These both look great but man are they pricey!

No need to cry. I have been enjoying my Challenge Parigi-Roubaix tubulars (27mm). I weigh about 180, and have been running them with 65-70psi up front, 90-95psi in back. Very nice ride. I squirted in a bit of Stan's sealant last week to make them (hopefully) bulletproof. I see them priced around $118 on the net right now. I know I didn't pay nearly that much for them, perhaps $70-$75 each.

Yes, but how often in life do we get the opportunity to try the very best that has ever been made? I don't get to drive a Ferrari, but I can ride Dugast tubulars...

Tape makes tubulars possible for us morons.

Those are pretty awesome wheels to give up on.

AGREED. I bit the bullet and have ordered the tubulars and tape and am going to built them up and give it a go. If i end up stranded with a problem I will be back and ranting ;)))

Been awhile. Have a question:

Where is a source for tubular base tape?

Meaning, the tape that covers the stitches. I have several tires I'd like to repair. Have the Velox repair kit, but it only has thread, needle & patches. Also have liquid latex solution to "glue" the base tape back down after repairing tube. I'm thinking it might be easier to remove the whole tube, put in a new one, sew it back up, and voila. (Maybe a bit overkill.)

Or is the stitching part a big pain in the butt? If it is, any tips on finding the holes so I can only pull out that section of tube? I've tried submerging the tire in water and listening in quiet room. Sound/air bubbles from all over the tire so I don't know where the puncture is.

I'm a DIYer, but for this, it's tirealert.com

Yeah, I know. But at ~$25 per tire, it still adds up. That's why I'm looking to DIY. Plus, like learning new things. :)

how old are they? The latex tube degrade after time & won't hold air for long. Seeing up a whole tire by hand is a big job. I'm sure they have machines that do it at the factory. Pulling the backing off the tire, fixing the tube & putting it all back together isn't too big of a job if you are careful. YouTube has some instructionas

god, I can't imagine riding clinchers ever again. There are cheaper, durable sewups. Tufos, not the most popular or the most supple but, can be had at a decent price. The wife's bike is the only thing we have with clinchers. & she doesn't ride.

on a side note....tubular clinchers have always seemed really odd. I rode them one time. Felt like a clincher with weight added to it. Anyone like them?

Maybe: you all are almost convincing me to give up the idea.

Tires are 18-months or younger. Vittoria Corsa EVO-CX II's.

What? Don't give up. While repairing tubulars is a pain in the yazoo, consider it part of the process, dues, as it were, for riding the best.
It's not all that hard. I have to admit I haven't had to repair one in ages but, go for it. It's not all that hard and can be rewarding, if you like to work with your hands.

By the way, I wouldn't use liquid latex solution to glue the base tape back down to the casing. Not very strong. I use contact cement or something similar. Two light coats on the casing after re-stitching. Pay particular attention to the stitching before you cut it and try to make it as smooth as possible when you re-stitch.

No... give up the idea of replacing the whole tube and instead, just repair the hole.

It's an experience everyone should have... but it's not easy to do a good job.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B...16%2520023.jpg

I think a lot of them, and like them. My Tufo C S33 Pro's are light, handle well and wear well. They don't need a lever and change faster than any tubular or clincher, with no levers. Tufo's get "round" at about 120psi, and seem "oval" below that, so I keep them at 125-130. As my clinchers wear out, I move to these. The only downside is having to carry a spare. I don't mind.

Right now, I've got a set on DA 7900/C24 carbon clinchers and Mavic Ksyrium SSC/Heliums. Smooth and durable, quiet and clean.

But I'm ambivalent.

if ya ride sewups, you carry a spare anyway. I accustomed to that. Maybe I should give them another try.

I like Vittoria Rallys. The lumps and all. There, I said it.

Good for you! I'm a cheap tubular guy too and can't buy all the talk about $100 tires being better than sex. I've had better luck with the Continental Giros which are about the same price as Rallys, but none of them last very long for me. Perhaps I'm too heavy at 195.

It's a crap shoot on any tubular, regardless of price, whether you get a flat or not. I've only been riding them for 2 years and I have tried a few different types: Conti sprinter gatorskins, rallys, yellow jersey sc,and vittoria corsa evo . I've even had some old tubulars on wheels I've purchased last around 500 miles (clement and wobler). For me they all seem to last somewhere in the 500-1000 range for the rear wheel (the fronts last considerably longer.) I'm very careful not to ride all the way over on the side of the road where debris accumulates and I try not to ride in the rain when more stuff sticks to the tire.

I'm thinking about getting some flint savers. Maybe they will increase the longevity of my tires. I think vittoria corsa evo is the sweet spot for price and performance, if they lasted longer.

I like the deliberateness of tubulars and the lightness, but I can't afford to spend $100 on a consumable product every 2-3 months.

You want tire savers or flint catchers. Definitely not flint savers or tire catchers!

Or, as a woman in Wyoming I sold some to called them ...Sticker Flickers.

If you don't want to repair them yourself, there is Tire Alert. I recently had four repaired and the base tapes replaced on two more. Total price was $129. (I have yet to try any of them out, as I have been busy with this fixed gear Trek that has Paselas.)

At the risk of being labeled a snob, I really don't see much point in cheap tubulars. They're heavy, wobbly, lumpy, harsh-riding, and flat-prone. I much prefer a decent clincher to a cheap tubular.

Decades ago it was possible to buy mid-range tubulars for training. These were decent, but not great. The Conti Sprinter was a fairly typical example, selling for $25-$30 in the mid-to-late 1980s. Now, as far as I can tell the choice is either bottom-of-the-barrel or top end. That's a real shame - but again, handmade tubulars offer a startlingly nice ride, and can be expected to go for 2000 miles on the back wheel, at which point the tires can be rotated and another 1000 or 1500 miles gotten out of them. (Yes, I know those figures will be met with disbelief by the Vittoria Rally crowd - which is illustrative, if you think about it.)

I like that!

Me too. And though I'm from the same general area, I had never heard them called that before. Of course, she ordered some for the Goat head stickers.