3/24/15 1:44 AM

quote:

---

If it's safer for the riders, why not make the switch.

---

3/24/15 3:59 AM

I know I sound like a crazy ole rider but I also don't see the advantage for normal riding. In crappy weather they can be nice I am sure but the limit has always been the tire and the road.

If they start going down mountains faster then I will believe in them. The weight issue won't matter because the UCI will stick with the minimum weight they have now and that is easy to get and has plenty of wiggle room for the added weight of the disk brakes.

The drag issue has to be addressed, thus far they are nothing but bricks on your bike.

3/24/15 7:19 AM

quote:

---

.....how long before riders start getting sliced up by disks in mass pile-ups.

---

3/24/15 9:55 AM

I wonder when the disc bikes are in full force in the Peloton if we will see more tubular or maybe tubeless being dominant.

3/24/15 7:18 PM

Another thing to consider is that the fork needs to be beefed up to handle the forces of braking, and that will change the behavior of the fork. This will impact both comfort (probably negatively) and handling (possibly positively), not to mention added weight.

How that all sorts out will be a while in telling. I've always been able to lock up my wheels wet or dry, so I don't see the benefit of disc brakes but I do see the complications and cost.

3/25/15 6:27 AM

quote:

---

I wonder when the disc bikes are in full force in the Peloton if we will see more tubular or maybe tubeless being dominant.

---

3/27/15 4:10 PM

Tubies are and always will the norm for pro racing. Any clincher use is forced by the sponsor. They train on clinchers though, most pros do a lot of solo training with no support vehicle with them, that concept is very rare and usually reserved for team camps and the big money contenders.

3/27/15 4:24 PM

Tony Martin shocked tubular tire aficionados when he won last year's UCI time trial world championships on Continental clinchers, and then repeated the feat to capture the German national title.

2012 Article.

3/27/15 4:44 PM

Who would that shock? Bugno won world championship RRs on Michelin clinchers in '91 and '92. That's when I switched, figured they were probably good enough for me. I understand most pros do use sewups now. So what?

3/28/15 4:19 PM

They use tubies because the entire package is lighter at the rim.

The ride is very close these days when you get high end clinchers.

I never intend to get tubies, they just don't fit a rec rider's needs at all. With light aero clincher rims out there, there is no need even if you want to do a fast gran fondo or the likes.

3/28/15 4:38 PM

When I hit the lottery, I am going to have a support vehicle follow me and have wheels with sew-ups glued ready to go for flats. ;)

3/28/15 7:45 PM

quote:

---

The ride is very close these days when you get high end clinchers.

---

3/29/15 8:54 PM

Tubies are safer, as you can ride them when they flat and have a reasonable chance of being able to stop without crashing. A front flat on a clincher at race speed is pretty much a guarantee that you're going to get up close and personal with the pavement. A rear flat may be survivable, but that depends on the circumstances.

As for the feel, I'm pretty much with Kerry. I don't corner aggressively enough to appreciate any difference in feel. For my type of riding, 25mm clinchers are better suited than skinny tubulars. The other key feature of good clinchers is that they are perfectly round when mounted. Even good quality tubies tend to be somewhat lumpier. Clinchers simply ride smoother.

It used to be that you could get really light aluminum tubular rims (sub-300 grams). These days, it's hard to find anything under 400 grams and the clincher rims I'm riding are lighter than any Al tubulars I could find. Of course, you can get very light carbon tubular rims, but I'm not willing to pay a small fortune for rims or wheels with inferior braking capability. Someday when I switch to disc brakes for the road, carbon rims may be a reasonable option.

After 36 years of riding tubies exclusively, I've switched all my road bikes to clinchers and can't see myself ever going back.

Last edited by Brian Nystrom on 3/29/15 9:12 PM; edited 2 times in total

3/29/15 9:03 PM

Tubular glue can melt. Pros do roll tubulars and crash.

I don't believe tubulars are better. I borrowed someone's set of tubulars once and rode all winter on them. Yes, they were lighter. When I gave them back, I didn't miss them at all.

3/29/15 9:33 PM

"Tubies are safer, as you can ride them when they flat"

They suck to ride flat and I am not sure the thump thump of the valve could not cause something else to break or happen. Conjecture perhaps.

But tubeless rims even with tubes and folding bead tires with open tubular design tires stay hooked. And symmetrical in terms of the tire between the rim and road equally hanging out each side the few times I have flatted at speed since building up wheel with said rims.

3/29/15 9:36 PM

...on blistering hot pavement, but really, how many of them have you seen or heard of directly? The truth is that it's a very rare occurrence and we simply don't hear about or think about the thousands of flats that riders survive each season without crashing, because there's nothing of note about it.

Take a minute and think back to all of the riders you've seen in race coverage getting wheel changes when they haven't crashed. I'll bet we've all seen hundreds of them.

In contrast, I've never seen one case where a tubular rolled because the glue melted. Beloki's crash was caused by a slide on melting pavement that was caught, but violently pitched him.

This is a similar situation to helmet injury prevention statistics. The bulk of head impacts go unreported because there is no injury. It's the serious injuries and fatalities that we hear about.

3/30/15 4:33 PM

quote:

---

I've never seen one case where a tubular rolled because the glue melted

---

3/31/15 5:23 AM

Did the glue bond between the rim and rim tape fail or the bond between the tire casing and the base tape fail? In the second case, was this after a descent or was it just due to a bad glue job? Without more details, how can any real judgement be made?

Tubulars do introduce variables that aren't present with clinchers, but on balance, I still say that properly glued tubulars are safer.

3/31/15 7:31 PM

The riders protested a recent stage in the Tour of Oman because it was 45 C and a bunch of tires were blowing. The word used was "exploded." This can't be due to pressure from the heat because mechanics know how to deal with that. The only thing that comes to my mind is that the glue melted, the tire rotated on the rim, and the valve stem was torn out. I had this happen to me in the South Dakota Badlands on a very hot day.

4/1/15 8:30 AM

I think it'll be an even bigger problem with high-end carbon tubular rims. The heat can't be conducted away efficiently. Aluminum is a great heat sink.

Sandiway

4/1/15 5:50 PM

I have never seen a clincher just go boom. Though I did have one come off the back rim 20 years ago because of my shitty work putting it on. Got in hurry and pinched the tube.

I have seen rolled tubies. More than once.

4/2/15 6:24 AM

I've done it - blown up a clincher. Something you only do once . . .