Willks

I've only raced on clinchers, switching to a tubeless or tubular wheelset will be an entirely new experience for me. This will be a race specific wheelset (I have a separate wheelset for training) that I'd mostly use for road races with an occasional crit thrown in the mix. The few teammates I've asked recommend I pick up the tubulars since that's what they are used to and swear by, but I'm personally drawn to the tubeless for the ease of use, roadside flat repair, and not having to deal with gluing tires. With true road tubeless technology, is there really a big advantage to running tubulars in a road race? Is the extra suppleness of a tubular desired or even needed? The only "advantage" of the Aero 55 tubular that I can see is a slight weight savings.

If you had the option, which would you choose and why?



EC90 Aero 55 Tubeless Clincher

• CERTIFIED TUBELESS
• WHEELSET WEIGHT: 1580G
• RIM DEPTH: 55MM
• INTERNAL RIM WIDTH: 19MM
• EXTERNAL RIM WIDTH: 28MM
• SPOKES: SAPIM CX-RAY, STRAIGHT-PULL, BLADED
• FRONT SPOKE PATTERN: 16 TOTAL / TBD MM, RADIAL
• REAR SPOKE PATTERN: 20 TOTAL / TBDMM, 1X (ND) AND TBDMM, 2X (DS)
• FRONT HUB TYPE: EASTON ECHO
• REAR HUB TYPE: EASTON ECHO

EC90 Aero 55 Tubular

• WHEELSET WEIGHT: 1330G
• RIM DEPTH: 55MM
• INTERNAL RIM WIDTH: 19MM
• EXTERNAL RIM WIDTH: 28MM
• SPOKES: SAPIM CX-RAY, STRAIGHT-PULL, BLADED
• FRONT SPOKE PATTERN: 16 TOTAL / 261MM / RADIAL
• REAR SPOKE PATTERN: 20 TOTAL /261MM, 1X (ND) AND 263MM, 2X (DS)
• FRONT HUB TYPE: EASTON ECHO
• REAR HUB TYPE: EASTON ECHO

robbyville

I'm a big fan of tubeless and run this way on my training wheels due to the extra flat protection. I really like the comfort and ability to run at lower PSI. The wheels I plan to use for a fair bit of my every day riding and racing will be making the switch to tubeless once I wear out the current tires.

That being said, if I were truly only going to be using the wheels for racing I'd go tubular for ride quality and feel alone. Don't let yourself be fooled about road side repairs (with tubeless), if you do flat it's more of a beast to get the sealant out and stick a tube in there than a traditional tube change, it's just to get you home (I have had no flats on mine in over 1000 miles including a ton of gravel and chip seal roads)

carpediemracing 

Tubulars are not much better than clinchers on gravel or other rock type roads. They don't resist sidewall slashes well, at least in my experience.

Keep in mind that tubular tires typically weigh less for a given durability level than a clincher. The weight savings is not necessarily only in the rim. It's all in the rim for your choices, based on the specs you list above, so that's pretty significant, more so than if the rear hub was 200g lighter on the tubulars, which would imply the rims were the same weight. If I had a choice between, say, a 300g rim and a 400g rim with otherwise similar aero/handling/durability characteristics I'd pick the 300g one.

Finally if you flat a tubular the wheel remains pretty rideable, like if you flat your front tire in a turn while you're leaned over. On a clincher you have to be super lucky to stay upright, and I've never seen someone blow out a clincher mid-turn and stay off the deck. With tubulars I don't think I've seen anyone hit the deck due to a mid-turn front flat, including a teammate that bridged up to a break in a crit, dove into the next turn, and flatted his front tire.

With tubulars I really can't tell the difference in road feel. It's lighter, yes, it accelerates like a scalded cat, yes, but ride quality for me isn't a reason to do tubulars. It's weight/durability/safety for me.

Having said all that would you consider using the tubeless wheels as your main set of wheels with regular clinchers? This would keep you in a familiar zone and if you felt like it you could get the tubulars later as race wheels. Those two wheelsets seem like they would satisfy 99% of the riding you'll find in NE.

Willks

How much lower do you run your tubeless setup compared to a standard clincher? Also, I've heard of tubeless being a bit more work to mount than your normal clincher, but I figured the ability to fix a flat and get on down the road is better than not having the ability and having to call for a ride or wait for the support car. Thanks for your feedback!

You make some interesting points.

I'm aware that lighter is generally better. Wheel weight aside, I would have thought tubeless to have been the lighter setup. I'm guessing that the added weight comes from the tire itself due to a heftier bead and the need to add sealant?

The supposed safety aspect of a tubular is what really caught my attention. I've seen my share of spills from a front blow out in many a crit; that is one experience I'd like to avoid. If what you say is true than that's a huge plus in the "pro" column for tubular.

My current training wheel set (which could double as a race wheel set) are the Easton EA90 SLX, which are true road tubeless already. I wouldn't likely use the Aero 55's for training if I decided to go the tubeless route with them.

robbyville

I ride my tubeless at 85 rear, 80 frt and I weigh around 160 currently. I bought my tubeless for a specific ride which included over 10 miles of very nasty dirt road (practically a rock garden in some spots), and I wanted to worry less about flats and also wanted good comfort (these wheels also had wide brake tracks as do your potential wheels). As mentioned they've been very good for me, enough that I will take my November's which I will use for racing as well as regular riding and make them tubeless once the clinchers are kaput.

