General Cycling Discussion - tubular clinchers ?

I have a 650C tri bike and was looking into some racing tire options. I found a 650x19 tire made by Tufo that they call a tubular clincher. For those, like me who had a Bill the Cat look on their face when hearing that phrase, it is exactly what it claims: A tubular tire that installs on a clincher rim. Does anyone here have experience with these tires? Jeez, are they safe?

I'm another that had a Bill The Cat look when I read the title. Why not buy one and come back and tell us what the heck it is, and what it's good for. Sounds like the repairability of a tubular, with the riding advantages of a clincher.

I'm another that had a Bill The Cat look when I read the title. Why not buy one and come back and tell us what the heck it is, and what it's good for. Sounds like the repairability of a tubular, with the riding advantages of a clincher.

Well, they're supposed to be easier to repair than "conventional" tubulars, but they're also supposed to be quite slow. I quote some testing in this thread on Bentrider: http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=15415

I remember reading a test. Difficult to mount,heavy,wooden feel and slow. Everything a sew-up is not.

I've tried them myself and didn't like them one bit. Total waste of money. Felt nothing like tubulars. I did, however, like the tubular clincher cross tires. Unfortunately, they don't make those anymore.

The cross tires, you could run with very, very low pressure and it wouldn't roll. As a matter of fact, it took me nearly an hour to just get them off the wheel. The road tires you're suppose to be able to run them at very high pressure and thus have them perform as good as tubulars. Not the case.

I remember reading a test. Difficult to mount,heavy,wooden feel and slow. Everything a sew-up is not.

I was offered these a few years ago and I have to agree with the above. This is one system that seems to have the worst of both types of tyre. They may be easier to repair than a tub and they are heavy-even for a clincher.

Tufo would be a reasonable spare.. its a rubber lined tire casing, that will hook up to clincher rims when inflated.
not really like either a tubular or a clincher, Tufo seems to be slowly dropping these and just adopting the production to tubulars with the double stick tape mounting.

Well, they're supposed to be easier to repair than "conventional" tubulars, but they're also supposed to be quite slow. I quote some testing in this thread on Bentrider: http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=15415

I am not super familiar with TUFO clinching tubulars but I don't understand how they are easier to repair then a regular TUFO tubular. and actually I thought once you put the Genie juice in TUFOs there was no need to repair them

I tried a Clemment clincher/Tubular once it was super skinny but certainly not better than a tubular