasionally, usually NOS. most of them have been Mavic 330's with an occasional 280. Trick is to find them with the right number of holes. Couple of Campagnolo's in there too. Part of my search list.

Classtime 

They were 25mm Continental Sprinter Gatorskins. I really wanted to make them work. There might have been enough contact for most riding situations but it wouldnt inspire confidence cornering at speed. And I imagined grit collecting in the sticky gap and as the tire flexed in use against the rim there would be some abrasion.

semroc

These are pretty cool CB Italia ? Cerchi in Legno Vintage per Biciclette, Bicycles Wooden Rims, Holzfelgen für Fahrräder, Jantes en Bois pour Bicyclette. I've been thinking about trying the roubaix.

masi61

That’s a bummer. I built up an 11 speed set with Silver Chris King R45 28 hole front/rear hubs and the polished Major Tom rims. The wheelset is under 1400 grams I believe. I was going to use them on a used Cannondale CAAD9 frame that I picked up. This frameset is from about 2009/2010 era and AFAIK is limited to 25 mm tires clearance wise at the fork and seat/chainstays.

That sticky gap gap would bother me as well. I wonder if you could get better contact with double sided tape? Or perhaps the type of tubular tire that does not have the sewn carcass such as TUFO or Continental Grand Prix 4000 tubular?