Well, I finally glued up the Vittoria Rallies on the GL330 wheels I got two weeks ago. It's been a lot of work to get the rims cleaned of the 20ish tear old pertified glue, service the hubs and freewheel and then glue up the tires to the rim yesterday afternoon which took about 45 minutes of slow, patient work with the glue and fingers (found out using the fingers to spread the glue was best to control even spreading and minimize the mess. front tire went on the rim pretty easy, but the rear fought me a little bit when the base tape seems to not settle down fully on to the rim at the valve stem because they folded the tire right at that spot at the factory which made it stiff in that area. I will flex that fold out real good the next time I mount a sewup again...lesson learned. The tires seems to have settled down on the glue real good after sitting at full pressure for a whole day. I think I did OK. None of the problems/horror stories I read about mounting up tubulars. The gluing process felt very theraputic. I found out that one small tube of Continental Glue is good for two thin coats on the rim and one thin coat on the base tape. There was enough left in the forst tube to do one more thin application on the second rim. I ended up with about a third of the second tube left, just enought to coat the third, spare tire's base tape. Do I have to pre-glue the spare?? My racer friends did back in college but they ended up with really messy looking spare tires that get stuck together). Could I just glue it up right before mounting after a flat?
I rode the PSV with the tubulars before the sun went down just to get a feel and WOW! All those years reading about how nice tubulars ride and now I finally know what it's all about! The ride is compliant and comfortable, but also lively. To get the same comfort and compliance from clinchers, I think you usually end up with a tire that just feels dead and unresponsive. For some reason, you get both responsiveness and compliance/comfort with tubulars. It was amazing how it just floats over the cobblestone sections we have for crosswalks around our neighborhood. The tires just seem to float over them and I did not have to stand on the pedals when I go over them, unlike with my Hutchinson ATOM And Vittoria Diamante Pro light clinchers, which I have to because I will be pounded crosseyed with the vibration. The tubulars also seem to feel real "calm" on the road. which makes it easier to concentrate on the riding intuitively and not conciously steering the bike. I think it all comes down to compliance with tubulars. They're act like suspension for the bike, whereas with clinchers, the harsher ride equates to you fighting the tires a bit.
I do have to admit that the high pressure slick tread clinchers I had on the bike seems to have a little bit less rolling resistance than the Rallies. These tubulars seem to have similar rolling resistance as the regular Diamante Pros I had on the bike a few months ago.
Here's how the wheels look like on the PSV:
Really love the way the dark anodizing sets of the wheels against the nice latex sidewalls of the Rallies..........Down with blackwall tires!!
These tubular wheels were really meant for the Vitus Cabone 7 Plus I just aquired, but I'm in the middle of restoring the bike and the progress have been slowed down because of the stuck stem I'm still pounding on and soaking in Liquid Wrench and PB blaster in the last three days.....still stuck, stuck REAL hard, but I'll win over it, even if it take soaking and pounding on it the whole winter!!
In the meantime, I'll just enjoy them on the PSV till the other bike's done.
Chombi
84 Peugeot PSV
85(?) Vitus Carbone 7 Plus...(restoration project)