"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Re-glue/retape Tubulars - How Often?

What's your "rule of thumb" to re-glue or re-tape tubulars? After x amount of miles, after x races, always before the season? Let me hear your preferance.

Perhaps it should have been a rule of wrist?

Never, a properly glued sew up never needs to be re-glued for the life of the tire, which is iether a puncture or the tread wearing out.

I guess if you hadn't ridden a set of wheels in 5 years, the glue might have gotten so brittle that it needs to be reglued, but in normal use, you will flat or wear out the tire way before the glue gives up.

If you have any doubts, just test to make sure the tire is properly glued. Inflate the tire until it is just firm, grab the tire and rim with both hands and try as hard as you can to roll the tire off the rim. If you can get it to start to peal off the rim, then re-glue it, otherwise, you're ok.

The pros re-glue their tubulars before each ride therefore we should too.

I had a tire that dried up in about two seasons of occasional riding.

I re-glue them at the beginning of every season if the tire is still good. It really isn't too difficult and I don't think it's worth risking the glue drying out over the winter.

If the tread and base tape are ok I'm comforatable with a re-glue. I'm cheap like that though.

Beginning of the racing season time to tear off and reglue. If the tire looks like it may not make it through the season then change.

It seems that the glue starts to go after 18-24 months. I get paranoid and sometimes re-glue tires that I think needed re-gluing but required 20 minutes to peel the tire off.

re: pros - they don't reglue tires daily (if you were serious about that). I watched one team mechanic (Z - not Lemond's bike) put super glue in each cut he found. He and another mechanic discussed Lemond's tire and left it as is (it had a cut too I guess). One set of wheels was incredibly out of round, lumpy rim from hitting things. Gatorade (Fignon, Bugno, DeWolf, more) had clinchers and the mechanics seemed a lot more relaxed about tires. This was all at the Tour du Pont.

Check your tires with very low pressure (10 psi or something). If they start to peel, then keep peeling and re-glue.

cdr

I reglue my cross tires at the beginning of the season, after a long storage period they seem to dry up. My road tubulars will flat or wear out by the time the glue dries up. IF you do one or two races a year on tubulars and the tires are still good after a year I'd check them for sure. If the glue isn't moist and stringy when you peal it back then it's dry and needs to be rekindled.

Question about regluing... If you want to swap tires on an already glued set and has a good existing bond, do you need to clean the rim thoroughly? Also, if I want to dismount the tires to true the wheel (hidden spoke-nipples), is it the same procedure?

Question about regluing... If you want to swap tires on an already glued set and has a good existing bond, do you need to clean the rim thoroughly? Also, if I want to dismount the tires to true the wheel (hidden spoke-nipples), is it the same procedure?

Awe I would avoid hidden spoke nipples at all cost. But no you don't need to clean the glue off in fact it may make for a better bond unless it's like 8 years of glue and 2 mm's thick or something.

Question about regluing... If you want to swap tires on an already glued set and has a good existing bond, do you need to clean the rim thoroughly? Also, if I want to dismount the tires to true the wheel (hidden spoke-nipples), is it the same procedure?

If the glue on the rim and tire is completely dry then yes.