Originally Posted by
Fat Boy
In thinking a bit more about this. It's a pretty big issue. I know it doesn't happen often, but it does happen consistently. It certainly wouldn't be allowed to exist in aircraft. Why hasn't anyone ever tried to remedy this situation? There needs to be some form of positive retention. It would only take 8-12 3mm socket head cap screws that go through the rim and then catch a small aluminum threaded receptacle in the base tape. Sure, you'd have a series of small (6mm) holes in the rim to put the cap screw through, but if you wanted, you could cover that with small bits of tape. I believe the total weight would be perhaps 75 grams or less.
You can say, "Well we've always done it this way and it works fine". I believe Lance (and, in reference to today's stage, Beloki) would disagree.
The secondary retention a of a tubular tire is the fact that when the tire is inflated, it expands. The ID of the tire tries to get smaller, so it constricts onto the rim. Try installing a tubular with no glue, then while the tub is fully inflated (~120-130psi), then try to get it off. Its possible for sure, but its MUCH harder than you would think.
As for lance, I think a crappy glue job is possible, but another thing to think about is that if he was going 40 mph, he was probably on the brakes a decent amount, heating up the rim and tubular glue. This could have contributed to the tire rolling off. I didn't see the crash, so I don't know what happened exactly though.