Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - brakeless & tubular?

so, anybody here ride tubulars on the street without brakes? if so, how do they hold up under skidding and whatnot? any brand recommendations? the tufo's look like they'd be pretty tough.

bad idea, is all i have to say. hell, i wouldnt ride freewheel with a tubular on city streets, not with chicago glass around

I had tubulars on my track bike the first couple of days that I had it. I threw my chain and totally locked the back wheel - it was completely toast. There was a 1/2" wide 4" long section where the rubber was completely gone. But the silk held and I didn't notice it until I got home (it was a pretty dark trail).

They handle pretty nice though - really great feel, really fast. Maybe you should just get a set for racing?

if you can afford a wheelset for racing and a wheelset for the street, by all means, get tubulars for the track. i just wouldnt risk it on the street

yeah, i figured as much. i've been having a hell of a difficult time finding decent inexpensive 36h clincher rims for my D/A 10mm hubs on ebay, but there's lots of cheap nos tubular rims. i may just have to suck it up and get new deep v's thru the lbs...

(off topic: cyclorat, i think i have one of your miyata's siblings. did you get yours from a canadian named dave pendon?)

so, anybody here ride tubulars on the street without brakes? if so, how do they hold up under skidding and whatnot? any brand recommendations? the tufo's look like they'd be pretty tough.

I ride brakeless with tubulars... the first tires on it were 20 years old and I shredded them within a couple of weeks. The second pair were high end tires and simply deflated too fast for me... I had to air them up three or four times a week. The third, current pair are thicker and meant more for the road than the track. So far they're holding up, but as with any tires, skidding a lot is going to chew them up fast.

I ride brakeless with tubulars... the first tires on it were 20 years old and I shredded them within a couple of weeks. The second pair were high end tires and simply deflated too fast for me... I had to air them up three or four times a week. The third, current pair are thicker and meant more for the road than the track. So far they're holding up, but as with any tires, skidding a lot is going to chew them up fast.

what brand are they?

what brand are they?

Ya know I'm not sure. The LBS installed them, they have no markings and I forgot to ask. I got them put on here:

Bike Works NYC (http://www.bikecult.com/works/)

so, anybody here ride tubulars on the street without brakes? if so, how do they hold up under skidding and whatnot? any brand recommendations? the tufo's look like they'd be pretty tough.

I'v been told that it's a bad idea, if the glue gives up while cornering you end up taco'ing your wheel and worse...

tubular street track=slow suicide

yeah, i figured as much. i've been having a hell of a difficult time finding decent inexpensive 36h clincher rims for my D/A 10mm hubs on ebay, but there's lots of cheap nos tubular rims. i may just have to suck it up and get new deep v's thru the lbs...

(off topic: cyclorat, i think i have one of your miyata's siblings. did you get yours from a canadian named dave pendon?)

How do you know Dave Pendon? My wife was good friends with his older brother Eugene when we live back in Ottawa years ago. I also noticed Dave's bike on the fixedgeargallery.com site too. Still out of Montreal I believe...Small world ain't it?

How do you know Dave Pendon? My wife was good friends with his older brother Eugene when we live back in Ottawa years ago. I also noticed Dave's bike on the fixedgeargallery.com site too. Still out of Montreal I believe...Small world ain't it?


we're both on the Old Skool Track.com email list. he had a bunch of those miyatas for sale a while back, i think the other three might still be on ebay now...

I ride on streets in Montreal with my "tubular" tires, but would never consider riding sans freins in a city. I find riding this way on a track to be very difficult.

I'v been told that it's a bad idea, if the glue gives up while cornering you end up taco'ing your wheel and worse...


some tubular riders will actually tape their wheels to their rims, in order to decrease changes of rolling the tubular. I think the grass track racers do that on four points around their wheels...looks sick!

As I understand it, if you put a tubular on right, you shouldn't have to worry about it rolling off. I guess those new Tufo glue strip things are particularly secure (not to mention eas).

nope, got mine from some local guy who wasnt riding it anymore, just the frameset. the three do seem to be on ebay thought.

moi, jaime des pneus bien solides, pas de collés...mais jamais de freins :-P

some tubular riders will actually tape their wheels to their rims, in order to decrease changes of rolling the tubular. I think the grass track racers do that on four points around their wheels...looks sick!

well, I got some fir rims with the Olmo frame, might give this a try... :)

My bike shop guru says that there's no problem with riding tubulars brakeless (provided that you can ride brakeless on clinchers) as long as they're installed correctly. I considered classic tubulars for my street track bike but decided against them because they're ultra low profile and not very suitable for pothole riding.

Just wanted to bump this... anyone have any new suggestions on what the best tubulars to skid on are? I can't figure out which ones are the heaviest duty. I'm going to try one of those green Vittoria cyclocross sew ups at first, but want some other suggestions.

Also, no one ever rolls a tubular unless (a) it's glued improperly - and they're easy to glue, or (b) they're riding the brakes on a descent, heating up the rim and melting the glue. At least, no one who isn't racing.

