Originally Posted by
jacks1071
I'm thinking of going Tubular - anyone else done it? The tandem has pleanty of area to strap a spare tyre onto. The tyre won't roll off the rim if you flat and the bike should be somewhat more manageable with a flat tubular than a flat clincher due to the tyre construction.
Anyone know who makes a 28mm tubular training/heavy duty tyre?
I've had four front flats at speeds in excess of 80kph (50mph) and haven't crashed yet(crosses fingers). One of those was on a 23mm tubular. To be honest I didn't notice any real difference in handling of the flat tires between the tubular and the clincher. None of those tires came off the rim though like Ritterviews did. I run Conti GP4000 tires, usually 25mm. The tubular was a 23mm Vittoria I believe. The thing that worries me with the tubular tires is that I had a (rear) tire roll off under braking after a long descent (on my single). I'm pretty sure I melted the glue under braking enough to allow it to come off the wheel when I hit the brake hard to avoid an accident. If I can do that on a single I'd really worry about it on the tandem if I didn't have a rear disk brake.
Zonatandem hit the nail on the head with "keep cool/calm" and keep a light grip on the bars. The bike is going to want to wiggle around but it will want to go roughly straight and upright. I will apply a little rear brake but you have to be careful with that.