Try the Tape instead of Glue. It works.

If they are too old to ride, I've been re-purposing them into equally vintage items. :p

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...pspaiv7uaa.jpg

So, picked up a pair of Bontrager RL (Racelite) tubs from a local Trek dealership this afternoon. They are for my brother's wheelset that I just sold to him as he wants to finally try tubs.
The budget was a bit limited, as I was throwing in the tires with the wheelset, plus a lesson on how to glue and mount them.
So the Bontrager fit our budget at 39 bucks each. I was afraid that the tires, made in Thailand, like most budget tubs these days will have crooked treads and really lumpy base tapes. Examined te only two the,dealer had in stock for now and the looked pretty decent.
Mounted them dry on my brother's wheels and I was really surprised on how well made they are. Very staight treads, no lumpy areas and the base tape is also straight and even, all around the wheels. They are visually similsr quality as upper mid priced tubs I have on my wheelsets. I compared them to a spare Vittoria Rally, and there's definitely a big difference between the two, the Bontrager looking to be much better made.
I hope they ride as well as they look after we get them stretched and glued on....
Has anyone here tried these tubs yet? How was the ride and resistance to flats. The packaging says it has a "hard case" flat resistant belt. I did a bit of researching on the net and so far, only found very little feedback from users, one even mixing it up with a clincher version of the tire, which he did not like.....

Switched glue brands this season. Longtime fan of Continental but the LBS convinced me to try Zefal. Goes on nicely and sets up quick. Has a dry like feel to the touch. The goop has been fine without issues and a plus in tubular removal- no over adhesive of potential base tape coming off.

Lastly-
During the last few days, counted 23 vintage tubulars that I coated the sidewalls with Coghlans seam sealer. Great stuff to preserve the old cotton winds. Only a few more left to do. LOL

Do you know what this is made of? I used to use liquid latex.

Speaking of tubulars, I rode them on our CCRT ride this past Saturday, much of it in rain. The next day when I went to clean up the bike I found the rear tire flat but no obvious puncture. I pumped it up some and waited. A few hours later it had not seemed to have gone down perceptibly. I need to check again this evening. It's in good shape too, nearly new tread.

Yes it does and no mess. I wouldn't bother with tubulars if I had to glue them.

Reviewing my older posts in this thread reminds me that I went two whole wet seasons on my Pave's with no flats... I probably saved enough money to buy those HED Belgian rims.

Yes the tape works. But, the tufo tape I used was a BEAR to get off when I needed to change tires out. Took forever and would not want to do it on the road.

OK, I have to report in. I am going to tubulars after a number of years on clinchers. I bought a set of wheels on Craiglists. Dura Ace 7400 hubs and Campagnolo Victory Crono rims. Just rebuilt the rear with Sapim 2.0-1.8-2.0.
Low miles on the hubs, new grease. same with the rims... although rims weigh 340gr, but brake track is good and they were not over tensioned in the past. Looks like 1-2,000 thousand miles on the wheels. Going on 126mm dropout with 7sp.
I am going to use Tubasti because that's what I used in the past. I think ya'll are over doing the gluing ... like you were gluing track tires on track rims..... Consider you need to be able to get the tire off if flat out on the road.
The rims came with tires on with tape, and when I took them off half the tape stayed on the rim and half on the tire. I would never consider tape because of this.

Yes obuckler tape is a bear to get off. Only time I did it willingly the object was to reclaim a 40 hole Fiamme Brevetatto Longhi. Took an hour with paint thinner, single edge razor blade, a variety of small scrapers. Horrible job. Made me feel better about all the garbage picked and gifted rims that have gone to the recycling because The Removal was too much trouble. I have seen people use/attempt acetone, rubber cement thinner, methylene chloride and oven cleaner. Oven cleaner of course destroys the rim but so does tape. And of course you will see rims with five layers of tape from the rider who would not remove tape and neither would they glue.

Gluing tubulars is easy. If it is hard for you change your technique. Don't stick with some protocol that makes you crazy. Lots here buy the Yellow Jersey tires, please read the Yellow Jersey instructions. The guy who has done it thousands of times and has no problems is not wrong. I've been doing it fifty years, never a problem, not even the first time. Which would have been before YJ existed. No instructions then, tire, rim, tube of glue, make it work. The teenager got it right first time.

