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.

I do this routinely. I let them sit overnight to get a decent bond. I've never had a problem - although... I don't do many high speed descents with aggressive cornering. :o

I just finished applying the glue and came in to check replies. I am going to go back out immediately to put the tires on because the glue doesn't seem to stay tacky.

[QUOTE=masi61]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. QUOTE]

Have you tried mounting them dry, inflating them to full pressure and leaving them a day or two, then deflating and gluing them up? They'll usually stretch a bit.

I usually put one good coat on each the rim and tire, wait 30, then put a second coat on the rim only and then mount. My first tires have glue all over the sidewalls. :eek: I think I'm on my 4th mounting and by now I'm pretty clean with the operation. :)

+1

The glue sticks to the glue but was not sticky to touch on the rim or tire alone. I found a PDF saying what I used was the worst! Clement... oh well, Vittoria next time.... I used two tubes for two wheels, Hope it holds! it's for the track.

That's the technique I use. If your tire has been pre-stretched on an old rim dry then there should be no mess. Tubular glue is a contact cement so you need it somewhat dry and tacky on both the base tape and the rim. The second coat of glue should not be allowed to dry as fresh glue will help you to roll the tire in order to center the tire on the rim. I use a trueing stand for this. This part of the process takes me the longest as I am anal about having the tire perfectly centered w/o any wiggles in the tread.:rolleyes:
Gerry

AH HA! the key I was missing! However I think my glue dried to fast for that, I had a hell of a time centering it and eventually said good enough and ended up with a slightly tilted valve stem (ARGG!:mad: ), hope I didn't compromise the glue... guess I'll find out tomorrow when I test them.

I saw these and passed on them, but only because I have enough tires. I would not hesitate to use them on any of my bikes, after inspection, testing for pressure, and repair if necessary. Old sewups are completely usable if their components have their integrity.

Road Fan

I use a two-coat procedure, either the one recommended by Lennard Zinn, or the one printed on the wrapper for Vittoria tires. Both work well. I do not clean old cement off of rims.

Road Fan