Road Cycling - ??Clincher??

Hi.
I have been mountain biking for many years, although I am extremely new to road biking. I have become a little confused with types of tires. I have heard about clincher tires. Are these just standard tubular tires, like a mountain bike, but skinnier? Are there other ways of attaching the tire to a rim, or other types of tires?(for road bikes). I though I had heard of some other terms. Thanks for the explanations. It helps a lot.

-Moabrider47(completely lost to road bike terms)

A clincher tyre is the tire you are similar with.. It slips into the rim and it has a seperate tube.

There is also a tubular or sewup tire. Basically, the tube is sewed to the tire and then glued onto a special rim.

There are two kinds of raod bike tires...

Clinchers: These are open at the bottom, where the tube fits in, and hook onto the rim with a wire or kevlar bead. They are similar to regular MTB tires.

Tubulars [also called sew-ups]: These tires wrap all the way around the inner tube -- in effect, the inner tube is sewed-into the tire -- and attach to the rim with an adhesive.

Clinchers and sew-ups each have their own strengths and weaknesses. These days, clinchers are more common.

there is a third type, developed recently by Tufo:

URL=http://www.tufonorthamerica.com/product_line.html]tubular clinchers![/URL]

I haven't tried them *shrugs

clicky wicky (http://www.tufonorthamerica.com/product_line.html)

Tufo looks interesting. Anybody tried them?

I am not sure I want to be the John Glenn of cycling. Heck, if it works, it might be great. If it doesn't: crash, burn, road rash, bent wheels, etc.

Okay, I'll stop being dramatic. Seriously, anyone tried them?

Cheers,
Jamie

Yes, I use Tufo tyres: S22, S33 specials, and S3 lites. They are probably the best tubular tyres for the money available, and I've nearly given up on all other tubulars, as a result.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this tire?

D*Alex, are you riding the Tufo Tubular Clinchers, or just their regular tubulars. It's the Tubular Clinchers that I find interesting. I had enough trouble with Tubulars that I long ago decided they weren't worth it. But, the Tubular Clinchers might be the happy medium that were all wishing for.

Cheers,
Jamie

Regular tubulars. I can't imagine what the benefit of tubular-clinchers is, unless maybe it's the small weight savings.

D'Alex

I believe (although I might be wrong) the benefit
was the profile of a tubular with the mounting
options of a clincher. Strange idea if you ask
me.

Marty

Tufo's are awesome!
Best CX racing tire out there! They are expensive but great for race day. The tubular/clincher allows lower air pressure and no pinch flats- 2 big problems in CX, which is why many use sew-ups for CX racing.