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New to track Tubulars

Old 10-16-09, 09:48 AM
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New to track Tubulars

new to these, i'm currently building a set of wheels which will accommodate tubulars. any recommendations? I have been looking at

- Continental Tempo
- Tufo S3 Track
- Vittoria Pista Evo

I have no idea of the performance or quality difference between the 3 brands. Any input or recommendations of other tyres would be great. So far I'm leaning slightly toward the Conti Tempo's, just because I have good brand experience.

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Old 10-16-09, 02:07 PM
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Those are all pretty light weight- delicate tires

I am assuming that these are for "Race Wheels" and not training wheels...

knowing what track you will ride could help with getting you on the right tires.

I love the Vitt-Evo Pista,
but they wont even last an entire season as "Race only" tires on my disc... about half of my time on them was at Encino (rough) and the other half at ADT (super smooth)
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Old 10-16-09, 03:57 PM
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I ride at Alpenrose, OR. it's concrete and smooth surface condition yet transitionally bumpy. I'm really not sure how long tubies last but the wheels I am building are not super fancy, DA's to Campy alloy rims. I just want to get away from clinchers. My race season consists of racing twice a week for 3 1/2 months. My current set of clinchers, I could train on if need be.

Is there another brand / model of tyre you could suggest that is more durable.

Thanks for your help
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Old 10-16-09, 04:11 PM
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I like the Evo pistas, too, (racing at Home depot center, encino, san diego) but agree about the durability. When I was racing and training on them I'd go through about 6 tires/season (the training is mostly on home depot center, so it's pretty easy on tires). I had the regular vittoria pistas for one season on my training wheels, but didn't like them- like riding on truck tires.

Lately I've been getting Conti Stehers for training and some racing (durable and very sticky for riding relief), S3 pro (be careful with Tufo S3-- there are a zillion tires called S3 and only a few are good on the track), and still some Evo Pistas (they've gotten expensive though). I don't like the Tempos-- the rubber is very hard and slippery and not good for the Home Depot center track in my limited experience with them. They may be better on the concrete surface at alpenrose. They'd be my last choice of the 3. Among Conti tires I'd probably go Sonderklasse or Steher.

I don't have a lot of time on teh S3 pros, but they seem to have heavier rubber than the evo pistas. The really lightweight S3 (lite 135 and lite 145) are probably less durable, but the S3 pros seem ok, and stick well.
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Old 10-16-09, 04:29 PM
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Originally Posted by bitingduck
I like the Evo pistas, too, (racing at Home depot center, encino, san diego) but agree about the durability. When I was racing and training on them I'd go through about 6 tires/season (the training is mostly on home depot center, so it's pretty easy on tires). I had the regular vittoria pistas for one season on my training wheels, but didn't like them- like riding on truck tires.

Lately I've been getting Conti Stehers for training and some racing (durable and very sticky for riding relief), S3 pro (be careful with Tufo S3-- there are a zillion tires called S3 and only a few are good on the track), and still some Evo Pistas (they've gotten expensive though). I don't like the Tempos-- the rubber is very hard and slippery and not good for the Home Depot center track in my limited experience with them. They may be better on the concrete surface at alpenrose. They'd be my last choice of the 3. Among Conti tires I'd probably go Sonderklasse or Steher.

I don't have a lot of time on teh S3 pros, but they seem to have heavier rubber than the evo pistas. The really lightweight S3 (lite 135 and lite 145) are probably less durable, but the S3 pros seem ok, and stick well.
I'd second BD's comments. For someone new to track racing or even just new to track tubulars, I'd get the Steher or some good road tubulars such as the new Vittoria Evo Corsa CX II in all-black 21 mm width. They'll last forever, stick well, and serve you very well. You can get them for $60 at PBK. The Steher is an absolutely superb tire and just a little less than the Evo Corsa CX II's. I love the ride and stickiness. It's a bit fat for some close-clearance frames, and it's very tight to mount (not necessarily the first experience you want with tubulars). The difference in weight doesn't amount to that much between the tires mentioned here. Go first and foremost for reliability and for adhesion. Only black treads. Don't go too small (21 mm or larger). The Tufo S3 Pro is a good tire, not quite as sticky as the Steher or Vittorias but durable and puncture resistant; sadly it's no longer the low-priced deal it used to be. You can get a Steher for less.
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Old 10-16-09, 05:05 PM
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Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated, i'm going to look into getting some Conti Steher. I need sticky for Alpenrose.
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Old 10-16-09, 05:19 PM
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Funny!
I have the Stehers on my training wheels- I love them! I will say I have noticed some slippage at ADT.

