That and I don't think I stretched the tire quite as much as I should have. What should I do to get the glue off the tire now? I can perfect my "technique" on the front in the next couple of days, but for now I'd just like to get the white off the sidewalls.

I've always been able to "chip" excess glue off the sidewalls. The glue dries
hard and the tire flexes, you might try deflating the tires and seeing if you can
chip it off.

don't use mineral spirits or any solvent as it could leach into the base tape, then you'd
have the tape glued to the rim and a tenuous (at best) bond between the tape and
the tire).

Marty

I cannot help with the white on the sidewalls, but I can recommend Continental rim cement. It is clear, at least what I get. Some say it comes in red.

I was originally looking for Conti glue, but my LBS/employer only stocks Tubasti. Thanks for the cleaning advice.

I haven't used Tubasti mastique in over a decade but I didn't notice any difference from the Conti. Both held my tires on tenaciously. I never rolled a tire.
RE a valve stem that is not perpendicular to the rim, try to avoid this condition as it stresses the tube and thus could leak from there.
Most newbies to sew-ups glue their 1st one like this. (Usually due to not pre-stretching the tire on an old rim.)
All the trouble will be worth it the first time you lean deep into a turn at speed and the bike just grips and flys through.
Good luck! Gerry

So do you think it would be worth it to re-glue the tire?

(Please say no...)

How far from perpendicular is it? More than 45 degrees? If more, reglue. This won't help now but prior to the glue setting up you could have fixed this by lifting up small sections of the tire going aound towards the obtuse angle until you created enough slack to align the stem. Also you should have centered the tire so it tracked straight and true; a trueing stand is great for this. Gerry

Alright, it's more like 20* off-center, I'm gonna leave it. I thought I had it set up fine, but apparently it slipped in the wrestling match to get it on (like I said, should've let it stretch some more). I was able to fix it a little before it dried.

Glueing a stretched tire takes just a few minutes but centering the tires take me 3-4X longer!
Riding a good set of tubulars feels so good and rolls down a hill a few mph faster. I have tested this hypothesis on 2 of my bikes as I always build clincher and tubular wheelsets for all my bikes.
My Waterford's tubular wheels just got finished and I have been to lazy/busy to glue on the leftover Vittoria CX/CG. Gerry

Completely off-topic, but do you have any pics of that Waterford?

Yes but I'm an old fart who doesn't know how to email that file. Sorry

Didn't want to start a new thread, but wanted to alert any C&V tubular users to a set of wheels and tires in the For Sale section.

A question to revive this totally tubular thread ...

I found a pair of barely used tubular tires in basement storage. They are probably 15-20 years old.

One is a Panaracer, the other Clement. Nothing fancy, just normal everyday tubulars. They seem to hold air fine. They were mounted on rims but the glue was old and dried out, and they came off easily. Their treads look new with no signs of wear. The cotton base tape is coming unstuck from the tires in a couple places.

Are these still usable, like could I pack them as spares with my flat kit? Should I reglue the cotton base tape to the tires? Or should these be considered unreliable, and tossed out?

If you can figure out a good way to reattach the base tape, they're worth a try. I'd take them on a couple rides close to home first though - just in case..

I'm not too sure about 15 - 20 year old tires. Tell you what, send them to me
and I'll (at my own personal risk) test ride them for a while. If after a few thousand
kilometers they're ok, I'll send them back to you. . .

seriously, I have no problem with old tires, I'd be a little concerned about the base
tapes seperating from the main body of the tire. I've asked about regluing base tape
on CR list and almost everyone said I'd be nuts to do it myself, but do send them to
Tire Alert in Fla ( www.tirealert.com ). Last time I checked they were charging $8 per
tire to replace the base tapes.

Marty

If you email Tirealert.com they will tell you where you can get the glue to reglue the basetape yourself. Gerry

I'm about to glue my first set of tubulars... Continental sprinters. I like conti's dark natural side walls, there new sprinters are beautiful, I'll keep the old 250 as a spare. They are rated to 170 psi and they are for the track only anyway... This is a great thread, thanks guys. I also wanted to comment that the price of tubulars at the LBS are at least double what you can find online. That shop doesn't need my help anyway with it's ritzy clientèle. I got my conti sprinters from biketiresdirect.com, best price I could find only $100 for 2.

