A week ago I was riding my Bianchi and got a flat. Had to use my spare (it was old and in bad shape) was about a mile from home and BOOM, full sidewall blowout of the spare. Choices..... Ride home on the flat spare. Walk home. I happened to be about 200 yards from CapnJohnny's house. So I coasted there, he leant me a spare, and I road home.

I can't imagine I will every be both so unlucky and lucky at the same time with tubulars.

My roadside routine for two decades was to carry either new spares or previously glued and ridden. New for a nice, tight fit or pre-ridden for the glue-like tape surface that didn't stick itself together too badly (plus I used the Diablo Scott folding technique that I learned in 1975. Did you you get royalty payment?)

Now I glued with Tubasti that keeps a good stick after the tire is pulled; assuming there is good adhesion to the rim. I only used hard glues on race wheels and did tire changes from the follow van. (That is a really good, quick, and clean hands system. :)) I did treat my spare on old glue gently at least for the first mile or so and didn't pull race corners until I'd re-glued after I got home. And made a point of judging both spare and rim glue condition. Pumped to the hard side. Rode accordingly. And usually found I had to do some work to get the spare off. (Many old coats of glue is very good here!)

You'd think Google could do me a solid and give me a free movie or something for all the traffic I send them...but bupkis.
It's really the legacy I'll be leaving behind that matters most to me.

Another photo just to pass along knowledge and feed my ego:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...788c413b29.jpg

CapnJohnny as almost everything :)

I normally just display my leather bag projects in the DYI Bag Making Thread, but it is appropriate to post here since we are talking about spare tubulars, etc.

I call it the "Tubular Lunch Box" and it holds two cans of Vittoria Pit Stop, a Schwalbe One 27mm tubular folded the @DiabloScott method, and a fresh roll of effetto Mariposa Carogna Tubular Tape.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7ca8d1a2bc.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...94250bff3c.jpg
I designed it to mount under two handlebar mounted water bottle cages on my '71 Paramount P13 (but it can double as a saddle bag. The Paramount is not currently ready for a photo-op.

My LBS just did me a solid! After spending way too much time net shopping for Conti cement either in can or tube, I went by my LBS to see if they'd give me a bulk deal on the tubes, and the head mech sold me a 12pk of tubes for an unexpectedly low $30. One more ongoing annoyance in the done basket. :D

Question:
When you have two nice wheel sets -- one clincher and one tubular that go with your weekend 50 mile local ride nice bike, which wheel set to you choose under the following conditions?
Currently wet roads, fog, mist, and light rain likely for the rest of the day.

When it's wet, I take the clinchers. How about you?

Yes. I bring along a spare roll of tape - fits in the saddle bag easily. Knock on wood, I've not had to put it to use out in the wild yet, but I'm ready to give it a go should the opportunity (misfortune?) arise.

Apologies for the late reply; been AFBF for a minute.

DD

From what I've heard from others, Stan's is a kind of stop-gap (particularly with latex tubes - which are encased within my current pair of Vittoria Corsa Control G+ tubs). Because others' reports of Stan's tendency to lump up over time after using it in latex tubes, I'm on the fence. Full disclosure: I have yet to use it myself; I'm being wary going this route simply based upon anecdotal evidence. Could be it works fine in the long run - but I have seen a photo or two of tubes treated with sealant. They ended up resembling link sausage when the sealant dried in clumps!

DD

I'm a Cat 6, myself ;)

DD

Been having to answer that question a lot lately. There’s a lot of debris on the road so I like to go with some heavier clinchers since my tubulars are pretty lightweight. Today there was so much on the road that I felt like I was off road on my gravel bike. I was glad I had the heavier clinchers.

My tubulars are on my winter/classic/Eroica bike - and the tires are Pave 28mm so they go great in the wet (not much broken glass and such on my ride)
And my clinchers are on my summer/fast/light weight bike and the tires are light weight 25mm and they never get wet and that bike never gets dirty.

I sure can! Though I was quite lucky in that it was only 3 miles, and I was wearing flat-soled touring shoes.

