Originally Posted by Trakhak

Looks like you're saying that you'll order tubular tires and are planning to get (700c, not 27") clincher wheels and tires at some point.

Might be a good idea to bring one or both wheels with you to the store, to ensure that they order the correct tires.

In addition to ordering at least three tubular tires (including a spare), order tubular glue too, since very few bike shops stock it.

Tubular tires are available in a wide price range, from training-weight tires at around $40 to a couple of hundred bucks.

The cheap ones are heavy and will probably look a bit crooked after you glue them on the rim.

The more expensive tubulars are hand-assembled and usually go on the rim pretty straight.

They're also the tires people have in mind when they talk about the "magic" ride of tubulars. Inexpensive tubulars ride no better than clinchers in my experience.

While you're waiting for the tires to arrive, watch some videos that detail the gluing procedure.

In case the videos don't mention these tips:

---Before you pick up the tires, have the bike shop inflate the tires to about 3/4 of full pressure (e.g., to 70 psi or so) to check whether they leak.

---Leave them inflated at that pressure for 24 hours or so at home, to check for slow leaks. Best to do that off the rims; distributors won't take back leaky tubular tires under warranty if they have any rim glue on them.

(Note: you'll probably buy inexpensive tubulars with butyl tubes sewn in the tires, but if you buy the more expensive tubulars, they might have latex tubes, which lose pressure faster than butyl.)

---If the tires hold air, stretch them onto the rims (hope you have strong hands and/or the videos offer tips about installing the tires) and follow the video instructions for gluing.

You'll probably get various opinions about which glue is best, whether to use solvent to remove the old glue before applying the new, how much glue is needed, how long to let the glue set. etc. For your first tubular installations, I'd err on the side of caution.

Originally Posted by SJX426

What @Trakhak stated + read the Totally Tubular - Bike Forums
I would add that if you get the low cost tubulars, be careful about how you stretch them. Don't treat them like a rubber band but try to distribute the stretch around the tire. The reason is a possibility of inducing a bulge in the tire. I think it has to do with tread count. The lower thread count, the less costly. My preference is 320 thread count.

Originally Posted by Mvcrash

There are no markings on the rims or tires which indicate size. The rim is Mavic and has a stamp “Mavic Sport” and the tire has “Falcon.”

Originally Posted by Mvcrash

I was at the bike shop today, the original Mavic rims are 27x1.25 tubular tires. This seemed to have been an issue.

Originally Posted by well biked

Here's Sheldon's take on the existence of 27" tubulars, along with other bits of info regarding tubular sizing. Are you sure about the rims being 27" instead of 700c?

"Standard size tubular tires use a rim that corresponds in diameter to a 622 mm (700C) clincher rim.

Back in the 1970s, 622 mm clinchers were very rare in the U.S., and most sporty bikes used either 630 mm (27 inch) clinchers, or standard (622 mm) tubulars.

The fact that these sizes are so close led to an in-accurate habit of referring to "27 inch" tubulars. This careless nomenclature still causes confusion, and people often imagine that there is a different "27 inch" size in tubulars as there is in clinchers.

This is not true. THERE IS ACTUALLY NO SUCH THING AS A "27 INCH" TUBULAR.

All full-size tubulars fit all full-size tubular rims.

There are smaller tubulars, "26 inch", "24 inch" and even smaller, but those are VERY uncommon, mainly used for children's race bikes, which hardly exist at all in the U.S. The smaller sizes are very poorly standardized; tires and rims of nominally the same size may not fit one another."

Originally Posted by Mvcrash

My intention was to replace the very old tubular tires that came on the bike AND buy a new set of clincher rims/tires to use to ride.

I was at the bike shop today, the original Mavic rims are 27x1.25 tubular tires. This seemed to have been an issue.

Originally Posted by Mvcrash

Seems that I’ll need to find another bike shop that is more familiar with vintage bikes AND has a 7mm Allen wrench.

thanks for all the input. At this point, I’m thoroughly confused. Any vintage bike mechanics in the eastern PA area, give me a shout.

Originally Posted by Trakhak

You're confused because well-meaning people are giving you way too much information.

All you need to know:

Your bike's wheels take tubular tires.

Those tubular wheels use the size of tubular tire that has been used on 99.9% of tubular wheels over the years.

Some manufacturers label the tubular tires 27", some 28", some 700c. Those three are all the same size.

Since your bike shop let you down, do what many of us do, and buy from the long-running, highly respected Yellow Jersey bike shop online.

Here's their Three Tubular Tires for $85 deal. (Don't forget to order glue, too.)

You even get a choice of tire colors:

2025 : Natural Tan Side or All Black new fresh tubulars