I rode standard (chevron) tread pattern Challange Grifo tubulars most of last season and recently picked up another spare set of similar chevron tread pattern Vittoria Evo XG in 34mm width. I rode a set of older model Vittoria evo XN 32 (semi file tread) on a couple of smoother courses, liked the speed they had but they only actually measured out around 30.5mm wide. Being a 200+ lbd rider, I really felt like I needed a wider tire carcass for floatation on softer surface and ability to run lower pressure for cusioning on rougher surfaces. THis winter I picked up a set of older model 34mm Grifo SX (semi-file tread). UCI 33mm width legality is not an issue for the local series I race and I cant wait to try out SX pattern when courses suite it.

I just visiting the Challange website and it looks like all of the current year 2012 tubulars are now (resized?) and all labeled as 33mm width, before the UCI width rule the offered their tubulars in either 32mm or 34mm width. When the Limus mud tire appeared last year, it was only offered as a 33mm and so looks like all the other tread patterns have done the same, no narrower options.

I have several sets of old box-section tubular wheelsets leftover from road racing 20 yrs ago, they seem to work well enough repurposed as CX wheels now but they all have standard 20mm width rims. I had one tire roll-off incident last year, definitly plan to do a more through job of glueing tires this year but I am debating if it is worthwhile to to replace my perfectly serviceable 20mm rims with wider 23mm major toms?