socaljoe

Hey everybody...

Sorry if this has already been covered - when I searched the forum before posting, I saw some threads about it, but nothing that really covered what I was looking for.

I'm looking for good clinchers for track use. I ride most of the time at San Diego, which is a 333m/37º max bank outdoor track, but I'm also going to be doing weekend sessions at the ADT Cetner in LA, which is more like a 250m/45º+ max bank board track. Thier policy is if you slip and fall, you're done for the day and you pay for any damage to the track, and I don't want to be that guy.

Hence my question. In my experience, any road tire at high pressure works well on the longer outdoor concrete track, but I'm more nervous about it with the indoor boards, especially in regards to tread pattern. Looking at track tubulars, the good ones seem to all have a pattern with little round nubs all over, no grooves. Does anyone know of any clinchers that have the same, or have some good experience with a particular clincher on a board track?

auk

The tread pattern has less to do with the grip levels as the suppleness of the casing and the compound of the tire. Also, look for a tire with a smooth transition from center of tread to sidewall.

I've use Verdestein Fortezza's and Veloflex Pave's on a wooden 45 degree banking and had no problems. I preferred the Veloflex's as they are incredible tires and had a better overall feel to them.

Mike T.

Continental Supersonics at 120psi, smooth tread..........Forest City Velodrome's 50 degrees indoor wood.......20kph (track recommendation of 30kph)........never slid down yet.

cameron

i have the conti supersonics 20c at 180 psi, in an indoor 45 degree board track. Never once had problems, the contis are really grippy and fast! another tire id reccomend is the vittoria ultra speed, even faster than the contis and bout the same grip.

CafeRacer

a 20c Vittoria Open Corsa EVO CX at 130 psi works well at London's steep track too. Granted its the only wood track my bikes been on they stuck very well, on concrete they stick like velcro!

socaljoe

Cool, and thanks everyone, I will check those out.

180psi, that's pretty high for a clincher... what are they rated at?

CafeRacer

There is a point where having such a high tire rating means nothing on a clincher. At 180psi your more likly to crack the side of your rim (Insert shot gun blast)

infestedguy1

vredestein also makes a track specific clincher called the "pista" you can get them, if they are still available, at www.worldclasscycles.com go to the track components page and scroll down to the tires section. they have the file tread pattern and are relatively cheap.

cameron

they are rated at 170, if you are gonna have your tyres at that pressure you have to first find out how much ur rims can take, i know that the mavic ellipse can take it easy.

socaljoe

Where do you find that information? I mean, I've never noticed a PSI rating on a rim.

cameron

you can find them out on internet sites and other places, it doesnt usually say it on the rim.

blowouts are usually caused by heavily braking on a hot day, from the friction the rims can heat up and if your tires are at too high pressure it can cause the rims to bend. Track rims can take a lot more psi, because they havent got brakes heating up the rims.

CafeRacer

Mavic lists max pressure ratings for all their rims in their Tech manual. They sudgest a maximum of 138psi in all road rims as a saftey standard. I know for a fact a CXP will hold more since I run mine at 140(knock on wood)

Msngr

golly! i never realized that the rim pressure ratings were so low. i always run 150 psi on my rear open pro --on the street, of course. tubies for me on the track.

r-dub

re: rim psi. The lawyers always end up with the final say (then comes the marketing dept, finally the techies.) Lawyers always lowball the rating (of rims, tires, etc.) for liability purposes.

11.4

Bear in mind that tubular rims don't have to bear much tire pressure directly -- the tubular itself carries almost all of the load. Even at high pressure, the pressure aimed inwards on a tubular rim at the tire bed isn't all that enormous. On a clincher, however, that pressure is trying to pry the walls of the rim apart. There are occasionally examples of rims ripped apart, but oddly the most common problem that over-pressure in clinchers causes is ferrule failure at the spoke -- it cracks the inside of the rim, starting at the spoke hole. It's normally not catastrophic, but your rim goes out of true and gets progressively worse. It happens without excess tire pressure, but the incidence goes way up with high pressure. That's from both Mavic and Ambrosio.