Most people use too much glue. The proper amount is just enough to get a good bond...and as pointed out above, you have to be able to get a tire off at roadside should you have a puncture. People tend to be paranoid about a tubular rolling off. In reality, you could descend a twisty mountain road on a tubular with no glue at all as the tire will always be forced against the rim......but then all bets are off when you hit a road imperfection or piece of debris that causes a hop and the tire is side loaded upon landing, so I opt for a pretty secure gluing job. You also don't want the tire base tape to squirm as you ride along as this increases rolling resistance dramatically. So the goal is to achieve a bond across the full width of the rim with a thin, even coat.

El Chaba

I can give an example of what you are talking about. A friend who used to ride 20,000+ a year and thus not normally employed used to have a sewup repair service. Each fall he would get a crate of 50-100 flat tires from Jim Ochowicz. Tires with magic marker saying 'Hampsten', 'Dag-Otto', 'Phinney', etc. The patchies were for winter training and for giveaway to locals around Delafield. One year the tires came in with odd gluing. Just patches of glue between spoke holes. 32-hole rims would have eight patches of glue, 28-hole rims would have seven patches of glue. Usually, not always, there would be glue either side of the valve stem. And a lot of blank space where neither tire or rim had ever seen any glue. This went on for three seasons. This was the days of red glue and there was no mistaking what was going on.

Please no one imitate the old 7-11 team. Not recommended. But any glue job is going to work. Perfection is not required. The only reason to strive for perfection is, as you say, a fully bonded tire will roll faster.

If you ever hear faint froggy croaking or squeaking coming from you newly glued on tub while riding,.....you missed a spot.....
Don't think the tire will roll off, but dang!, it can get irritating after only a few miles......:twitchy:

A good glue job keeps the tire from rolling off (yes, the fear of this is out of whack with the reality); keeps the tire from sliding along the rim when braking (making the valve crooked), and keeps the tire on the rim when you flat - that's the part that I worry about most... coming down twisty mountain roads.

Above, are the best tubular how to recommendatons in the smallest time/space EVER. Stop now.

With the increasing popularity of cyclocross in this country has come an increasing demand for knobby tubulars and large-diameter file-tread tubulars. This is because you can run tubulars at 25 or 30 psi without worrying about pinch flats. The rough courses and sideways loading generated by knobby tires really puts your gluing technique to the test. The minimal gluing that is adequate for riding a well-inflated tire on smooth surfaces will not do the job under these conditions, or any rough-terrain riding.
Brent

That's right, CX tires were not so wide in the olden days. 33mm and 36mm tires create different demands on glue. Best thing that could happen would be big wide rims with big wide glue beds. Until those are more generally available ther will be need for special gluing.

Speaking of X tubulars, Its been a blast during night trail rides - absolute beautiful October. Safe in some areas until Oct. 31 when the hunting season starts. Dugast in 32 width and mud wicking tread. Pressures at 40 front / 45 rear.

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4466/...cccf4bcc_c.jpgDSC_2046 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4480/...8578d723_c.jpgDSC_2045 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4471/...cb00372e_c.jpgDSC_2241 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4454/...668ded32_c.jpgDSC_2240 by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

Just built up a new set of wheels and glued on some tires. Observations:

1. The new rims are much more concave than the old ones... they're also wider, don't know if that magnifies the difference.


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Tf...g=w516-h916-no


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3P...=w1024-h657-no

2. First time I've used the glue brush method instead of the "baggie on finger" method... brush method is far superior to baggie method in distribution evenness, coverage to the edge, and not getting glue on the braking surface... I'll never go back. 20 brushes for $6... I used two since these were new rims, but one will generally be enough for new tires on pre-glued rims. Nothing wrong with my old method - old tires were damn hard to get off!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ct...=w1024-h704-no


https://i.imgur.com/oKR8hlU.jpg

I went from using the brush to the finger in the baggie and think I made a good move. :love: I use less glue for complete coverage using multiple layers and easier on the road removal. What are those rims?

Conserving glue isn't really one of my objectives.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ky...=w1024-h576-no

So I picked up some Tubular tires at the Madison Swap. I assumed this was a 700 C tire but it does not want to go on my rim? 27 x 3/4 is what the box is marked. Keep stretching or is this just not 700 C ? If not, what size is it? I was going to use it as a spare.

Attachment 595616

Attachment 595617

Attachment 595618

Yeah, that's a 700c tubular, just an old size designation. You can stretch it onto a clincher rim if it's easier, but it'll fit.

What kind of rim? Competitions can be a bit tight, but for me they usually aren't too difficult to stretch on to a rim the first time. I use a never glued old rim to stretch tires to I don't also have to work around old glue.

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?