zukahn1 

Well there is a theory well worn in bike lore that it significantly faster to change a tubular tire provided you have a spare than a tubed tire. I question this as it takes me about 8 minutes legit to fully change a tube or full tubler tire either way. For this desmounting the wheel from bike inlfating with typical road pump and reinstalling on the bike are all about the same.

lasauge 

I've always wondered since I've never tried tubulars - if you replace a flat tubular with a spare, do you have to limp home at a cautiously for fear of the tire rolling off, or does the old glue stick enough to the spare tire to let you ride with confidence through turns?

Homebrew01

You have to be careful and go slowly in the corners, but on the straight it will stay on fine. Depends on the condition of rim glue and spare tire glue. If I thought I might get a flat with a long way to go, I might carry rim tape. I only race on tubulars and have only trained on them a few times.

iab

Hardest part of a tubular is removing the flat tire. If it is trashed, cut it and peel it like a banana. Takes your 8 minutes to 4.

But in the grand scheme, no one should give 2 rat's craps about 4 minutes.

Fred Smedley

Not if you did a good glue job and you don't want to separate the base tape upon removal. IMO

Germany_chris

While it's not significantly faster I can change a tubie faster than a clincher close to a minute faster I'd guess. The difference is tubies don't flat as often I've had once since '09. I take the dire lever break and break the the area opposite of the stem. Once that is loose you just pull it off put the next on on and inflate. Neither tubie nor clincher is a complex procedure.

gomango

You haven't lived till you tried to put a Veloflex Master clincher on a Campy Neutron wheel.

Couldn't find my Crank Brothers Speedier lever so had to ride over to the shop.

Bought another one, went home and changed the tire.

Total time was 45 minutes.

Now, I also was putting a new Vittoria tub on my wife's bicycle the same day.

Took a little over 7 minutes!

Tire was pre-stretched and glued, but still.....

repechage

In the days of Clement Red glue changing a tire and being able to continue was pretty fast and the replacement tire when primed with glue rebonded very quickly. I have had the occasion where the spare was bonded on so well I did not remove it to reglue.

With today's adhesive the equation has changed. So it goes.

gomango

Thank goodness I don't have to change a flatted tub very often.

Exactly once in the last year!

But when I had to on the road, I took it easy on the ride home.

Perhaps not warranted, but I am pretty much risk adverse after my accident last year.

scozim 

Timely post. I had flats last week on Friday and Saturday - both front tires: one a tubular and one a clincher. I didn't time the two changes but the tubular was a quicker because I wasn't dealing with the saddle bag (get the tube and levers out and putting everything back. The tubular spare was preglued and, while peeling off the flat front tire took a little effort it wasn't that bad. What took about the same amount of time was making sure the tubular spare was as close to centered as possible (it's a cheap tire) on the rim and making sure the tube in the clincher wasn't going to be pinched. The Hutchinson clincher tires went on the Velocity rims easy enough but I've had a few clincher rim/tire combos where I would cringe if I got a flat because they were so difficult to work with.

Fred Smedley

If anybody is concerned with time, the real loss is the tubular repair, re-glue , rim prep, etc. Seriously, new clincher 200 gram tires with ultralight or latex tubes ride so close to tubulars the only reason to ride one is if you are racing or are so heavily invested in tubular wheelsets the only way to see a return on your investment is to ride them. You certainly won't get any where near the sum of the parts cost back trying to sell them. Sadly......

JohnDThompson 

Panasonic nylon casing tubulars are also supremely difficult to mount; the nylon casing just doesn't stretch like cotton or silk.

gomango

Misery loves company.

Doesn't help that I have early rumblings of RA in my hands.....

RobbieTunes

Since I tape my tubulars, I'm about the same either way.

My tubular clinchers are absolutely the fastest, but I'm not racing anyone, anyhow, anyway, anymore.
Even when I am racing some people, some time, some way, somewhere, if I flat, I take my time.

My last flat in a race found the SAG vehicle had ZERO air on hand, and I'd used my only CO2.
Which was OK, since you aren't supposed to be getting assistance in a triathlon, anyway.
I'm just glad they were there to give me a ride back, which turned into a stint as a race marshall.

zukahn1 

I would agree with Robbie that tublular clinchers are the fastest but also pretty much the most expensive at $40+ per flat.