Woooow!

[mdeeds71]

I just road my first set of tubulars. They are Tufo HICC Lite 215gr "taped" to Reynolds Stratus wheels. My impressions as well as the shop I go visit...wicked lite! A bit tight in the bearing but nice and smooth. The ride was awesome, smooth and that typical tire road noise was non existant. No road reverberations or chatter just smooth hissing of good rubber on asphalt.

Now the bike they are on is a 2005 CDA with the carbon front and rear. The bike was already smooth but this just made it feel like a magic carpet. I have yet to go corner them hard...my first set and ones that I did my self with the tape...just a bit timid but i did hit some good angles on them but not as agressive I did with the reynolds alta that I train on. They felt realy absorbant to road noise as in cracks/irregular cement. But I could not get over how quiet they were. I had them at 140 psi just a few psi short of the max on the hoops they are on. I need to make a call to see if they can go higher on these rims i.e. call reynolds, they are rated at 215psi. But the 140 felt real smooth...This is over 2lbs lighter on wheels than the centaur open pros that are going on a colorado 2.

Overall fast and quiet...turned an extra .7 mph on the same circuit I road with the altas. That is a total of 1.6 faster than the centaur set up with the same heart rates.

One note...the tape does not seem to cover to the edges of the wheel...Is this normal? I have been told by one other that it is but you guys/gals are the experts.

[divve]

I find it incredible how perceptions of tires can be so different. To me 140 psi is rock hard and the hissing sound related to Tufo tires is from the high rolling resistance stiff carcass and running surface. It becomes even more pronounced at more normalized pressures of around 105-110 psi. At that point the tires become unbearably slow.

[Too Tall]

mdeeds71 - welcome to the wonderful world of tubulars DON'T EVER GO BACK :) Yes, it is normal that the tape does not extend to the edges and yes it bugs me too. For that reason and others I went back to traditional glue which never did me wrong and my tubular mojo is back in order :)

[ergott]

I just road my first set of tubulars. They are Tufo HICC Lite 215gr "taped" to Reynolds Stratus wheels. My impressions as well as the shop I go visit...wicked lite! A bit tight in the bearing but nice and smooth. The ride was awesome, smooth and that typical tire road noise was non existant. No road reverberations or chatter just smooth hissing of good rubber on asphalt.

Now the bike they are on is a 2005 CDA with the carbon front and rear. The bike was already smooth but this just made it feel like a magic carpet. I have yet to go corner them hard...my first set and ones that I did my self with the tape...just a bit timid but i did hit some good angles on them but not as agressive I did with the reynolds alta that I train on. They felt realy absorbant to road noise as in cracks/irregular cement. But I could not get over how quiet they were. I had them at 140 psi just a few psi short of the max on the hoops they are on. I need to make a call to see if they can go higher on these rims i.e. call reynolds, they are rated at 215psi. But the 140 felt real smooth...This is over 2lbs lighter on wheels than the centaur open pros that are going on a colorado 2.

Overall fast and quiet...turned an extra .7 mph on the same circuit I road with the altas. That is a total of 1.6 faster than the centaur set up with the same heart rates.

One note...the tape does not seem to cover to the edges of the wheel...Is this normal? I have been told by one other that it is but you guys/gals are the experts.

Extreme tape goes edge to edge. The regular stuff ooses (sp) out to the edges after a couple of rides. I would lay off the corners for a ride or two if you have the regular tape.

[mdeeds71]

divve,
I have heard the same hissing sound from the dugaust my buddy has that lead me to the tubulars....As for rolling resistance...The carcas on these was very suptle to the feel in the hands not rigid like the contis but very pliable. There is three distict tire lines from Tufo and all three have different build ups The hissing sound is generated also by GP tires that are run on F1 cars and is no different. Even the aircraft tires make this when they are dynamicaly balanced. With my older tires there was a road reverberation/sound that was louder and infact the resistance you talk of.

[divve]

Sure, but they only start to make that "speed" hiss at extreme pressures of 140+ psi. I don't see the point of running that kind of pressure if I can run a more supple tire at 110 psi with lower resistance and maintain a reasonable level of comfort as well. The Tufos only appear to be supple. Try bending one without air laterally at a more acute angle or press on the side of the tread from about 45 deg. angle at 40 psi. The differences will be more apparent.

In my opinion a good rolling tire is defined by being able to provide that low rolling resistance at a reasonable pressure. It's easy for a manufacturer to make claims of low rolling resistance when they completely discard comfort and simply achieve it through means of high maximum pressure. That's not why we ride pneumatic tires on the road however.

I'm about 155 lbs btw.

[mdeeds71]

I ride at 182lbs myself.

Have riden numerous tires recently and find these to be much better than the Conti, Mich, and Vreds in terms of resistance. The Tufos have a pressure range of 115-220 thus I am only using the bottom 25% of the range. I again rode the dugausts today and found them about the same if not just a bit more subtle (same brand of wheels not same model). They were at 132psi and for a light rider at 153lbs compared to me. The rolling resistance is also an issue when comparing the design of the tire i.e. slick vs file tread for dry to wet conditions. The tire I selected was designed for the more varied conditions due to the carbon/rubber compound in contrast to a silica/rubber compound or synthetic rubber. They do hook up very well in the wet as I tried yesterday.

Anyways I truely enjoy them and would not hesitate to recommend them.