Tufo Tubular Clincher Tires
 

Anyone using these tires..? They are tubular,however mount on a clincher rim..!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For people who don't like *real* tubulars?

I have no idea about that, i bought them just for the heck of it and try them out..Had them onsale for about 80.00USD...

You'd get rid of pinch flats, if that has been a problem for you. They would ride like tubulars but with the weight burden of the heavier clincher rims. Sealant would be very effective in these as their are in the Tufo Tubulars. I don't know (haven't checked) to see how the weight compares to a clincher plus tube.

Bottom line, I think this would be more reliable than a clincher tire/tube combination if run with sealant and you could get a better ride out of it too.

J.

No, but I am waiting for a set of their sewups to arrive. Not sure I'd like to try the clinchers yet.

My wife races with them. Racing for the US National Triathlon Team she took 4th place at the World Championships in Chicago last year in her age group, >65 (Her domestique was pretty proud.). She was first in on the bike leg. The bike had 21mm f and 23mm r.

I’ve read accounts by riders more knowledgable than myself that claim there are clinchers that have lower rolling resistance but rolling resistance is not always the determining factor in triathlons. They feel and ride like tubulars. They are perhaps safer in a racing situation. No chance of a tire rolling off the rim and they can be ridden while flat. They can be inflated to ridiculously high pressures - the 21 is rated at 200+ psi and they hold their pressure it seems like for weeks. That can be a big deal at tri events where bike sometimes have to be checked in at remote transition sites 24 hours before the race. If you get a flat you squeeze some special latex like liquid in through the valve and hit the tire some CO2 and you're off and riding. Don’t have to remove the wheel.

On the other hand they are expensive and much of the racing world seems to drifting to tubeless clinchers. Tubular/clinchers are definitely not for commuting but they would work for gran fondo type charity rides.

But why not just build with tubular rims and then use conventional tubulars?

I've got nearly 1,000 miles on a pair of red Tufo tubular clinchers and I like them a lot. I run 25mm on the rear and 23mm on the front with Orange Seal sealant. On 6800 rims the 25mm is nearly 28mm.

I ordered one by mistake once- seemed heavy.

I've read that they are quite difficult to mount.

I think the point is that you can get tubular like reliability and performance without having to get a new set of wheels.

If you are getting new wheels the absolutely get tubular wheels. With the new tapes (no gluing) and the terrific tires (Clement LGG) you can get wheels that weigh less/same and perform better in Al rims at half the price for carbon clincher rims.

You can still damage the edges of the clincher rim, hitting stuff.

I had a pair and they were impossible to mount. Also, you can't fold them like conventional tubulars, so you can't carry a spare to change if you get a flat. So, if the sealant fails you have to break out the cell phone to get rescued. I got rid of mine, and now just use clinchers, which are just as good as tubulars IMO.

My point about this is yes, if it holds air and does not fall off then it is a tire and it does have tubular construction, and therefore one can ride the bicycle. But in past threads the performance of such tires has not been well-thought of, with poor complance/ride quality, hard to mount reliably, and poor rim protection. I also tend to doubt that 1-G cornering forces are going to be held by the little rubber bead features; seems flimsy. Give me glue, tape, or real beads.

It is a tubular, but it's not a very good tubular. If you get some for free, fine. But it's not something one should spend money on in general. better would be to just get set up for a real tubular, or get the latest Michelin clincher race tires in your preferred size.

It's all technique. My first Tufo came very close to ending up in the pool after wrestling with it for an hour. I can remove the old tire, mount the new tire and add sealant in about ten minutes. Watch the YouTube video from the link on the Tufo website.

I cut the rear tire on glass when it only had about 100 miles on it. The cut was more than an inch long and emptied all of the sealant. I rode home several miles on the flat tire.

1. A good reason for tubulars is just tradition. If you love the gluing and the folding and the look, that's good enough. Tufos don't provide this.

2. The reliability of tubulars seems exaggerated to me - they're slightly less susceptible to pinch flats, probably more susceptible to punctures. Tufos appear to have an advantage here.

3. The "riding on flat tire" thing is way exaggerated - maybe you won't ruin the rim, but you won't have any traction. I've ridden on a flat clincher cuz I didn't have any other option - didn't ruin the rim on my urban bike; I probably wouldn't have tried it on my light rims.