Thanks to Pastor Bob for referring me to this thread.....

Ok, I recently purchased a '72 Paramount from the 'bay and believing in keeping it as "original" as possible, I am looking to replace the VERY bad shape Wolber Invulnerable tubulars with something period correct, but able to withstand my 270lb assault whenever I want to take it on the occassional 20-25 mile spin....
The wheels are ARAYA Aero 1 36 spoke tubular rims with a "world champion" sticker on each.

So....I'd like to keep it as period correct as possible using a tough tubular tire......any suggestions?

Thanks,
Chris

I saw these on EBAY and thought about buying them despite the imperfections just to use on an occasional vintage ride. What do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...0783&rd=1&rd=1

The price is good, but I would have trepidations about actually putting them to full pressure and riding them.

I am a little bit lighter than you and am having a good experience with Servizio Corse tubulars from Yellow Jersey. Good looks, good price. Some find them inferior, and maybe they are. But they work and are reasonably priced.

Veloflex makes a line of tubular tires that look period correct but are new. I would not trust 12 yr old tires.
CritUSA@aol.com has the best prices on them. Expect to pay about $70-75 per tire but they are worth every penny. There is a huge difference in the performance and ride quality between inexpensive sew-up and the good stuff.
BTW I have a pair of the Conti Comps on my Serotta that I bought last summer from Performance for $59 each and they are decidedly inferior to the Veloflex Criteriums that I paid $70 for. (The Conti are not as round nor do they ride as smoothly.) The Veloflex tires ride just like my beloved Vittoria Corsa from back in the day. They are made by hand at the same factory as the Vittorias.
Gerry

Since this is a topic about tubular tires, I have a question about tubular rims. What's the difference if any between NJS tubular rims and regular tubular rims. The reason I ask is that I bought a bike that came with Superbe hubs on Araya Aero tubular rims and I was going to sell those and use my Sunshine Pro-Am on Araya rims instead which happen to be NJS. Let me know from the experts!

Thanks for all the great info and opinions....I think I'll try the Veloflex tires first.

I also have a set of the Araya Aero tubular rims. While they are a strong rim and like all aero rims, they are heavy and overly stff radially which makes for a harsher ride. On my next rebuild those rims are going to be history.
If your NJS Araya rims are a standard box section then they ill be more compliant radially and thus be more comfortable over bumps and rough pavement. The braking performance of aero rims is inferior to the flat sides of the box section rims. My favorite rims are the Mavic Reflex with the machined sides, classic good looks and a laterally stiff, strong rim; but it does not sport an NJS sticker if that matters to you.:D

Conti or Vittoria cottons. Too bad they don't make Clement Criterium silks any more. Does anyone make a silk tire?

Dugast makes a silk but for velodrome only and it cost approx. $150/tire.
Modern Vittorias are not anywhere near the same quality as in the 80-90's and they are not handmade anymore.
Gerry

Wow this thread has been very informitive. I bought a Viscount this weekend with an extra set of wheels. Now I have 3 sets of tubular wheels and no experance with them. This thread has sure helped. Thank you

a lot of tubular how tos advise doing 2 coats of glue on both the tire and rim (waiting about 30min between) does anyone else go through this much trouble or do most of you just do one coat, wait and hour then mount?

I just bought a pair of Continental Grand Prix 4000 tubulars that are so tight that if I went through this routine, I'm sure I would have glue all over everything. I'm tempted to try just mounting the tire to the rim and while starting at the valve, lifting the tire sideways and brushing on some glue between each spoke hole and some on the base tape until I've gone all the way around. Then I plan to inflate the tires, set them aside for the night and ride the next day. I do plan to check to see that they are tight while un-inflated. I don't see why my idea wouldn't work. I will definitely make less of a mess. I believe I read one of Leonard Zinn's columns years ago where he says he does it the same way. Correct me if I'm wrong.