tiger1964 

Wow -- how long did that take?

Looks like I'll be riding tubulars on one bike; just bought wheels which fortunately came with tires. Digesting Totally Tubular looks daunting.

1989Pre 

I'm glad you posted, because I am basically in the same position: I am having some Nisi Corsa Strettos (36H-32H) built up for my (Holdsworth-built) Grubb. They should be done by the end of the month. I chose the 25mm Bontrager R4's because the roads up here are like butter. I was using Super Champion Modele 58 (40H, 32H) on the Grubb before, so it should be interesting to see the difference. Anyway, I just wanted to try out tubulars. As soon as the roads dry out a bit (probably March), I'll give them a spin on the M.U.P.

Classtime 

My 22mm Continental Sprinters on Nemesis rims built with 32 DT Comps 3x on 7900 hubs ride nicer than my 23mm GP4000s on Open Pros and 32 DT Comps 3x on 7700 hubs at the same pressures. Nicer still are Continental Competition$ on GL330 rims. My only experience with wide tires are with nice CX tubulars which rode nicer than whatever CX clinchers I trained on.

BUT—Good Tubulars on nice wheels are so light, and so cool, and so perfect on a vintage race bike in vintage race bike configuration, that if one has such a bike, one needs such a wheel set.

(Tape goes with tubeless, electronic shifting, disc brakes, carbon, and bead head nymphs.)

Atlas Shrugged

The poster mentioned that he just purchased a new pair for $1k and they are no longer being made.

iab

This is exactly the myth non-tubular owners perpetuate.

First, tubular tape. Literally takes seconds.
Second, for small punctures, sealant. Literally takes seconds.
Third, for complete blowouts, you carry a spare. Swapping literally takes seconds.
Fourth, for repairing that blowout, Tire Alert. Shipping literally takes seconds.

Ever try to put on tight clinchers? Ever try to repair tight clinchers on the road? Ever changed a clincher flat and have it go flat in literally seconds after repair because you didn't find the tiny shard from the original flat still stuck in the clincher? Ever get a snakebite flat?

The only, and I mean only, downside to tubulars, is cost. Not cheap by any means. So if you do want the full experience for great tubulars, which you really need to be better than modern clinchers, you have to commit to emptying your wallet. Is that worth it? ymmv.

Andy Antipas 

And to add to iab 's excellent points, if you shop around you can get the excellent Veloflex Roubaix's or Vlaanderens for less that top end clinchers. I just bought 2 Veloflex Roubaix's (25mm) for $50 each shipped. Top end clinchers are generally quite a bit more expensive than that. Most of us C&Vers are pretty good bargain hunters. If you haven't tried tubulars you owe it to yourself to try them.

Ex Pres 

To give you an idea, when I started riding tubulars again I pumped up a set of Vitt Corsa CX's to 145# and went on one of our ~30mi group rides. I was truly amazed how well they rode even on normal just OK pavement.

Now that doesn't mean I keep 'em there. But I think that pressure would be teeth-rattling and not fun with clinchers.


.

daka

I would like to echo that last sentence. When I rebuilt that Raleigh Professional Mk I a year or so ago I bought the inexpensive tubulars that Yellow Jersey sells. Those were 3 for $50 so even less expensive than most clinchers. Even without having experienced good tubulars I found the ride to be delightful and really enjoyed it (and this is in spite of the bike being too big for me). If I may say so, I didn't think mounting was that big of a deal but I was under no time pressure to get it done. The most work was removing the old cement from the rims that had been applied 50 years before.

iab

This is where mmmv . I find those to be absolute crap. If someone has some nice clinchers and tried the Yellow Jersey junk, I would know why they would never use a tubular ever again. It's like riding on a brick. That said, I do carry those tires as a spare so I can get home. Even staying folded under my saddle for years, they will work as a spare. I don't want to fold an expensive tire for years.

