Can i swap out the tubular rims on volos for clinchers?
 

Okay, without starting a flame war here, i bought a 2006 Bianchi Pista Concept this weekend and it came with the stock Cane Creek Volos tubular wheels.

Problem is that i really dont want to bother with tubular tires, glue and everything.

Can i buy a set of clincher rims and have them laced to the Cane Creek Volos hubs and spokes?

If not, i guess i will just throw these wheels on the bay and use the money to buy a clincher set.

Thanks!

you would be better off selling the wheelset as is on CL or eBay. Then use the money + some cash to buy a new pair of clinchers. You'll spend that much anyways paying for rims and labor. and you'll be stuck with worthless used rims.

you probably could buy other rims and lace them up , but like the other response...sell them on ebay or CL and use that money toward another wheelset

i'd offer them as a trade for volos track clinchers, which are available and very similar.

There's always the option of learning how to mount tubular tires. It's actually pretty easy if you have someone show you. Don't let all the voodoo about tire-prep and stuff throw you off. Most of it is just superstitious stuff that doesn't apply anymore. (Some people will still swear that shellack is the best tire adhesive.)

I used to ride around in fear of my basetape separating or rolling a tire, but after all these years it's never happened to me, nor have I ever seen it happen to anyone else.

To mount a tubular tire:

- Take it out of the box. Inflate it to about 20psi. Note any leaks.
- Run a strip of Tufo Extreme Tape onto the rim.
- Pop the tire onto the rim.
- Line up the tread.
- Pump the tire up to about 60psi and remove the Tufo tape's backing foil.
- Pump the tire up to its running pressure of 100-120psi and you're good to go.

The whole process takes less time than it does to change an inner tube, even if you're really slow about lining up the tread. The tire is now welded to the rim and will not come off unless you wedge a tire lever under the tire and pry it off. As an added bonus you are now immune to pinch flats.

thanks for the info, but i think i will just stick to clinchers, lol :)

Damn... that's way easier then I thought!

It really is.

Tubies get a bad rap that is due mostly to unfamiliarity with the unknown, and the horror stories told by old veterans reminiscing of a time when tires were of poor quality and the consumer needed to do a lot of prep work to them.

There's a common method online that talks about taking four days to prep and mount a tire. If that were true, I wouldn't ride tubulars either. I've used the four-layers-of-glue method, but that doesn't take four days. It takes maybe two hours and an overnight letting the glue cure.

Tubular glue tape solves all of those problems and the quality of tires these days is second to none, with, of course, the exception of cheap-o tires (the Conti Podiums that come with the Bianchi Pista Concept are not cheap-o.)