Road Cycling - clinchers vs tubular

not sure what all this clincher/tubular wheels/tires talk is all about..

can someone tell me the difference and when to use which and what is recommended?

thanks

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html

This should help you out.

55/Rad

wow, great info!

thanks 55/rad!

and definitely more cowbell!

not sure what all this clincher/tubular wheels/tires talk is all about..

can someone tell me the difference and when to use which and what is recommended?

thanks

This is a copy of another post I did.

Here's a couple of web sites that answer your questions:

http://www.yarchive.net/bike/tubulars.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html

And by the way, I used tubulars for about 15 years, I now have been using clinchers for the past 15 years. And guess what? I'll never go back to tubulars again! And yes I did fix my own tubulars...oh yippee!

I started out on clinchers, but went to tubulars and have been on them for about 17 years. If you ride cheap tubulars, you might not notice the difference, but good tubulars are simply amazing! A clincher version of a rim will weigh about 50 grams more than a tubular version of the rim. It is simply the added material to hold the clincher tire. Clinchers also need inner tubes and rim strips all add weight. A good tubular can be pumped to 140+ psi and yet the ride is smooth and fast. The handling on a technical decent is amazing! This is what riding is about. :rolleyes:

I started out on clinchers, but went to tubulars and have been on them for about 17 years. If you ride cheap tubulars, you might not notice the difference, but good tubulars are simply amazing! A clincher version of a rim will weigh about 50 grams more than a tubular version of the rim. It is simply the added material to hold the clincher tire. Clinchers also need inner tubes and rim strips all add weight. A good tubular can be pumped to 140+ psi and yet the ride is smooth and fast. The handling on a technical decent is amazing! This is what riding is about. :rolleyes:


Tufo makes tubular clinchers for those that would like to experience the "feel" of tubulars without buying new wheels.

Well yes cheap tubulars don't cut it. I use to race and raced on expensive silk tubulars. But todays clinchers have come a long way, with tire weights down into the 145 gram arena if you want a racing tire. But most of us here are not racing, so a tubular tire regardless of cost is not as suitable for the street as a clincher is...but then again a 145 gram racing clincher isn't either! So you have to use tires suited for where your going to use it. With clinchers you have a much larger assortment of tires to choose from, from ultralight racing to flat resistent tires to touring tires, from cheap to expensive and everything in between. Is a clincher generally heavier? yes, but the penalty for weight savings is expense, shorter life, and fragilness...and that applies to anything you try to accomplish on your bike, even applies to motorsports. You can always have both types, the tubulars for racing and the clinchers for training. Read my web sites I mentioned in my first post and then make your conclusions.