gaucho777 

Long-time gluer here. Most of my bikes are equipped with tubulars...My set-up times are much shorter than most:
*I usually only leave about 15-25 minutes between coats, just long enough for the glue to become tacky and not leave a mess on your fingers/sidewall. Weather, glue, underlying layers can all affect time. Feel to test. You should be able to touch it and feel a little tacky without leaving residue on your finger.
*1 thin layer on the rim
*Followed by another thin layer on the tire if it is a new tire or the glue on the base tape feels very dry.
*Another thin layer on the rim (usually)
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At some point during this process, usually after applying glue to the 1st tire, I will start on the 2nd wheel/tire if I am gluing 2 tires.
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*By the time I am done applying glue to the 1st tire, I fiddle around with something else in the garage, or change a load of laundry, or repeat the process for the 1st wheel with the 2nd wheel, and then I am ready to put on the tire.
*Mounting tire: I start by mounting the tire in the truing stand. that way I can pull and stretch the tire onto the rim and 1/3 to 1/2 of the way, and then remove the wheel to finish mounting the tire.
*inflate to about 40 psi and adjust the tire straight - pay more attention to the overall casing rather than the basetape.
*fully inflate tire to max psi and ride the next day.

Road Fan

I'm sure the night before a big race there is an effing lot to do, with several key responsibilities attached to the same technicians. Maybe by neessity they determined the method they have is adequate, if not at the absolute peak of effectiveness. Beyond such speculations, how do we know what actually goes on?

Classtime 

gaucho777 Mounting the tire in the truing stand and pulling stretching? I cannot picture it.

DiabloScott

I use the truing stand just for the fine-tuning of tread-centering when the tire's already on... might be different if I had a bench mount or something really solid, but not for a light folding stand.

El Chaba

tubulus interruptus

gaucho777 

Yeah, I guess that wasn’t too clear…I’ll try my best to explain what I meant. The idea is not to lay down the tire on the glue gently near the valve and then have to stretch unevenly at the end opposite the valve. Rather. I try to stretch the tire a little at the start so it’s more evenly stretched all the way around. (Because of the glue it’s not like a clincher that will settle onto the rim naturally.) With the wheel in the stand, I rotate the valve hole so it’s at the top. This allows me to stretch and pull down while I put the tire half-way onto the rim. Then I take the wheel out of the stand and finish mounting the tire the rest of the way. This reduces the effort needed at the end, and by extension also reduces risk of mess on fingers/sidewall.

gkamieneski

I have to say, that sounds like a good way to ruin a truing stand, even a bench mount Park TS2. I think you're overthinking it.

gaucho777 

I'm not pulling/stretching all that hard. Just a little. There is no way what I am doing is going to damage the truing stand. I've been gluing tires a long time (since I was 13). I didn't always do it this way, but it works for me now. To each his/her own...

dddd

As referenced in a couple of previous posts, some tires need a LOT more glue layers than others.

Some base tapes literally soak up glue like a dry sponge, and some base tapes appear clearly already saturated with some kind of elastomer rubber.

I tend to doubt that the 08031 Fastack was what caused base tape separation, since I have seen improperly stored (maybe just stored too long) tubulars come out of their box with the tape coming off. Conti Sprinters come to mind here.

I will have to try the newer 08001 Fastack if I can even find it in California(?).

Remembering dragging one of my brakes on a long local downhill run with the wheel installed backward, in order to get the valve stem to creep/tilt back in the other direction, lol.

stoneageyosh

3M 8031 was the preferred Fast Tack. 8001 has been around since at least the early 70’s. If I recollect, 8001 cures hard which is why we used 8031. Never had a problem with base tapes on the old Clements or other brands of cotton or silk road tires. And, we would carry worn, maybe patched, take offs as spares. The remnants of 8031 on the spare and rim would usually stick pretty well on the rest of a ride. More than good enough as long as you didn’t get stupid on turns.

Jantaras

Ok, so I glued my first set of tubulars using glue.
Now, I like to tinker and do things myself, but this wasn't a pleasure to do. A quick report...

I put a thin layer of glue on the rim and tire in the evening and in the morning, then a layer on the rim in the evening and installed the tires.
First, I was very surprised by how thick the Mastik is. I used a paint brush, but it was too flexy, so I was getting glue all over the braking surface. Had a hard time cleaning it. I then cut the brush shorter and narrower, it was a bit easier after that.
On the next day the brush was alredy stiff as I could't find any info about what solvent suits for cleaning the brush.
The first layer of glue could be seen quite well, but the second one is nearly impossible to see, I used a flashlight, but the help was minimal. Then I used a glove and put the glue using my finger.
The tires went on the rims quite easy, some glue on the tanwall, but nothing massive.
The centering of the tire was a pain as it was sticking to rim like crazy, I had to use a lot of force to lift the tire and move it to better postition, but it was easy to move too much to the opposite side.

I still need to glue 3 sets of tubulars, so I need to come up with a beter way po put the glue layers, maybe some disposable piece of sponge or something.
What are you using to put the glue layers, brushes? toothbrushes? something else?
What is a good solvent to clean the glue from the brush?

JohnDThompson 

I apply the glue to the rim directly from the tube, in blobs between the spoke holes. Then don a set of disposable nitrile gloves and use my fingers to spread it out. Same with the base tape.

DiabloScott

Disposable acid brush for installations.
Disposable craft glue syringe for touch up.
No solvents needed.