charlesw

I recently inherited these rims from a friend. I'd love to toss these on an old frame

Should I sell these rims and get some low-priced clincher rims, or buy new tubs and tubular tires and make these work?

My main concern is cost- tubulars tend to cost more and I don't know how to "sew" the tubes into the tires.

Have any newbies here used/installed tubular tires? This whole "glue" thing seems like a large hassle.

-charles

sydney

Too much hassle for me.I bought a used bike once that had tubulars. Kept the bike for a while.Someone else got the tubulars.

charlesw

Thanks Sydney. I'm torn becuase they are pretty nice Araya rims, with really nice hubs inside too- suntour GPX.

Have any newbies out there taught themselves how to care for tubulars? I'd be interested to hear how it went.

53-11 alltheway

Never used straight tubular tires......

Didn't know you have to sew the inner tube into the tire (yeah...I know they are called sew-ups..just didn't know it was literal)

Tufo makes adhesive tape....so you don't have to mess around with messy glue.

HereNT

You can buy complete tires with the tubes already sewed in. Or you could just cut the hubs out and put new rims on.

I've got a set of tubular track tires, and never learned to change them. Now they're flat. Oh well. I might build them up again, since they just felt so nice on the road... Someday..

Fox Farm

There have been a few threads on this subject over the past few months so do a little archive searching to readup. Yes, tubulars cost more but they do tend to wear pertty well, ride very nicely, are safer if and when you flat out, and others will think that you are cool. I've not used the Tufo tape but rather the Continental glue. Tufo mades a sealant that you put in the tube, like tubless Mt. Bike tires, and they claim it will seal a hole up to 2mm is size. If you do some searching, you can get good $60 tires for close to half that price. Go to your LBS or speak with a club rider who can show you how to correctly mount the tires. There are also some good articles on the web or call Sheldon Brown to ask him. You aksed if you should just buy some clincher rims. By the time that you buy those rims, spokes and have the wheels built, you could have bought some very nice tubulars.

Most people who have not used tubulars are scared off with the idea of gluing them on. Don't be. Once you do it, you will be comfortable with the process and feel confident and skilled enough to show some one else. As for repairing one with a flat, I have not done this but the web article that I found about 5 years ago clearly explained how to do it.

Let us know what you chose to do.

Phatman

If you have another wheelset, I would say to ride your other wheels first, while learning the "care and feeding" of tubular tires. I've heard that they're pretty nice, and If someone just gave them to me, I'd take them.

charlesw

DiveKRB, thanks for the input. Hearing about easy to use tape definetly puts me at ease. You mentioned cheap tires cause problems.. I'd be looking for $15 tubular tires- too cheap?

FoxFarm: thanks for the tip to do some research. I read a ton at Sheldon's site and also have read other threads about tubulars- I should have mentioned that. I was looking for more of a newbie perspective, which I got from the people here. I agree- tons of good stuff in the archives. $60 tires?!!! wow. even if I got them on sale for $30 a tire that would be a lot of money. I'm an amateur- I spend $5 on my older clincher tires from my LBS! (Continental- nothing amazing, but they work. they aren't cheap tires- just older and 27" sized)

All: I think I'll keep the wheels and start looking around for some decent low-priced tubular tires with tufo's tape.

If anyone sees any low priced tubulars, I'm definatly interested.
thanks for all your quick comments!

phantomcow2

good information with pictures about tubulars can be found here:
https://www.utahmountainbiking.com/fix/index.htm

If your not sold on them ide just go with clinchers

53-11 alltheway

You know I used to ride with Tufo elite tubular clinchers...... Never even bothered carrying a flat repair kit cuz the sealant worked soooo good. (if you are really paranoid about flats carrying a spare tubular isn't that tough though)

Now I'm using Clinchers like every other "Clincher *****" in these forums.....already got a snake bite flat and It's only been a few weeks.

Personally I thought the Tufo tubular clincher was a piece of cake to install.....much easier than clinchers as long as tire was pre-stretched.

I never realized you were a tubular only tire guy.......good for you!

I may actually think about getting some straight tubular rims now. Good post diverkb!

53-11 alltheway

You know I'm going to do some research on using a pure tubular design. I know the rims are a lot lighter because there doesn't need to be a lip that the tire clinches to.

You got me thinking again......the tape was the only unknown in the equation. I'm encouraged by the fact that you say it works good.

Chucklehead

boo hoo. don't want snake bites? maybe try watching where you're going or something
i don't get snake bites or regular punctures for that matter, and i use clinchers exclusively. if you want light clinchers, get topolinos.

but i don't see why it should matter to someone who can spin a 53x11...