In my case the tires were plenty hard to put on (Bontrager R3's), I did have to use tire levers which I have not had to use in the past. Certainly not impossible but if it happened in the middle of a race it would take long enough that... well you get the picture! I believe Schwalb has a new racing tubeless tire that is much easier to put on and apparently a great ride for racing (but not as durable). I don't have any experience with them though.

And lastly while I have ridden tubulars as a young adult it's been over 20 years and remember I'm not exactly a racer yet!

RoboIsGod

God I want those wheels so bad.

Go with the tubulars. I'd saying gluing the tires on is the only real downside. The benefits, especially considering what you're using them for (racing), makes it worth it. They will be lighter and perform better. You can run a broader range of tire pressures, don't have to worry about pinch flats OR blow offs (can't tell you how many times I've heard peoples' tires un-seat/blow off during a race and then smile because I know this will never happen to me). And guess what, if you do puncture your tubular, you can use tubeless sealant to seal up the hole! Seems like a no-brainer to me.

GeoNLR

I started demo'ing tubulars about 3 weeks ago... Personally the ride difference in feel is nothing short of amazing in my opinion... and I haven't even played with PSI much yet. My only problem is I thought they were gonna be 'race only' wheels... now I can't imagine pulling them off my bike! Granted at $100 a flat... I might not be so excited about them down the road!

thechemist

You can repair them without replacing them. Sealant inside, glue outside on nicks and cuts. re-sewing them if your pro etc etc. or send them in for repair

Hida Yanra

if you don't know all about tubulars and don't already want them- don't get them, not worth it.
Conversely, if what you want is a set of tubulars and you already know it, you probably won't be satisfied with anything less.

Tubeless tyres can and do work well, and Easton has made good tubeless wheels for some years now-
There are good options for racing tyres in tubeless form now- I can only think of one reasonable argument why an amateur bike racer wouldn't be well served by them, and it is a 0.1% sort of thing. Thus,

if you don't know all about tubulars and haven't made up your mind that you want them- get tubeless.

wens

They want to use the wheels for track too?

Hida Yanra

OP: a few notes on tubular life:
if you aren't going to take your time and do a GOOD job on glueing tyres, please don't do it. I've seen too many rolled tubulars to have anything but anger at people who can't/won't do it well. It's disrespectful to everyone who lines up next to you and corners with 40 feet of you.
if you aren't going to glue your own tyres, don't get tubulars. The potential for being without wheels before a big race if your shop can't get you in, or the cost of paying others to glue up your stuff on a semi-regular basis jacks up the cost of ownership pretty quickly.



I see a variety of clinchers being used a on wood 200m track- so I wouldn't say that they are ruled out- but certainly it isn't as ideal because of the same reasons I'll lay out below.

Actually, the only *compelling* reason (yes, to me, obviously subjective) I have found for using tubulars is that worse-case scenarios are worse on clinchers.

Worst case scenario:
A high speed descent and flatting around 40-50mph.
There's just about no way to avoid an appointment with your favorite dentist & surgeon if you are using clinchers. The tyre will come off the rim or drop into the rim well and you'll be on a rim at high speed.... I 100% promise that won't go well.
Front or rear doesn't matter- this is bad news no matter which you flatted.
That my friends is the only compelling reason I have found for using tubulars.


they are entirely slim odds of that happening- but ask RTC about getting off the bike at high speed on a descent, or ask Tilford, it happened to him on the way down the hill after an uphill TT in Joe Martin. Tilford (if nothing else) is a reasonable bike handler, and he fractured a hip plus other cash and prizes. We are quickly talking 5 figures of problems for teeth/bones/lost time at work/future earning potential as a hand-model/etc

Given the penalty for having that go wrong, I own tubulars.
To the folks that don't agree, absolutely yes- Many, many, most races don't have that risk. However, out here on the west coast there are plenty of races that do have that possibility, so in my mind it is worth having the peace of mind.
I did a bunch of races on clinchers last year- I had a set of nice clinchers and could only take one set of wheels to a bunch of stage races... not having backup wheels changes the math a bit.

There are a bushel basket of other reasons for tubulars as well, but they aren't enough to make me open my wallet:
If you do flat, you can ride until an opportune moment before getting a wheel. In a RR, this can be the difference between staying with the group and not.
They feel better. Its true- a nice 24-25mm tubular rides like a million bucks- it generates its own smiles and joy. Certain clinchers with latex tubes get pretty close, I understand some tubeless tyres also get you into the ballpark (I hear AMAZING things about Schwalbe's new race offering)- but they still aren't at the ride quality of a high-end tubular.
Rolling Resistance: the fight rages on, but across the board it is *easier* to get good rolling resistance from a tubular than a clincher/tubeless
Tubulars are lighter: yes, on the whole they are lighter- but not enough to make a significant enough difference in my race results to pay money for them. For some, the money isn't so much a factor.

TexMac

After reading this i think Tubulars are worth the risk and those will be my next tyres.

CactoesGel

Update? Did you ever get these wheels? I'm ready to get a new wheelset and considering these very seriously.

ips0803

To add to what's been said, if you flat on a tubular you can use sealant (hopefully) to get you home, or throw on a preglued spare to ride home. Not necessarily a cell phone call.

Repairing tubless on the side of the road seems less than pleasant from watching team mates do it.

Recently got and glued my first set, wasn't bad at all