I have had good luck in the past with tubulars... sometimes generating good will by offering them for free in the past on this Forum.
I live close to the 401 highway about 50 km (30 miles) east of Toronto, (The City Drake Made Famous) and I have picked up a few Holdsworth relics over the years that came to me with decent Mavic tubulars installed.
Right now I have this relic, with good useless Mavic rims with flat tires.
If it were not for this Covid-19 pandemic, I'd consider offering them to whomever can pass by and pick them up to use them.
Not holding air...

Binky

If they have removable valve cores, have you tried squirting some Stan's Tire Seal into them? Of course, "Not holding air" is all relative. Latex tubes lose air all by themselves, no leaks required.

I never thought of that.
I do have a gallon jug of green Slime sealer. I'll give it a shot.
Maybe these tires can be rejuvenated so at least who ever buys the bike can take it for a test ride !!

Thanks again.

slime is horrible...even if you have it
stans, orange seal or what has been best for me coffeelatex

Is any shop selling Veloflex Vlaanderen at a good price?

There's often someone selling them for about $60. Google tells me that starbike.com (whoever that is) has them for $58.86 at the moment.

Thanks. That’s a pretty good price but, unfortunately, they don’t seem to have free shipping to US. Interestingly, if I upped order from 2 to 4 tires, shipping dropped about a third but didn’t budge if I went to 6 tires (just to see).

That was just the first vendor I noticed in the $60 ballpark. Dive a little deeper into the Google search results for "Veloflex Vlaanderen". I'm sure something will come up with better shipping.

I've been searching for a list of tubulars with latex tubes but it's not going well. I know veloflex uses latex tubes and some vittoria. It's hard to find out which models. Does anyone know the brands that use latex? They seem to feel the best. Has anyone tried a dugast? I can't switch over from Italian to English on their website. Much appreciated. Thanks

Right and I’m sorry, I wasn’t really expecting anyone to do the digging for me, I just thought maybe somebody already had a line on a good buy. I think most of my best buys on tubulars have originated from tips on BF. It is how I got introduced to Veloflex in the first place. I even thought maybe someone would suggest another good alternative that I wasn’t even considering? My tires are getting a bit thin! Merlin, who I’ve used for veloflex before, seems to have some good prices on Vittorias. Has anyone ridden Vittoria Corsa G+ Isotech? They are available in 28 or 30mm and I think Merlin ships free (or did)? Thing is, I know I like the Vlaanderen.

These are "sort of" available again!

pastorbobnlnh , did you ever get your second tire? Was it tan wall like the first?

(I ordered a pair of these way back BC, but my order was cancelled. So I tried again, and that and subsequent attempts were all cancelled. Then, the product disappeared altogether. However, I'm nothing if not persistent, and mysteriously, they presented yesterday, albeit "back ordered". so I am trying once again. They are a couple of bucks less now, and shipping is like $18 for the first one, but only $6 for each additional tire in the order. My total with tax for two came to ~$78.)

I have ridden both of these. The Corsa seems to pick up more junk from the road on the tread. This is even more true when wet. I still love them even though I had one flat (no biggie as they get lots of miles). These are also more available than than the Vlaanderen—which became my most favorite tubie...did not pick up any road rubble at all. But I did slice a sidewall riding thru some debris from a construction zone. That ruined a brand new tire. Even though I will migrate to the Vlaanderen over time. Just harder to find at a good price.

Has any one tried the Michelin Power 28mm tubular tire? These look they would be nice.

Thanks. Do the Corsas have latex tube and removable core? Vittoria’s web page doesn’t say!?!? I guess I would assume so but...

Yes to both for Corsa G* and Veloflex. Have not ridden the Corsa 2.0 but would assume so.

Both the Corsa G+ 25 and 28 AND the Vlaanderen are delightful rides.

For context my other experiences were with older used tubulars (really small sizes!), really old clement 66 (came to me nos with a nos 74 ral international) which are really light save for race day type of tire which I thoroughly enjoyed using briefly but not long term —unobtainable now, and Tufos which had no feel and are now my spares only. For me Tufos feel like bricks compared to what I ride now.