4. I don't know what the ride quality is like with the Tufo beaded tubulars, maybe that's a reason to like them.

The "ride" I described in the previous post was very slow and on flawless pavement. The Tufo is very thick and the rim was never exposed. I watched the flat tire the entire ride expecting it to walk off of the rim and it did not. I would not descend Mt. Diablo on a flat Tufo, lol.

For me the primary advantages for tubular wheels/tires are weight reduction and the rounder profile of tire. Without weight reduction, Tufo's unique approach loses appeal for me.


The fact that no other manufacturer has produced a similar type product is also a major downside and an indication the industry has reservations. The concept of a better tire for all those clincher wheels is worthy, credits to Tufo.


I should buy some expensive clinchers to see how they roll compared to my tubies. Also haven't tried the wider clincher wheels.

I dunno, maybe it was. I've been around long enough to not put the slightest faith in manufacturers' advertised weights of anything associated with cycling. But remember, compared to a regular clincher a Tufo tubular-clincher is like the tire, the tube and the rim tape all in one.

Oh, boy - tubular-clinchers, tubeless clinchers/rims, veloplugs, graphene, sealants, CO2, supple sidewalls, mega-tpi, Mariposa tape...what jolly fun. We've come a long way since single tube tires and even those heat vulcanized patches.

Agree. The primary advantage is it's tubeless construction that works really well with sealant. That would bring increased reliability as it's primary benefit especially if you didn't have tubeless capable clincher rims.

J.

Please tell me where I can purchase $90.00 USD Tires "For Free" as I sure prefer that over paying $90.00 for them..

Sorry, too late - I donated my last box of 50 of them two weeks ago. Now you'll just have to pay full price for a tire which is not a good tubular nor a good clincher - all the mediocrity of the world in one premium priced product! What a great value proposition!!! Lol!

Being that this is the 50+ group I think the following analogy will make some sense to most folks. I see tubular/clinchers as the Betamax of the bicycle tire world. I pretty sure the industry is heading towards tubeless clinchers (the VHS) as the go fast, puncture resistant racing tires. (If there are any millennials looking in and need some Beta/VHS explanation send me a message.) The Tufos T/Cs have a lot going for them but the big bike tire companies seem to be putting their R&D$ elsewhere. Even Tufo seems to be hedging their bets and have come out with the Calibra line of lightweight racing clinchers.

But in defense of T/Cs let me answer a few of the questions and detractions. They are not hard to mount but like tubulars the technique differs from clinchers. Certainly much easier than gluing on standard tubulars. Their air pressure retention is phenomenal and that can be a big deal for triathlons where bikes often have to be check in the preceding day with no access to your bike until your first transition on race day. They can be ridden when nearly flat or completely flat just like tubulars. They don’t require CO2 or compressed air to seat them to the rim. Like tubeless tires they can be used with sealing fluid but don’t have to be. Changing tires to match the riding conditions is a no fuss no muss proposition. That includes changing out to standard clinchers.

Your last box of 50 of them..? I think your full of you know what...? Have you ever bought a single one or you just passing hearsay you read on the web..? I bought 8 of them and will be quite please with them..

I have decades of experience with conventional tubulars since about 1970, and no direct experience with the tubular clinchers. I've owned one pair of Tufo tubeless tubulars, and they self-destructed within 200 miles (valve attachment issues).

As far as tubular clinchers, I've seen them off and on since sometime in the '80s but they were not Tufo or Barum (a Tufo brand back in the day). My local shops in Denver did not recommend them, so I didn't make the jump.

No, I have never owned a tubular clincher and I never said I did. I also never said I got them for free or could say where to get them free. I tried to indicate my opinion (based yes on having read threads) that I don't think they are worth paying for. You seem to have misinterpreted that opinion. If you bought 8 at whatever price, I wish you the best of luck. It will be good to see your actual experience - I hope it will change my opinion. But I would not have done it. I already have tubular tires and tubular wheels for them. And the experiences I can read on-line are not positive enough.

So far not all the actual experience communicated in this thread has been positive but I'll leave it to you to tally up the results. But as far as I recall that was true in similar discussions during my time here. My thing about the box of 50 was irony, yes, it was not true. Sometimes people do that to make a point.