Couple days ago I warmed up on my training wheels and felt the slip... Then when I put on my race wheels (evo pistas) i was amazed at how grippy they were...

I am not super attentive with cleaning the Stehers, and they have been on Encino a bunch! so it could be "operator error"!

here is a good deal on them- price includes Glue and Shipping... although I found I needed an extra tube for 2 tires (3 total)
https://www.worldclasscycles.com/mm5/...ry_Code=TWFGS9
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Old 10-16-09, 05:47 PM
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Veloflex Records. Very sweet hand-made tubulars. Nearly as light as the Vittoria Evo's but a ton more durable. Classy, classy tire. Little bit pricey, but so far they are really long lasting.

I've heard a lot of horror stories about Conti base-tape separation lately.
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Old 10-16-09, 06:21 PM
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My current and favorite tires for competition are a Conti Sonderklasse 165 23mm on my rear Zipp Disk and a Vittoria Crono EVO-CS 20mm on my front Zipp 404 (road). The front wheel serves double duty for road TTs. Both tires are very round and easy rolling, offer great traction as well as durability on my 44 degree wood track (Superdrome in Frisco) which also has a very abrasive surface (we love Tegaderm! ). They are not the lightest track tires, but unless you are doing world class record attempts, I doubt you'll notice the difference. I've used them extensively on concrete as well. For training, I just use Conti Sprinters. One final note, avoid the Conti Tempos, they totally suck! Poor traction, wear quickly, not round, basetape separates etc.
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Old 10-17-09, 01:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Baby Puke
Veloflex Records. Very sweet hand-made tubulars. Nearly as light as the Vittoria Evo's but a ton more durable. Classy, classy tire. Little bit pricey, but so far they are really long lasting.

I've heard a lot of horror stories about Conti base-tape separation lately.
I second that.
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Old 10-17-09, 08:01 PM
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Most of us up here (north of the boarder) are running Conti Tempo's. They are a light tire for sure but are a bit tougher than the Vittoria and usualy cheaper in my experience. The Tufo is a tough tire but tufo's feel like ****. The temp wears pretty good, has a bit of a file tread to it, but also rolls very fast.

The only thing I could recomend if you go with the Conti is that you either find somone who has glued tubulars their whole life and can do it so the base tapes wont eventualy come off the stitching. And that you inflate them on a dry rim and leave them to stretch out for a week or so before attempting to mount one. I find this helps 10 fold.

Zee Germans recomend you use their glue exclusivly witch I think is complete BS, but in the same breath I find that the Conti glue is one of the best ones on the market. No matter what tubular your mounting.
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Old 10-17-09, 10:14 PM
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Oops. Should have included Veloflex Records as well. Thanks for mentioning them. They have just enough extra rubber to act like an Evo Pista but with the longevity and puncture resistance. Extremely sticky. Only problem is that they tend to run $100 a tire. If you have an interest in some, we got a great deal on them at $80 and have a few extras. (That wasn't really a classified, was it?)

On the Stehers, we've not seen any base tape separation, unlike on many other Contis. Generally Conti has cleaned up their act and the horror stories are something of the past. They do have a rubber that collects dust which can make them slippery at times on a wooden track if you don't clean them off from time to time. If they've gotten to cure a bit for a couple months before use, they tend not to collect dust as fast and then don't stick.

On the Vittoria Cronos, note that they have the dust-collection problem in a pretty big way. Any number of riders on steep tracks, especially wooden ones, have had problems with them. This only has to do with that one model, not with the rest of the Vittoria line.
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Old 10-18-09, 12:26 AM
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I don't think I've noticed any tape separation problems with the Stehers (using Vittoria Mastik 1), but I have had the base tape separate when I go to remove the Evo Pistas (also glued with Mastik 1).

The Tufo S3 Pros have been pretty cheap at sdeals.com this summer-- it's worth checking there. The best price I've seen for stehers has been worldclasscycles as mentioned above.
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