Hey, no charge for the lesson!

Yeah, I’ve dealt with bike shop employees who were unfamiliar with tubulars too.

I have to laugh.
True story -
Was in a rather large, familiar bike shop a few months back and noticed a new poster w/ a lot of writing on the walls (at eye level) in several spots - two in the tire section. It was a detailed poster showing (almost) all the tire sizes and the various nomenclatures for each. Only a couple of images for reference.
Upon checking out I said to the store-manager-looking-guy, "Thanks for trying to keep all us dumb customers clear about the tire sizes we need?" He replied, "Training tool for new employees!" He paused, then mumbled audibly, "and translation guide for the experienced ones." I could only chuckle and reply, "me too, thankfully tubulars are one diameter". Then he said, "We need a bigger one (chart) for wheels and all brake combos".

I had to put my clincher wheels on the vintage bike last week after this terminal tire cut. I've got a half-dozen nice tubulars hanging in the garage but I'm about ready to switch to my summer bike and hang this one up for the season.
Latex tube, slow leak, Stan's didn't stop it.

Last year I spotted a set of mid-90s Mavic Cosmic wheels on CL (8-10 speed freehub). While not vintage they'd make a nice upgrade for my '93 R500 Cannondale and the price was less than $100. I couldn't tell from the picture as to whether they were clinchers or tubulars, so I asked in an email, "Are the rims for clincher tires or tubular tires?" The answer came back, "I used these on my Tri-Bike and they are tubulars."

So I drove the 1.5 hours to pick them up, excited that I found such a nice set of modern tubular wheels for my C-Dale! As soon as the seller brought them out from the garage, and without me even holding them, I said, politely, "Wow! Those are nice looking wheels, but those are clincher rims with clincher tires." The owner, who was a professor at a nearby state university, assured me, "Oh, no! This is a tubular wheelset. One of the best you could buy in the 90s!"

Well, I bought them anyway. For $75 I felt it was a good purchase. I departed without deflating the tire to reveal the bead nor did I pull up an image of tubular on my phone. The good professor continues to live in his tubular ignorance!

Well, that really is tutally tobuler.

I loved the "TUBES" Smash or Trash Album circa 82 maybe........

This little tool is super handy

Yes it is. But it still doesn't allow a 700C tire to be mounted onto a 27" rim.

He probably thought you were asking whether or not they were tubeless.

Maybe!

If I can't fit or remove a tire with my hands and a basic lever, then that tire or rim will be gone before the bike's next ride. I can't be fished into having a tool for every non-toleranced component. If my finger/hand strength fails me, then OK. and thanks for the recommendation.

this is a clincher tire tool, another very good reason for tubulars!!!

There be some superb "toleranced" tires which are tight on some superb "toleranced" rims. The tires eventually loosen up to what some people would consider normal, but even so, a tool like that is a wonderful thing to have handy. Plus they make pinch flats from tire irons nearly non-existent.

I can buy into everything you say - but to what good purpose? Making ill-fitting combinations of tires& rims fit? Balderdash!!!

Find me a proper fitting tire for this rim/wheelset. Please! A sturdy, touring rim. Maybe this 700c DOES fit 27” tires. Haven’t tried that.

had those rims on the torpado i used to have..... diidn't have any problems with 700c tires.....don't remember brand/model..... but I have had tires that took a tire jack to get on.....if that happens, let them sit for a few days and then do a simulated flat on the road and if I can't get them off easily, then put differnt tires on

...but, but, but.....

this is the Totally Tubular thread.
I see no further point in clincher problem-fixing with kludge (but effective) solutions.

Yeah, and now it's a sticky thread too!

BTW, tubulars fit just fine on 700c clincher rims for stretching purposes. I don't keep my worn out tubular rims but I always have a spare clincher wheel hanging from the rafters for stretching tubulars, and clinchers, and for QC on patched tubes.

Good point, never tried it though because I've always had a spare tubular rim sitting around.

Tubulars fit on a 700c clincher rim well enough to ride when the situation requires it. I mentioned this in a different thread (I think) a few years ago, but I'll mention it again. I was commuting home one afternoon and came upon another cyclist stopped with a flat on the rear. He was trying to flag down a car but it was a bad location where, to put it mildly, ain't nobody gonna' stop there. He had no spare or patch kit, apparently had considered neither the possibility of a flat nor many of the other practicalities of riding. He was hoping to get to a bike shop just a few miles away, an easy ride and mostly significantly downhill. I had a spare tubular so I mounted in on his clincher rim, pumped it up to a reasonable pressure, warned him not to corner or brake too hard, and followed him to the bike shop where he gave me my tire back. Since then I've usually carried a patch kit on my tubular-tired bikes. It's kinda' like carrying a flashlight on a sunny day but you never know when you might meet someone who's still in the dark.