But yes, you can find some bargains like Andy pointed out. There has been a guy at the Madison swap selling 25mm FMB PRs for $20 each. But if you want something else (I prefer the 30mm), getting lucky is rare and again, they ain't cheap.

daka

I had enough fun on those crap Yellow Jersey tires that I have gathered parts to build a tubular wheelset for my Raleigh International. When I build those wheels, I will make sure to ante-up for better tires as recommended in this thread.

EVlove

Must be a different Brunswick ME than the one I used to pass through

DiabloScott

It's an elitist club... not for posers.
I don't think the improved ride quality or reduced pinch flat frequency is reason enough for anyone to decide to try tubulars - you have to have another reason... like you got a bike you like that came with tubular wheels, or someone gave you a free pair or tubular wheels, or you really like learning old-timey skills.

tremolo1965

I ride both. Tubulars are worth the expense - skip the Starbucks and give them a try.

How many times have you heard a statement to the effect of “…these tubulars ride as well as clinchers.”?

*edited to add that I weigh 200 lbs, and have prefer running tubulars at about 6 bar*

Chombi1 

People who are still skeptical on tubs should just try them before they knock em......And do it with at least decent quality tubs and not Rallies and Giros.......Once you get to feel the fast, magic carpet ride good tubs gives its rider, you might never look back.......
​​​​​​​

Atlas Shrugged

Sorry you can’t use the term “fast, magic carpet ride” that was taken by the titanium advocates years ago. Given the demographics that participate in these forums most of us started the sport riding tubulars and remember very well the PIA they are, and the drastic improvement in modern clincher tire technology. Whether it is a top end supple clincher with latex tubes or tubeless there is no perceptible difference in ride quality and a huge improvement in ease of use. There is a reason outside of a very small group of C&V riders no one uses them and there is no resurgence in users. Take wool clothing or steel frames both are dated technologies yet have a strong and active following of both young and old riders the same can’t be said regarding tubulars.

ehcoplex 

There've been a couple comments along the line of try good clinchers first- I've got 38c RH, 35c RH, 42c Soma EX Randos and 42c GB Hetres on my various bikes, so I've got a fair idea of what good clinchers feel like. I don't have a ton of miles on the Somas yet, but comfort/feel-wise I'd rate them at the top, followed by the RH Barlows, then the Hetres and finally the RH Bon Jons. If I could achieve the comfort level of the Somas or the Barlows with, say, 30c tubs (& save some weight & learn another old-timey skill too!) I'd love it. But as suggested, I think I'll just keep my eye out for a bargain on a set of tubular wheels to try. I still need to paint/get the frame painted/powedercoated and source mechs for this build, so I'm definitely already approaching the budget limit!

masi61

It is worth a try for sure. Used tubular wheelsets are one of those things that if you keep them on your radar they may not pop up immediately but eventually they will.

Call me nuts but my stable of road bikes is about to be expanded to cover latex tubed clinchers, tubeless clinchers and now for this year I should have at least one tubular tired bike on the road.

A few remarks about running 30mm tubulars. That is getting into cyclocross size territory. For wider tubulars like that you might want to consider building up some hubs of your choice with a wider tubular rim. the only one I know of is the Velocity Major Tom. Some eBay sellers still have these, I saw some today advertised for ~$68 each, a pretty good deal. These were the 28 hole. I have a nice set of custom Major Toms in a 28 front, 32 rear.with some lightweight hubs coulld build a very light wheelset! I have a brand new set of these rims built up with Chris King R45 28f/28r eleven speed hubs that I was going to try out on a used (California) Masi Gran Criterium that I am about finished with . The rear will be clad with a 30 mm Schwalbe tubular in the rear. My front does not have the clearance for a 30 so it will get a Tufo 25 mm in the front.

No one has mentioned a lack of machined sidewalls with their vintage tubular wheels but I will put this out there that if I am sticking with rim brakes, I would prefer machined sidewalls for their improved braking performance. Also, I bought my Schwalbe 30mm tubular tires from Bike24.com in Germany for a ridiculous blow out price of like $18 each. I'm at work now and I don't recall the model number of that Schwalbe tire but it might be one of those that has the popular "basketball" tread profile. These are more of what you might consider "commuter" grade tubulars since they weigh in at a more hefty weight of about 375 grams per tire. I intend to glue these on with regular tubular tire glue painted onto both the base tape and the rim base using the "Belgian method" that I have seen documented on some YouTube videos.

