Originally Posted by
Dave Mayer
I don't think you understand what a tubular tire is, and why the tubular rim is superior in every respect to a clincher rim, hookless or tubeless otherwise.
The advantage in the tubular SYSTEM is not the tire but the RIM. The tubular rim has no hooks at all, the key advantage because hooks of any size or configuration add weight at the worst place on a bike, they are fragile, cause pinch flats and do not conduct braking heat well.
If given a support vehicle (pros), nobody would ever want to be on clinchers whether hookless, tubeless or tubed. The rim design is fundamentally inferior in terms of weight and strength, and it is less safe.
Don't know if you were around and racing in the 1980's, when high-performance wired-on/clincher tires began to be a significant presence in the market, but almost all of the racers I knew who had used tubulars exclusively for years (since 1964, in my case) had switched to, e.g., Specialized Turbo/S clinchers by 1990 or so.
I hung on to tubulars longer than many of the others, but I eventually switched, too. Flatting two tubulars simultaneously 30 miles from home while carrying only one spare tire is probably what pushed me over the edge. I'd have flatted both clinchers, too, but I'd have been able to replace one tube and patch the other.
We had one guy working in our shop back then who was aiming to be chosen for the national road team. I only learned that he, too, had switched to clinchers when I overheard him speaking dismissively of Turbo/S tires to a customer: "I only get three or four weeks out of a Turbo/S!"
I asked him (for the benefit of the customer, really) how many miles he rode per week.
"Between 500 and 550."