Another tubular question... Tire pressure

[weisan]

I am following my own policy: if you don't ask, you will never learn.

I have limited experience with tubulars.
So, pardon my ignorance.

Do you pump the tubulars up to the same tire pressure as your clinchers?

I am using Vittoria Elite 25s.
I pumped my Open pave CG 27 clincher to about 80-85 in the rear and 70-75 in the front. That's what I found the most comfortable without getting too low and risking flats.

[Satellite]

I am following my own policy: if you don't ask, you will never learn.

I have limited experience with tubulars.
So, pardon my ignorance.

Do you pump the tubulars up to the same tire pressure as your clinchers?

I am using Vittoria Elite 25s.
I pumped my Open pave CG 27 clincher to about 80-85 in the rear and 70-75 in the front. That's what I found the most comfortable without getting too low and risking flats.

Tubular don't really pinch flat like clinchers. Atleast I have never pinch flatted. You don't want to run them so low you are riding on sidewalls. I would say your current Clincher pressures are a great start 80 rear and 70 front.

Vittoria Elites in 25's are great tires. Tubular still ride better than anything else out there in my opinion.

[john903]

I run the same tires at Vittoria Elite 25 at 85 front 90 rear on the road and 75 front 80 rear when I ride on compact gravel forest service road, and I weigh 160. They really are great tires for the money.
Have a great day.

[weisan]

Thank you pals!

[Tickdoc]

85 front, 90-100 rears on my vittoria corsa's.

[regularguy412]

Rule of thumb: higher volume tire (say 25-28 and up) you can get by with lower pressures. But if you ride skinny tires (19s) make sure you put some pressure in 'em.

Mike in AR:beer:

[buldogge]

No that it matters...since tire pressures are like opinions...but...I like 100F 105R on Vittoria CX 25s (or Paves, or Michelin SC 24s).

FWIW.

-Mark in St. Louis

[KJMUNC]

I'm a 85 R / 80 F kind of guy on Veloflex Roubaix tires and I'm 190ish.

Clearly a topic with no perfect answer other than what works best for you but sounds like you've got it pretty dialed in already!

[ultraman6970]

Ultra uses 80/110 if too much heat... but tire pressure depends a lot of the weight of the rider and conditions of the road, you go too low in air you might dent the rim in a pot hole.

The other factor is the type of tubular, brand and model. For example the super cheappo ones that you get 3x50 bucks are hard tubulars and if you go low like 85 psi sure you will puncture them. Another example, veloflex tubulars IME no matter how much air you put they will ride soft, continentals are like in the middle depending on the model but if you go low like 75 you risk punctures. Had a clement zeta back in the day, that tubular was always soft no matter how much air I put to it.

Schwalbe 1 rides (to me) like between continentals and veloflex but wiht the advantage of having a perfectly round tubular.

You have to experiment, there's no rule, some guys love to ride low, other ones dont. As a general rule... 80 to 110 will help with the punctures and will roll nice, but if you want to roll like a cadillac well, you might be willing to deal with the flats... something to think about.

[oldpotatoe]

I am following my own policy: if you don't ask, you will never learn.

I have limited experience with tubulars.
So, pardon my ignorance.

Do you pump the tubulars up to the same tire pressure as your clinchers?

I am using Vittoria Elite 25s.
I pumped my Open pave CG 27 clincher to about 80-85 in the rear and 70-75 in the front. That's what I found the most comfortable without getting too low and risking flats.

I am .2 offa ton and I use about 90 psi both..23 or 25mm tubulars.

[zank]

20-25 psi in a 33 ;)

[FlashUNC]

Everyone's taste is different, but the point about pinch flats is a worthwhile one.

Personally I run them about the same. 90-95 ish front and rear, both clinchers and tubulars.

[ultraman6970]

Another detail i forgot to mention, newwbies love to follow what the marks in the tires say... "max inflation"... that a tubular or even a clincher says that max inflation is 180 psi (making up numbers) it doesnt mean you have to put that pressure in the tire. The tire will manage that presure for sure but it becomes like a balloon, from looking at them ugly they will flat.