Bad Lag

Let's have a rational discussion where we look at differences and try to find discriminators between the two.

Tubular tape is not needed on a clincher but maybe rim tape is a close equivalent, so not much difference there.

Sealant works as well on clinchers as it does in tubulars. It either seals, or you need to patch.

Blow outs - I've had both blow out due to the terrible roads I was on which broke the cords. If you want to protect against a blow out, you have to carry a spare - same for both; doable for both, as modern clinchers are foldable.

Shipping to "Tire Alert" does not take "seconds". Packaging has to be done and you have to go to the UPS Store. It is nowhere close to free (~$40/tire), and makes that tire inaccessible for quite a while. I think the approach of repairing them yourself is more closely analogous to the clincher repair. Tubulars are easily and well repaired at home (while watching TV or whatever).

Yes, I just mounted a set of very tight clinchers. There is a technique to it but they are very doable. Is this a hand strength issue, similar to how some cannot get enough braking power? <-- honest question, here.

Tubulars are demonstrably lighter, overall. They do have a different feel when riding (I suspect some of this is the latex tubes). Latex tubes are available for clinchers, too. If you don't mind pumping before every single ride, try latex clincher tubes, first. You'll be doing that with your tubulars, as well.

I did not find anything above that was a major discriminator.

For me, that minor weight difference and the feel of latex tubes are not worth the hassle of tubular tires, especially if you are on poor road surfaces.

masi61

For me there really is a perceptible difference in ride quality between the different types of road tires. Cornering and descending are generally considered different with tubulars presumably due to the lack of sidewall material in the rims making them feel quicker off axis. With that said, I would add that while tubulars feel different in cornering, it is possible that they are no better if your measure of performance is the ride time. Personally I think that while I loved tubulars (back in the day), when I think of how great my tubeless tire road bike corners - they are two slightly different animals that achieve the same objective but with a different methodology. The stiff sidewall design of tubeless reminds me of low profile performance car tires. They seem to be able to pull off the magic trick of being stiff and supple at the same time.

iab

I am having a rational discussion.

I throw a tubular in a box, trust me, it is not fragile, print a label and put it in my mailbox where it is collected. What country do you live in where that doesn't take seconds? Are you still using something other than a computer?

Also, there is no way possible you can change a tight clincher on the road faster than I can change a tubular. How many people actually carry a spare clincher, or need to? Spare tube, sure, I do that. And how you conflate stopping power with broken tire irons is beyond me.

One more thing, raise your hand if your tire iron punctured your tube. Never gonna happen with tubulars.

There is no doubt tubulars of equivalent size can be run a lower pressure which makes for a more comfortable ride.

Bad Lag

(post deleted by author)

DiabloScott

When foldable clinchers first came out - there were a lot of posers who wanted that "folded tubular under the saddle" look. Never fooled no one; ridicule was dispensed.

These days not so much, but people who ride with a spare clincher are usually on really long tours (backups of everything) or they know their mounted tire is about shot but can't bring themselves to throw it away until it's ruined.

EVlove

TBH I only ever passed through on Route 1, and then only outside of the summer craziness; we used to have a second home down in Stonington. Quite possibly I'm misremembering. Our preferred route was via Augusta and Belfast. All I know is some of the worst roads I ever drove were in Maine but that would have been the peninsula roads, come to think of it. Route 15 was once listed as literally the worst road in Maine. Some of the drivers weren't much better...

Back to regularly scheduled bike content.

EVlove

I wasn't aware of this service, thanks for mentioning it. I'm just getting back into tubulars and while my first pair of Sprinter Gatorskins was a $35 bargain (pricing error on Amazon, snatched it first and went looking for wheels later), I probably won't be that lucky again.

1989Pre 

Got my first tubulars in the mail today. 320tpi, skinwall and $55.00 apiece.
Recommended pressure 90-180? That was a surprise.