Originally Posted by
cyclezen
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good question. the real solution for tubular flats on the road, while riding is Change The Wheel... If you get a flat on a tubular, its a total PITA... When/if you get the flat tire off, putting on a 'spare' (complete tire) does nothing to guarantee that the tire won;t 'roll' with the slightest side force... The existing glue on rim is usually not tacky enough to assure any grip. If you're in the middle of any ride, you need to baby the ride back, or until you can get a proper wheel change... Putting on fresh glue won;t allow proper grip - it usually takes overnight for the glue/tire adhesion to set and be useable.
I tried some 'grip tape' for putting on a spare - on a training ride -, back when tape came out - I can warrant that move is a total FAIL!
Every race - BITD - there was 'bike inspection' - and the primary inspection was for 'tire adhesion ... there was the guy who could tear telephone directories in half (anyone not sure what that is ???) and they would try to roll the tire off the rim... with their thumbs... the really serious testers would test using their palms ! Once you 'fail' - don;t both bringing that wheel back for the re-test, it would certainly fail again.
and tubular cement and putting on a tire can be a very messy thing - an initiation which most all tubular neophytes will experience.
If one had any kind of 'support'/team, there were always spare wheels, with the proper freewheel range... Team mechanics always checked wheels and replaced worn tires right after a 'stage', to have it really for use the next morning...
sewups are a PITA, unless you are on a team...
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I rode tubulars exclusively year round for 20 years. Race wheels got glued with one of the "hard" glues; Clement of the like. The rest with Tubasti. Road changes with Tubasti were not that hard to do and it kept enough stick, even after months, that the spare would bed down and be on pretty well by the time you got home. I'd ride gingerly the first few miles and refrain from criterium corners until I had a glued tire back on but the changed tires weren't dangerous as long as I kept that in mind.
And that system had a great safety factor. For years, bikes were my only wheels. I found myself i less than desirable neighborhoods. sometimes because they were by far the fasted way to get to where I wanted to go. Loved knowing that if I flatted, I'd be on my way in not much over 5 minutes. I didn't have to take the time to get anything "right". I could ride off with the tire on crooked, lopsided and it still worked. I could out-ride thieves on foot on this poorly mounted tire. That kind of sloppiness simply doesn't work with innertubes. (And those tires were far easier to change in rain, snow, poor light, inebriated, tired ... No skill or attention required at all. In my twenties, I did all of those.)