Still and all, that 3 mile walk was preferable to the 15+ miles I was obliged to ride standing up after the carbon shell of my Flite Evo filed for a divorce from the saddle rails :)

DD

Thanks. Yeah, I don't think I will be taking the risk with this stuff. I'll just bring another tire. I appreciate the feedback.

This stuff is all true. It's also true that if you need to install a new tubular right away after getting them home, you can just go ahead and install one. The minimum is to do a trial stretch of a dry tire, to see if you need to hand-stretch it, before you apply the glue. If the tire slips onto the rim easy enough for you, you can just pull it off and jump to the instructions about gluing. If it does not go on easy you can try some stretching. Tom Cuthbertson (Anybody's Bike Book, 1971 pp 99 - 101) recommended:

> loop the tire into a figure-8
> stand where you can be safe on one foot (where you can lean on something solid), and put one of the loops under a crooked or bent knee with your other leg mainly straight
> put one arm and shoulder through the upper loop on the same side of your body
> make yourself solid on one leg by leaning on the wall or whatever, and straighten slowly to gently stretch the tire
> when you feel it's enough do a trial slip-on; if it goes as smoothly as you need, start the gluing.

He also recommend after the glued tire is straightened on the rim, to inflate full pressure (CONI calls this "blocked") for half a day before riding. In my experience it works out ok if you just inflate it fully and then ride it. You want the blocking to settle the tire into its bed of glue. In my experience that is adequate for road riding. It might not be good enough for actual road racing - crits and longer rides.

Another way to stretch with more force (not necessarily recommended), is to drape the tire across your back and riding on the points of your shoulders, and catch the other side of the tire under two feet. You can press up gently as does an Olympic power lifter, but listening and feeling for the elasticity of the tire. I always find this loosens the tire, but I'm worried about excessive strain on the tire. That's why I say its not necessarily recommended. At the same time I haven't had any carcass failures on tires I've stretched, as far as I know. It brings the strength of two legs into the action, but most of us on this site probably have stronger legs than most modern Internet readers!

FWIW, I've always been reluctant to use Fast-tack, because of the apparent risk of losing the base tapes. If it is stuck so tightly, I'll probably destroy the rim strip pulling it away from the rim, the tire seems useless without a base tape, and I don't know what accessible glue is stronger than rim cement and compatible with the chemicals in the carcass of the tire. I don't accept that the reduction in mounting time that results is worth the loss of an otherwise good and pricey tubular tire, or to send the whole tire to Tire Alert to have a new base tape installed. If one lives with a stock of ready tubulars, ok, but while I have a lot of them I still don't want to sacrifice the use of my tire. Tubulars are not such a novelty to me that I would happily go out and drop >$200 on a pair of FMBs just because I now have a mismatched bike. I started using tubulars in 1969.

Hi. Me again. I pumped my tires up to about 160 p.s.i. a week-or-so ago, and haven't ridden the bike yet. Now, both my tires are flat. Does air leak out of tubular tires more quickly? Or is it just from the fact that the p.s.i. is so high? The bike has not been in the cold.

What tires are they? If they have latex tubes, that will happen..

Likely latex innertubes - they don't exactly leak, but air diffuses through the rubber a lot faster than butyl. Same is true for latex innertubes in clinchers. A week will usually drop the pressure too low to ride.
Doesn't mean you "don't" have a leak though.

Hi. Here they are. I don't know what the "tube" is made out of. Thanks.

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/e...-tire/p/12295/

They are advertised as super supple. That usually means latex tubes. What you experienced is perfectly normal. I find that latex tubes weep enough air that I have to pump them back to pressure every ride.
Brent

fwiw on tubes in clinchers I have had better results with sealling from Caffe Latex than I had with stans or orange seal.

A day or two for me - but I'm putting 135-145psi in them. Vittoria Corsa Control G+ w/ latex tubes.

Good upper body exercise, though, so win/win :)

DD

I've never been so happy about a pair of flat tires, before.

Turns out i might have to join the tubeless team after all :D - Got my hands on a Puch (AD) Royal force which came with tubular tires. Will have to put that glue to good use now :D

You might also check to make sure the valve cores are fully seated. I had a couple new Veloflex Raven tires that lost pressure faster than I expected even for latex tubes. Finally checked (should have been the first thing) the valves and both weren't fully seated.