Originally Posted by
Sharkbait
Hi everyone,
I have an old French racer, probably late 70s to early 80s and it has tubular tyres. I have had 2 punctures in the past 3 months and it is becoming expensive replacing the tyre everytime.
I'm thinking of putting clincher tyres on now but someone told me I cannot use the same wheels.
James
Clinchers? Clinchers may be appropriate for a utility bike used in delivering pizzas, but not on any high-performance machine.
Inject 20cc (20 grams) of Stan's sealant - per tubular. Stan's is about $20 for a pint-sized bottle. So this should last for years. You'll need to unscrew the valve cores. Buy an old frame pump at a bike Co-op and remove the head valve parts, and use this to inject.
This will fix, without you knowing it, 90% of the little pinprick flats that you are suffering from.
Stick with the tubies. Lighter, safer. And take inspiration from the Le Tour, where no rider has ever won on clinchers. Actually I don't think that any stage in the race has been ridden on clinchers - by any rider, ever, given the insurmountable performance advantage of tubulars.