I ride tubies in a city environment.
Resistance to flatting due to glass, staples, etc. is about the same as clinchers.
Flatting due to pinch flats, like hitting the edge of a big pothole is almost nil compared to clinchers.


My bike is running clincher up front and tubie in the rear, due to not having a braking edge on my tubie rims and running a front brake. The tub in question is a Vredestien Fortezza, which is not of the highest quality - Tufo taped to Nisi rim. Since March I've had 2 front flats and 1 rear flat. <Regular commute 6mi M-F, group rides add +/-25mi. weekly. Occasionally, a long weekend ride and additional miles.> The rear at around 1500 mi. needs replacing, it's showing signs of scrapes & cuts through the casing. I might be able to ride the Clincher up front for a little longer, but it has much less pressure on it. Just my experience.
I prefer the Tubular over the Clincher.

I will note however that the tubular requires air maintenance since it has a latex tube inside. So every Monday I over-inflate, by Wednesday I'm spot on, and Friday I'm slightly low on air... Monday repeat. I usually add to the Clincher once a month.
My next set will be Conti with butyl tubes inside so the slow leakage shouldn't be a problem.

Also, the 1 flat I did have with the tubie I fixed in about 3 seconds. Literally, 3 freakin seconds.
Vittoria Pitstop is the $hit!!

ok I'm actually going to make an attempt to understand what you are trying to say here even though you clearly don't.
Simply not true the CF is determined by the rubber that touches the road. In practice the cf will be inversely related to the rolling resistance merely because better tires are made with softer rubber and also made to have a lower rolling resistance.
I can't be sure but this sounds like bull**** to me. Do you have a source or is this the same type of old wives tale as your first sentence? Why would they not release the information widely? How could the number even be meaningful given the wide range of surfaces that tires are ridden on.
of course you don't want to overinflate but what overinflation is depends on your intended use. A smooth wooden track will likely have an ideal pressure much much higher then an ancient ashphalt road.
This is undeniably true.
This is a bit confusing since suppleness is usually used to refer to the properties of the casing, tube and rubber not the inflated tire. In that case a more supple tire is one that will exihibit less damping and therefore be more efficient at any pressure. I will therefore ignore the use of supple here but your idea is correct.
No it doesn't. The concept of friction is pointless here anyway. Friction between the tire and the ground is not meaningful wheen considering rolling resistance since the tire(hopefully) is not sliding against the ground but touching it and then being lifted away.
There was no advantage of the smaller contact patch in the first place. Once again you have been lead astray by thinking that the friction and traction issues are linked to the rolling resistance in some sort of meaningful way. They aren't rolling resistance in the tire comes from energy wasted deforming the tire(and possibly glue) as it rolls.
At high PSIs you can possibly get inefficiencies if the tire doesn't deform enough and every imperfection in the riding surface causes the rider to move. The energy used to lift the rider is apparently not always fully regained when the rider come back down and that is where the energy goes.
I have not seen any evidence that they are more supple then high end clinchers. However the give in the glue used by most people seems to be rather inefficient and cause the high rolling resistance(at simliar pressures) that tubulars suffer from.

Remember just because people ride fast and talk a lot doesn't mean they actually know what they are talking about. This is especially true when science is involved. Much of what passes as fact is either completely made up or so far removed from it's original source that it is completely inaccurate. Take what trialtheletes say with an especially large grain of salt.

Man you have way too much time on your hands. Go ride your bike.

ok

hehe.


as far as pinch flats and tubs.
i destroyed a rim the other weekend (and just relaced a new one last night actually) and the tire is fine, i won't say perfect because when i pulled it off the rim the basetape pulled off the tire and i haven't figured out the best way to reglue basetape on sprinters...the rim had a huge dent in it, was S shaped and the two spokes by the dent had no tension at all. it was a bumpy ride home...invisible pothole in a hard sprint up a hill, yeah it was about 1am and very dark.

i really think i feel the difference in ease of pedaling going from a really light tubular rim and tire to an open pro with a 23mm gatorskin on it...the tubular does feel and handle better which is my main concern.
when i mount my bike, lol, i usually put my right foot in the strap, then lift the rear wheel up using the seat and rotate the pedal around to front position. the tubular wheel rotates noticeably easier...but i *think* i can tell a difference in regular riding situations too...hills...

I use tubulars on my FG and have had no problems thus far(knocks wood).

Most of the flats I've had with clinchers have been caused by glass, and have cut the tire beyond use. I don't think that the tubs would fare any better(or worse).

gawd I hate the word "tubies".
I think to a large degree the reason most people feel tubulars
are "faster" is the weight difference of the tire/rim combination.
I seriously doubt that I could discern the difference the rolling resistance
between tubulars (glued, not taped) and clinchers makes.
I do know that cornering is better ( cross section of the tires, eh?) and I
feel more secure on a down hill with a glued tire than one held on by a wire
bead.

