Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
Dude,
Give it up. You've been spouting this same line for years, with no acknowledgement of changing technology, or observable facts.
Well: here are the facts... out of thousands of individual stages ran by racers at the world tour level, less than a handful are run on clinchers. Tony Martin: maybe one stage per year? These occurrences are invariably flat solo time trials, where weight and safety are not critical. There are more stages run using disk brakes than clinchers, which is also close to zero.
Second fact is that tubular rims are and always will be lighter than clincher rims because they don't need the rim hooks/protrusions required to keep the tire on. There is no way for clinchers to catch up to tubulars. The weight spread is currently about 100 grams per rim, and if anything, with carbon rims, this weight spread has increased due to carbon tubulars being better at heat dissipation.
Finally, safety. We've all experienced rapid tire blowouts. With clinchers, this is a terrifying and usually unrecoverable experience. With tubulars, as long as you are not going sideways already (Beloki), it is a much more manageable and safe experience.
I'm not in the industry, so I don't have to flog product and false expectations to dentists. So here are the straight goods: the pros ride tubulars and always will.