eurotrash666

tubulars/sew-ups on the street- pain in the a$$, or worth it?

colinm

I'll find out next spring, as I have committed myself to get tubulars on my Paramount - original equipment, so I feel I should.

Interested to hear what people say. Full time or weekend fun, ethier way.

marked001

ran em for awhile.. kind of a pain.. especially when my tire came totally unglued on the street one day now I have a flat in one of them and will probably be too lazy to ever change it

pitboss

best to use sew-ups on the track and use clinchers for the streets based on past conversations in here.

jfmckenna

Definitely a pain. Has excellent cool appeal though.

isotopesope

sewups are a great feeling ride, but i think your first flat while commuting might change your mind. i'd rather carry a tire lever and tube, then a spare tire or a tube of sealant. tufos makes a sealant that i've heard works super well for fixing tubular flats, but i've never used it.

i think sewups are best for racing applications or for road bikes you ride long distances on and that aren't your daily commmuter. i would just get some high quality clinchers instead. i have vredestein fortezzas and some continental attack/force tires and they feel great like tubulars. very responsive tires. the fortezza's are the grippiest tires i've ridden. they're light and have a flat resistant strip in them. plus, the max psi on them is 145. i've yet to try them, but tufos makes a tubular tire with clincher beads. i'm intrigued.

wildjim

I've rode tubulars for years. The most reliable tire to date for me is the Continental Sprinter. The most unreliable were Vittoria Tyres; although I rode more of them than the Sprinters.

The ride feel is very sensitive with tubular tires.

The highend tires will have latex tubes; which loose air at a fast rate, so you will be inflating the tires each day. However the ride feel is the finest. The Continental Sprinter is not in this category.

I pre-glue the spare tubular and fold it under the seat. Flat tire changes are faster than clincher tube repairs. The problem with tubular tires occurs when you have more than one flat per ride(unless you carry additional tires) The tubular tire must be unassembled patched and stitched if you choose to field repair the tube inside.

The clincher Tire/Tube repair has more flexability when multiple flats occur.

eurotrash666

thanks for the info, guys. i wanted to know because the majority of track bikes i've found for sale are set up with sew-up rims.

isotopesope

continental sprinters are my favorite sewups as well. i only use them on the track though.

wildjim

Concerning the Black Art of the Glue. I use Vittoria Mastik Glue. The glue does not dry hard and is applied to the rim and tire base. Let it dry until it becomes tacky then put the tire on the rim. The two glued surfaces will then form a contact bond. Inflate the tire to 25-30 lbs. then center the tire on the rim and fully inflate. It is said to let the glue setup the bond for several hours; but for casual rides I have never had a problem of tire comming off the rim when used immeadiatly. I use a plumber's flux brush to apply a thin layer of glue to the rim and tire; which avoids the problem of dripping glue getting onto clothing, tires or rims. The brush cost is about 25 cents each and is available at any hardware store.

Mr. Shadow

I run tubulars, Tufo tubular clinchers, and clinchers on my five fixies.
I love the ride quality of the tubbies. The Tufos use the sealant.
I'm having a Mavic OR 10 (330 gram) gold anodized tubular laced
to a Dura Ace track hub soon. Now I need to build up fixie number
six to go with it.

Ceya

Tubies are better. I used them as a NYC messenger for 15yrs. When I get a flat I can still ride them if I didn't carry a spare. If I go buy them at a store , I stretch ,put a little glue on them , put them on and out to make more doughnuts. Vittorias made in Italy were my best ones, Conti and Panasonic.

S/F,
CEYA!

vomitron

That's comforting. I bought a steel GT pursuit frame that takes a 24" in the front. Needless to say, finding rims/tires/tubes has been a pain in the balls for clincher.

However, there are a number of choices with tubulars. I haven't commited to the order for the rims yet (apparently, the only supplier with the 24" rim in black is in ****ing FLORIDA, and they were hit by the hurricanes, so I have to wait a few weeks), and I'm considering just telling the LBS to eat it, and just go with tubulars. I commute anywhere between 10-40 miles a day, which piddles in comparison to most messengers, some of whom I know run tubs, so it can't be THAT big of a deal. Plus, you can ride on a flat, so I can just keep the spares at home, right?

How long can you ride on a flat until it becomes a problem?

bostontrevor

Ok, I'm gonna bite. How the F is your commute between 10 & 40 miles? 30 miles is a pretty rounding error.

eurotrash666

you can ride sew-ups flat? won't that snakebite the guts all to hell?
i've heard some far-out stuff about the black art of mounting tubulars, like (but not limited to) pre-stretching, mounting without glue to 60.25 psi @ 72F, placing on a bed of sage and rosemary under the full moon (only) overnight, and rubbing with an annointment of clove oil and garlic whilst chanting in tongues before gluing. what gives? is that what it takes to mount true, even, and not roll off in a corner?

vomitron

Haha, yeah, sorry. I work with kids at an afterschool program 3 days a week, and at a program for kids with behavioral disorders the other 2. Twice a week, I go rockclimbing, which is actually about 6 miles from work (I thought it was more, and just checked at bikemetro.com...I guess I was wrong). So I guess it's really a static fluctuation between 10, 15 and 25 miles. But I guess when you throw in that I rarely if ever drive anywhere, it rounds out to about an extra 10 miles a day (LA is a big city).

How's that for a convoluted clarification?

Bikkhu

They are a pain, but I still ride 'em

If you do, use ENOUGH glue. And don't try to change a flat in rain , k ? And keep a pair of disposable gardening / surgical gloves handy until you master the gluein'

Bikkhu

Respect

:awe:

Ceya

Bikkhu, Thanks!

eurotrash666, No major problems with mine. Only some time if it rain and the valve will give problems but not really thing other than those above.

Just like the US Marines, tubulars are not for every body.
S/F,
CEYA!

mcahill844

I rode tubulars for years. The rim/tire combination is lighter than almost anything you can get with clinchers even today and they do have the 'cool factor'. However, I switched over because every flat became a maintenance project.

Its not that easy to fix the tire itself with all of the ripping and sewing base tape gluing. Some people have probably gotten pretty good at it with practice. But it probably took me at least an hour for that part and I wasn't always succesful. Then you have to clean up the rim and re-glue the tire. Again some people might be fast but that probably took me about a half hour. Which put me at about 90 minutes per flat via 5-10 minutes for a clincher.

pitboss

Is your bike named Chesty?

Ceya

No but my custom Keirin bike will now be named CHESTY.. What a Marine!!
S/F,
CEYA!

bikerchas55

I bought and renovated an Olmo from the early 80s and I decided to rebuild the wheels using the original tubular rims. The hubs were shot so I got some NOS C Record hubs on eBay to go with the rest of the C Record gruppo. I wondered if I was doing the right thing by going the tubular route but I am glad I did. I have been riding the bike for about 2 years now and I have more than 1 bike so the OLMO is for sunny days only. If you choose to go tubular do not mount it with cheapo tires like Vittoria Rallys or Conti Giros, they won't give you the feel you are after. I have seyttled on TUFO Hi Carbons. They are a bit pricey but wow what a feel. Don't go tubular if you only have 1 bike but if you have a vintage sunday ride like a paramount or classic italian stallion go for it! If you have clips and straps and Detto shoes, wool jerseys and shave your legs.... you just won't appreciate your bike as much without riding tubulars.
From a confirmed retro grouch