I've also used a tubular tire on a clincher rim in an emergency to get me to a bicycle shop. I've done that when the clincher tire was too badly damaged to use safely even with a boot.

Cheers

Great! But why were you carrying a tubular tire on a bike with clincher wheels? This a story worth telling, I am sure.

Since I discovered that a tubular tire will fit on a clincher rim I often carry a spare tubular in case a clincher gets ruined. I also carry a spare tubular when on an organized ride so that I can give it to anyone who needs a tire.

When I rode the bike with the tubular tire on the clincher rim to the bike shop the guys working there were quite surprised that it was able to be done.

Someone on these forums said that one should watch for chafing of the tubular tire by the rim of a clincher wheel if riding a tubular tire for any great distance. I've never had any problems with the distances I've used.

This using a tubular tire on a clincher rim came about one day when I went to ride my bicycle and discovered a very large bulge in the tire due to having it a wide gap in the road the day before and severely damaging the clincher tire on it. That tire was ready to blow so in desperation I tried putting an old spare tubular tire i had here on it. It worked and I was able to ride to the bike shop and get a new tire.

Cheers

All this "clincher" diversion has diluted "totally tubular" with confusing and distracting concepts which are infecting the health of this thread with a deadly virus.

Don't you all know that we are in a pandemic--- and clinchers and tubulars MUST social distance from each other by at least two meters!?! (keeping this metric) Thus a tubular cannot be mounted on a clincher!

The next thing someone will suggest that if clinchers are scrubbed with antiseptic and bathed in powerful UV light they can be installed on tubular rims.

Wow a lot of that applies today...the mounting method is almost identical to what is listed on yellow jersey

Yes, I concur.

Tubular only, totally.

I have not seen Lennard Zinn's comments from VeloNews.com posted here.

Hopefully not a copyright violation.
Go VeloNews, Go VeloNews! (I feel guiltless now)

First the 'Finally,' (meaning = final paragraph) - for short attention spanners:

Lennard
"Finally, tubular rims, by eliminating the bead walls, are not only lighter than clincher rims of similar stiffness and strength, but their edges are also much less likely to get dinged or cracked when impacting bumps with the same tire diameter and pressure."

On taping Lennard says
"Taping tubulars onto rims is quick; I’m sure I can do it as quickly as I can mount a clincher and inner tube or tubeless clincher. I’m so confident in Carogna tape, even with these giant 40mm tubulars at low pressure, that I’ll probably never again use the many full cans and tubes of tubular glue I have."

The heart of the matter: Lennard says
"There can be little question that the non-vulcanized casing with a super-high thread count of a top-quality tubular will be more supple than any vulcanized casing with inherently lower thread counts (thicker casing threads) that tubeless tires have, and the thin latex inner tube inside of the tubular is unlikely to reduce its suppleness to that of the tubeless tire casing. Casing suppleness means low rolling resistance; the thinner individual threads in the tubular that are not bonded as tightly to adjacent threads are able to deflect rapidly to road surface anomalies and hence not cause the entire wheel, bike and rider to be lifted as much over them, costing more energy. I remain convinced that if the best handmade tubular had the low rolling resistance tread strip of some of the fastest-rolling clinchers and tubeless tires, that it would roll faster than any other tire, save perhaps for a “handmade”, “open-tubular” clincher made of the same materials and construction methods as the tubular, with the same thin latex tube inside and without the glue bond to the rim that perhaps could be costing the tubular some energy.

On Blow-Out protection - Lennard says
"Even in the event of a high-speed blowout and immediate loss of all pressure, a well-glued tubular tire won’t come off of the rim, while some clinchers will. Tubeless tires on a tubeless rim with a bead-lock ridge should stay mounted better than most clinchers upon rapid deflation — though still not as well as a well-bonded tubular."

And the part of the puzzle I swear I can sometimes feel on a smooth, curvy road.
Lennard says
"Furthermore, nothing will change the fact that the cross-section of an inflated tubular is round, while that of a clincher is bulb-shaped, so tipping it from edge to edge while cornering will be smoother and more predictable with the tubular. "

Go Lennard