Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
The theory on those tire savers is that they had minimal friction, but could knock bits of broken glass off of a tire before the glass was firmly imbedded in the tire.
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I have a clear memory or riding once with a friend who I rarely see, lives in a different city, and he still rides tubulars a bit even now. On this ride, behind him, I noticed him sometimes reaching back and with a gloved hand (it was fall, very cold) rubbing his fleece glove on the rear tire, essentially doing the same thing as you describe. Took me a minute to figure out what on earth he was doing, but that was it.