I have a set of the tufo hi-carbon composites on one of my bikes. I didn't really like them at first the ride was a bit harsh. Kind of like the ride of most continental tires. But they are very susceptable to air pressure a few pounds here and there can make a big difference in ride quality. They are not latex inner tubes so you don't have to pump them up daily. And they are as tough as nails. But only available as a blackwall.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned the michelin pro 4's these are excellent tires and can be found at very good prices.

Thanks a lot. I just ordered a couple from Merlin. I agree that Vlaanderen are wonderful. One of the four I have finally bit the dust and a second will any time. The two, which were fronts, still have life. I just don't want to wind up having to pay MSRP for decent tires by waiting too long to order new tires.

I was asking about the Michelin Power tubular. I see where there was the Pro4 as well. In the USA these don’t seem to be as common. Some of the prices I have seen are ~80 USD to over $100.

Could you give a link link to where these are available at a better price?

I have this Chris King R45 11 speed hubset in silver 28f, 28r that I had laced up to Velocity polished Major Tom rims and they came out beautiful. I’m not planning on using them for cyclocross, just road. In a separate thread, a BF member said the rim base is too flat/wide for road tubulars. I’m bummed about this but plan to forge ahead and try some wider road tubulars and also try some double sided 3M tape to mount them.

I bought them a couple of years ago at either chain reaction or pro bike kit. They were on sale I think for $120 cad. a pair.

As best I know, I never have. I've been away from NH since mid-March, but I've not received any notification from Amazon saying that it shipped. I still feel as if I made out well in this instance.

is this tape designed for tubular installs? if not I would suggest get tubular specific tape..... if you are concerned about strength I am pretty sure tufo makes an extreme tape for CX and mountainbike use.

No it is not tubular specific but it comes recommended in a YouTube by “Caden” an Australian wheel builder who swears by this (generic version) of 3M double sided tape. I’ll double check the width and marking on the tape. In the video he explains the advantages of being able to position your tubular tire properly before peeling back the wax paper then inflating the tire.

As as far as my wider than normal Velocity Major Tom rims, I’ll try different tires and hopefully find some that are road specific that don’t end up with a gap at the base tape. 27 to 30 mm would be ideal and hopefully clear whichever frame I ultimately run these on.

I was just gifted a Major Tom wheelset - my first set of tubular wheels. I got them from a pretty intense cx racer, so they are shod with Clement PDX tires. I think the tires will work well for gravel and some moderate off-road riding, but I already have a couple pairs of clinchers that also fill that niche. So I would appreciate you keeping us posted with anything you come up with for more road-worthy tires that will fit the Major Toms. I’m pretty nervous about getting into the tubular world after spending so many decades not using them. I just really want to use these new wheels. Thanks!

this is the advantage of any tape probably, it is this way for Tufo which I used. It’s real slick way to mount. For me I also found it a big disadvantage when I had to change out an old one. The tape stuck so good it was extremely hard to remove a tire and I realized I would never be able to do this out on the road.

On the earlier comment on Pit Stop ... I tried a couple of cans of it. It sealed a slow leak once for a Tufo well, but on a Corsa tire after a flat it worked for a few rides but not for long, Same hole opened back up later so just unsewed it up and repaired it normal the old way.

A couple of beginner tubular questions:

Vermont roads--even paved ones, of which there are not many--tend to be rough. The narrowest clinchers I use are 28mm, so I'd like to start with some wide, relatively low-pressure tubulars. I can't see 22mm tires pumped up to 140 psi working out well for me. What's a good beginner option in a wide tire, preferably a butyl-tubed one?

Will tires of that width fit well on an early 70s rim that was probably designed with 22-24mm tires in mind? I can't give an actual width, because I don't have the wheels in hand yet.

Also, is anyone here riding on a set of Tufo HICC 28s? They seem to be reasonably priced--an important criteria for me--but I can't find much information about them.