I am trying to stretch it on an old super champion rim. It's not even close to going on.

No marking on the tire? It's possible somewhere along the way it was stuffed in an incorrectly marked box. Do you have another tubular you can compare it with?

That is a weird possibility. Very rare to see anything but a 700c tubular, but Junior and TT bikes sometimes had smaller tubular wheels - Vittoria still makes them in several sizes

https://www.vittoria.com/tire/juniores/


Tubular 20 21c Para Sidewall 220g

Tubular 22 21c Para Sidewall 240g

Tubular 24 21c Para Sidewall 260g

Tubular 650c 21c Para Sidewall 290g

if it's any consolation, my recent new Conti Sprinters required some serious grunting, with a periodic curse or two, to get onto my old rims. A couple of tire irons were also employed. I can't decide if I'm just a classic roadie with no upper body strength or if Conti is making tires a hair smaller in order to ensure a tight fit.

Even after stretching on rims for a half year, it's still a bit of work to get them on the rim.

I don't have the box, but the tires are simply marked as 22mm.


Steve in Peoria

The tire is marked competition 19 and 19mm. Not marked with a size. Never mounted before. I will keep trying. Maybe it is so old it lost its stretching ability?

I had a similar experience buying at the St Louis swap. Mine were also marked 27 and there was no way I was ever able to stretch them to a tubular rim. Aren't most tubular nominally labeled 28? I was fortunate in that I had bought from a local shop's booth and was able to work out a deal on some tubulars that fit.

I think the next smaller size would be for 26" wheels - do you think it's that small?

Yes I do think they are that small. Lol

Yes that is what I think as well. I only paid $10 so I am not out that much. I can put them on eBay for someone that may know what they are and need them. NOS.

Yeah if you can find a 650 rim that will confirm it. If so, sell it to someone restoring an old TT funny bike.

Read somewhere in a galaxy far away that contact cement is neoprene, not rubber, and it will be too strong.

This thread is timeless! Thanks to the contributors for making my first attempts at tubulars a success! The only issue I had was the tires were 'bumpy' when I spun them (cheap vittoria rallys using mastik one glue) but working quickly, removing and remounting fixed the issue. Very little mess on the brake track and solid on the rim after setting up overnight. The only problem I can see is that the wheels do not seem balanced. They always settle at the same 'heavy' spot when spun.

There are lots of possible reasons for that. The tire mght be mounted funny or it is uneveny made or the wheel has a bit of radial wobble, not counting the valve core. If you don't feel it riding then don't worry about it.

Not a big deal. Your clincher wheels will do the same.

I actually did buy some [golf] lead tape and balance a set of wheels once. Couldn't tell the difference when riding. You could do the same if you feel the need. The tape is cheap and works well.

I never thought to check the wheels for balance before mounting the tires. I had to spend HOURS cleaning the old glue off and I am sure there is a lot of glue inside the cavity of the wheel. I bought them at a fantastic price used for someone who bought them and never used them. He obviously had no idea how to mount tires as they were a complete mess and the tires were not secure. I peeled both off easily, one had a mess of glue on the tire and the other , the tire was clean with dried gobs on the rim. Note the lack of glue at the stem. On the balance issue, I put a wheel magnet opposite the heavy spot and that helped a bit.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4779/...1e85c055_c.jpg

Conti has the best tubular prep/mounting video I've ever seen. I do mine the same way, except I stretch my tires for one day, not days.

https://www.continental-tires.com/bi...-tubular-tyres

When you start thinking about it, there is a very quick way to get the old glue off.
If the have a vice to hold the wheel, it is even quicker (place wheel between cushioning agents- like rags or styrofoam or wood strips, etc).
Wear heavy gloves so you don't rip apart your hands.
You can get the wheel looking like new in 10 minutes.

I use my truing stand, and use it when [re-]gluing the rim

Anyone else picture a flight attendant miming along to the safety instructions when they watch this? ;)

It's a little hard on the wheels, but it does do a good job on those hard cases:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c60rEVNthQ...0/P5160009.JPG

That guy looked more like a diesel mechanic than a wheel jockey. He was clearly German though!

Also disagree with the "get every bit of old glue off first" part. The harder it is to get off, the better it is to leave it on there... unless there's big uneven thick globs of it, or you got the rim used from somebody else who can't be trusted with proper gluing.

Otherwise it was fun.

Funny video.

Here's my take, as someone that only rode tubulars for decades. I was never that into Continental or other contact cement type glue. I've only ever used it a shop employee because it was specifically requested by a customer. Otherwise I prefer mastic (ie Vittoria and formerly red Clement), and that's all I've ever used myself. Tried Tubasti once. Don't like it.

With conti and similar glue, you really should clean up the old glue when re-gluing. I guess I'm lazy but I don't have time for that nonsense. With mastic in practice the rims never need cleaning. Usually some glue comes off when an old tire flats or wears out, which sort of balances out the new glue going on. A thin new layer is enough to activate the old glue. If a rim has a lucky life and lives long enough to allow some excessive glue build up, it's pretty easy to take it down a notch with the wire brush drill method shown above. It is not necessary to remove all of it, though that may be appropriate for race wheels. It is this fiction that a rim must be completely cleaned before regluing that turns most people off sew ups, IME. Again for contact cement, that's good advice, for old style traditional red/brown glue, waste of time.

Also, since this is the C&V forum, if rescuing vintage rims with decades old dried up glue on them, I'd say completely cleaning those before re-using is a good idea.

I dont clean chains and I dont clean rims. I have used 3M Fastak from my first bike with sew ups in 1974. All this glueing and rim cleaning is completely foreign to my experience. Just glued up some tires last week. Took maybe 5 minutes per tire including inflating and straightening. And they were rideable in an hour.

Almost any old glue lifts right of with a very course scuff pad / as used with pot and pan clean-up. Doesn't take long.

Anyways, talk of real vintage here I finally glued these near NOS Pirelli's on N.O.S. (that's correct) Super Champion Mixte rims. First pic is before I laced the wheels and just wanted to see the look.

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4486/...8b585155_c.jpgDSC_2313 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4792/...f0ef9660_c.jpgDSC_2516 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4779/...88633715_c.jpgDSC_2519 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

To fill the center recess of these unusual rims, I used two each rubber rim bands plus tape layer. Rubber cement bonded. Then the tubular glue and mount using Continental glue. Sidewalls are preserved with a coating of seam sealer.

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4786/...92caa896_c.jpgDSC_2524 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

These are the wheels I was gluing. I was more than a little paranoid about damaging them.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/789/2...8fa458ae_c.jpg

I reglued with vittoria mastik one with even coats on wheels and tire. It is good to know that a thin coat is used henceforth when replacing tires. The reasons I chose to remove the glue were that the type of glue the previous owner used was unknown to me and because there were literally blobs everywhere and I was able to pull the tires off without much effort.