I would say a few reasons I don't get many flats is that 1) I avoid as much debris as I can
b) if I do ride through debris I've taken to wiping tires and IV) no pinch flats.

marty

i have tublars on my FG but i kinda got the sew up wheelset by accident so i was stuck with them without knowing much about them.

Um..... do tubular tires stand up to skidding, or even skip stops?

Yep Street proven!

S/F,
CEYA!

I have 2350 miles on the tubular on the back, about 1900 on the tubular on the front. I use Victoria Pitstop as a preventative sealant so I may have had a small flat and not have even known it, however, the fact is I haven't had a flat on either of these and I ride them almost every day. The rear tire is getting to the point it needs replacing just because of wear. How many people out there can say they have went 2000+ miles on a set of clinchers and not have a flat the entire time?

Tubulars have received a bad rap. Learn how to change one when needed and enjoy! People pay big bucks to trim an ounce here, a couple ounces there. Switch to tubulars and dump a full pound of rotating weight.

I use a tubular front all the time and its held up plenty long. I have one for the rear, but I don't use it much because I don't want to skid through it too fast. Changing them is a real pain so you may want to have an alternate bike to use while you stretch/mount a new tire. I haven't used tufo tape, but i guess that would eliminate the time you wait for the glue to dry.

Ceya,

Can you recommend a tubular for street use?

I'm thinking it might be beneficial to run a lighter tubular up front and one with a thicker tread in the rear, since my rear tire is prone to flat more than the front.

Seems to me Continental does the Gatorskin in tubular, don't they?

Heard that, also the Grand Prix in tubular. These aren't sewn up, so apparently you have to make an incision to get to the tube and sew it back up yourself like a torn crotch in yer pants.

But wouldn't that require you to carry 2 kinds of spares in case of flats?

no.


they make the sprinter in a gatorskin, i've never ridden one though. i just ride regular sprinters...now they are making some "black chili" compound too or instead or something...

as far as gluing, it's not that bad, it probably takes me 20 or 30 minutes from start to finish if the tire or the rim has been glued before, and that's not all work, it's mostly waiting.

some light disposable latex gloves come in handy, just use your finger to spread a small dab glue between each spoke hole in the rim, do a thin coat, let it dry. then do another. once you have had a tire glued you can just do a tack coat on the rim when you mount the tire.
on a new tire and already glued rim, i just do a base coat on the tire and let it dry while i do a tack coat on the rim, then do a tack coat on the tire and let it dry until it's only a little tacky, then i mount the tire.

stretching the tire, i just hold the valve stem in between my hands and step on the tire, then i pull it some. then i mount it on an extra (unlaced) rim and i just let it sit until i wanna put it on. i've done it as little as 30 minutes before and it wasn't that bad.

last time i had to pull a tire off it was a MF'er...it was glued well.
i didn't have to pull it off because it was flat...i destroyed the rim

Nathbdp: My apologies. I read your post too quickly so I assumed you were asking about running a sew-up in the front and a clincher in the rear. My bad.

I often rotate my worn tires to the front as they carry less weight.

The old Vittoria CX (thinner thread and lighter) went up front while the heavier CG went on the back.

BAD IDEA!!!!

haha

"I often rotate my worn tires to the front as they carry less weight."

Not as dangerous getting a blow out with tubulars as with clinchers but I still wouldn't do it.

Sheldon says no!

https://sheldonbrown.com/tire-rotation.html

don't rotate at all.


cx/cg combo was good choice.

just use the same tires back and front.

there are good tires conti is one good company. Panaracer also.

S/F,
CEYA!

I will end this practice now. Thanks for the tips guys!

Flats, esp blowouts, are so rare that it did not occur to me that I was being foolish but 50 y/o bodies don't heal as quickly so I will heed the collective wisdom of the FG subforum.
Thanks again.

dude i roll some old school vittoria tigercross tubulars in the city everyday on my daily beater and they are amazing. obviously you're takign a risk cause you pop the tire, you need new tires.. but just do what i do and ride in the middle of the street weaving through cars and you'll never touch the broken glass all over the shoulders. and own faces along the way... own those faces.

who rides tubs in the rain and what type of tire do you ride?

i've noticed the newer sprinters don't like the rain so much...or i guess that's it. after riding in the rain i noticed the base tape would seperate from the tire casing on the outer edge where the rim is.
the casing is rubber on the newer ones so i guess that might be the reason. i had to pull a sprinter off because the rim was dead, i reglued the basetape with some latex glue and it never really stuck too well.
so last night the tire blew out (it was loud). i pulled it off to inspect it and best i could tell was the base tape was not glued well (or at all) in a small section and the tire pressure was too much for the stitch to hold without help from the basetape and the tube exploded.

i have a sprinter on the front that is not rubber casing and it's doing fine...basetape has stayed glued well and everything.

so what other tires are there. the basetape seemed thicker and stronger on the Vittoria i replaced the sprinter with. maybe the sprinter woulda been fine if i hadn't have had to pull it off the rim...the basetape seperated some then. what is best to reglue the basetape with. i have some Jevelot Tire Life.