Thanks! Just had a wheelset built up at Boulevard in Chicago - 28-spoke Ambrosio Montreal tubular rims laced to a shimano 600 road hub in front and a dura-ace track/track hub in back. So, so light!

I love tubulars and have been racing road bikes on them for 15 years.

I should say that I find Tufos to be rather too fragile. They are fine racing tires but after 6-10 races you'd better change them. The tread is very thin and they flat much too easily. That is the last brand I'd recommend for brakeless fixed gear riding. But perhaps one of their heavier tires like the T28 would be suitable. But forget about the Road Elite or S models. Anyhow, after flatting out of a road race on a Tufo Elite Road week before last, on mile 2, I've given up on mine and I'm very glad that my team was sponsored by Schwalbe this year. We did a tyre buy and I bought 10 tubulars for 20 bucks apiece on 2004 clearance!

Also, I must say I think that this is a bad idea if you live in a city where you'll end up skidding a lot. Rolling the tire shouldn't be a problem, BUT if you watch crash footage like Beloki's his tire rolled after he got real sideways, so use some caution. I just think you'd be going through many tires and it would be costly and time consuming.

No problem with tubulars at all. I raced and messengered them..

S/F<
CEYA!

Hey, Ceya, when you messengered on them which tires were you using? I was messengering on one of the Clement ones from Yellow Jersey and flatted it, then put on a Gommitalia and it's been much better. What's your favorite?

I did ride most of them from Vittoria's Cx,Formula one, Conti, Pista silk(NO NO here) ,Gommitalia, Japapnese other brands, Pana racers. I have a mix of them now. Vittoria's Rally, Japanses brand, Contis also.


Forumula one are the most used since the prices were low. they were once made in Italy.
S/F<
CEYA!

I had to air them up three or four times a week.


They may have had latex tubes- they are quite porous.

I top my tires off daily. It is a good practive to avoid pinch flats (on my clinchers)

i rode tubulars on my fixie for almost a year in the city. got a flat a few times. havn't had a chance to try to change a tubular tire yet, i will now! cause i'm buying some clinchers. cause getting the shop to change a tubular gets expensive after the third flat. sad to let them go though.

changing or better yet patching a tubular tire is pretty easy after awhile. You do the same as a clicher but you use needle and thread. No pinch tubes with tubies.

S/F<
CEYA!

I ride fixed and geared on tubulars. I use brakes and will only skid to avoid an accident.
My newer tubulars are Hutchinson Tempo 1 training tires. I also use and like the Tufo tubular clinchers with the sealant. If you insist on skidding on tubbies then cyclocross versions might give you longer tire life.

I don't hold back because you will never know what the tire is worth by limiting it potential.

S/F<
CEYA!

I don't hold back because you will never know what the tire is worth by limiting it potential.

S/F<
CEYA!

What do you keep in your toolkit for fixing flats (a strong needle, maybe? what kind of thread? etc.)? My next bike will have tubulars, and I'm gonna need to learn.

J, they have a kit for tubies , VELOX it is very good stuff too. I ride on my flats, fix them later if no spare is around.

S/F<
CEYA!

J, they have a kit for tubies , VELOX it is very good stuff too. I ride on my flats, fix them later if no spare is around.

S/F<
CEYA!


where do i buy such a wonderful kit?

A Bike Shop, Conrad's ,Toga,R and A. It is in a orange squeare tin can.

S/F<
CEYA!

I ride fixed and geared on tubulars. I use brakes and will only skid to avoid an accident.
My newer tubulars are Hutchinson Tempo 1 training tires. I also use and like the Tufo tubular clinchers with the sealant. If you insist on skidding on tubbies then cyclocross versions might give you longer tire life.

are the tufo cyclocross tubular clinchers comfy for a bad weather beater bike? i want to put some fat, knobby tires on something i'm building up now. those look good. is the grip decent in rain/snow?

where do i buy such a wonderful kit?

http://www.rei.com/product/1654.htm

http://images.rei.com/media/546116Prd.jpg

Yeah, but I still haven't figured out how to peel back the base tape. I tore it on one tire, and just gave up on another. It's *so* hard to pull back.

Yeah, I've never actually done it. I'm in the process of learning how to glue...hopefully I'll have a while before I have to learn about repairing flats (these wheels are track-only).

When it's time to patch a tubular, are you able to feel/hear the leak in the tube while it's sewn up? You don't have to unsew the whole thing, do you?

There's a well-documented procedure for patching a tubular. It's easy enough to find the hole, and you need only pull back a few inches of tape and stitching to apply the patch. But as I said, I've never gotten past that first step of pulling back the base tape. That time I tore it I tore it enough to have a good look at the threads and realized that undoing and re-sewing them wouldn't be easy (for me).

Would you want to race on a patched tire anyway? Just replace it. Since I can't patch, I carry a preglued spare with me on long rides when I have a tubular wheelset on. Otherwise I just ride home on the flat and replace the tire at my leisure.