marqueemoon

I picked up a tubular wheelset a few days ago. Got a good deal but they came with no extras. I snagged some skewers on craigslist already, but I still need everything else.

tires: Continental Sprinter Gatorskins (I've seen kind of mixed reviews of these. I need tough more than light/supple, but nothing too terribly expensive since I'll need to get a spare at the same time). I'm a strictly recreational rider and usually ride solo so puncture resistance is more important to me than a supple ride or saving a few grams.

valve extenders: Tufo? - Recommended by a local shop. Seems like a smart design, but I'm not sure what else is out there.

pads: Swissstop yellow? - The braking surface is carbon. I will be switching back and forth with alu wheels. I don't mind switching pads back and forth if that will give me better pad life/stopping power though.

tape/glue: ? - For my needs glue seems like the better choice. The shop guy was telling me taped tires were a real hassle to remove, which I'm sure I will eventually have to do 50 miles from home on the side of the road.

other stuff: Pitstop?, prepping/gluing tools?

Comments?

orcanova

Watch these videos several times. Since your rims are new you don't need to scrape off the old glue. I think you should stick with glue for carbon rims. Its not that hard, it just requires an hour or two of your time for a few days in a row, and then you should be set for the season.

https://www.velonews.com/tubular

marqueemoon

Thanks. Great link. It was actually those videos that convinced me to give this a shot in the first place.

woodduck

vittoria mastik is a good glue. Once you have doen a few and have a method of your own it's pretty hassle free.

Please try other tyres other than the sprinters. I am sure they will be ok for the price and puncture protection but there is much nicer tyres you can use.

veloflex are not too hard to find, make several different tyres and the price is good for how they ride.

The sprinters are a basic tyre. You have the nice wheels now and they should last ages, you should treat yourself to some real nice tyres along the way.

Fox Farm

Having used Conti glue and Sprinters and for the past 4 years Tufo tape and Elite tires, I find the tape to be much easier to apply/install and the Turo tires to be much more true (round) and smoother rolling. Use the extenders and actually the Tufo sealant puncture filler stuff is also a good thing to use. Tip, remove the presta valve first, add the Tufo sealant, then install the valve. I think that you will like Tubulars. They get a bad rap because they are not as easy to change out as the new good day modern clinchers. This criticism is not completely unwarranted, but I think that people make a bigger deal out of it that it really is. I have not had a tubular flat in the 6 years that I have been riding them. I have heard about people who put a new pair on, go about 2 blocks and BAM! they are flatted out. That has not been my experience. I also use good quality tires and not $23 tubular tires. Actually, my space that I carry is a Schwable, paid $28 for it. The Tufos are more in the $60 range each. Check out https://www.worldclasscycles.com/ for tubular tires.

Rob P

If it's your first set of tubulars I would pick up the pitstop, you might get very frustrated on your first flat.

You can't go wrong with sprinters, and the swiss stop pads are amazing.

mp123

Thumbs up on the Swissstop Yellows on carbon rims. They work great, all of the other carbon specific pads I tried made horrible squealing sounds on my rims. They're well worth the (somewhat breathtaking) price.

merlinextraligh

And you chose tubulars to meet this criteria?

cuski

Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking....

tjspahr

Just picked up Vredestein Fortezza Tricomp Pros for about $60/tire. I have to assume that they are close to the Conti's in price. Picked up the Zipp brake pads (Kool Stop). Agree Mastik One is supposed to be great, heard marginal thing regarding carbon rims and Continental glue. Tubasti is supposed to be very good as well.

Johnny Rad

YMMV: You may have to toe-in your pads to reduce / eliminate brake squeal.

marqueemoon

Thanks all. Please keep them coming.

As for the wisdom of doing this in the first place, point taken. This is my first effort to put together anything remotely resembling a light bike by today's standards. Not worried about the weight penalty from heavier tires. As for ride quality, you should see what I commute on. Trust me. Anything would be an improvement.

I got the wheels pretty cheap. If they don't work out it's not too big a deal.