Too low and you will flat, way too high and you will flat too. Sweet spot IME is between 80 and 120 ish...

[pbarry]

I am .2 offa ton and I use about 90 psi both..23 or 25mm tubulars.

.1 of a ton, pretty sure.

[shovelhd]

Yes, I pretty much used the same pressure in my 25c training clinchers as my 25c racing tubulars, 95/90. If the race was a smooth crit I'd go 100/95 for a little extra speed. With the 28c tubeless road tires on wide rims I've really been enjoying 55/50.

[redir]

I tend to go a little higher in pressure then I would with clinchers but that's only because I know I am going to loose a bit of pressure during the ride.

As for flats... I get just about as many flats on tubulars, including pinch flats (not as common but still happen) as I do with clinchers.

[Satellite]

I tend to go a little higher in pressure then I would with clinchers but that's only because I know I am going to loose a bit of pressure during the ride.

As for flats... I get just about as many flats on tubulars, including pinch flats (not as common but still happen) as I do with clinchers.

Never had a pinch flat with my Tubulars just had a pinch flat on my clinchers last time I used them. It was scary because I had just road past my turn to do an climb up a super steep grade 11 to 15% I did a U turn at the top reached for my water bottle before I bombed down at 40 to 50 mph. The front end washed out on me losing air instantly as it skidded sidways and the water bottle was still in my hand. I was super lucky I wasn't boming the descent when the air decided to release. I didn't even know I hit anything but it was a snake bite.

I like Tubulars so much more than clinchers. I still use clinchers on my S&S bike but that's it.

I do use orange seal on my Tubulars and nothing with my clinchers.

[pbarry]

I tend to go a little higher in pressure then I would with clinchers but that's only because I know I am going to loose a bit of pressure during the ride.

As for flats... I get just about as many flats on tubulars, including pinch flats (not as common but still happen) as I do with clinchers.

Never had a pinch flat on a tubie in 35 years, but with super low cross psi, maybe. What kind of conditions has a tubie pinch flat happened?

[carpediemracing]

I've seen someone double pinch flat tubulars but he also destroyed his wheels in the process (jagged/sharp edge 2 foot wide pothole at about 45 mph). He was so disgusted with himself he gave me the wheels, which I still have (TriSpokes). I used channel locks on the rim bulges and they've worked okay for a while, very minor brake thumping.

[weisan]

Appreciate the responses so far.

I keep hearing pals talked about sealant... Never used sealant before. Do I need to inject sealant into my Elite tubulars?

[pbarry]

Appreciate the responses so far.

I keep hearing pals talked about sealant... Never used sealant before. Do I need to inject sealant into my Elite tubulars?

If you run across goat heads or glass, yes. I'm old school and wipe my tires with my hand and avoid most potential flats that way.

[carpediemracing]

Keep in mind about tubulars - they are a closed system, meaning they don't rely on the rim for structure, meaning they're not a clincher. You base your pressure on the tire, not on the tire/rim. If you put a 21mm tubular tire on a 25mm rim you still inflate your tubular based on it being a 21mm.

If you get a 25mm tubular, same thing. Base the pressure on the tire, not the rim.

If you go lower on a tire it should be because you want to go lower on pressure, not as a reaction to your rim.

At the widest I run 23mm. I hate the smushy feeling of lower pressures (I've raced at 85-90 psi and hated it) so I run them old school, 115-120 psi. Weight with 23mm tires (since 2010) has ranged from 155-185 lbs. I go a bit higher when I'm a bit heavier because the tires start feeling mushy. I went down to 105-110 when I was in the mid 150s.

[carpediemracing]

I don't run sealant but there isn't a ton of debris where I ride (historically anyway). I use tubulars mainly for racing and since I rarely warm up I generally ride very little before a race. It limits tire exposure to debris, that's for sure.

When I trained on tubulars the only sealants out there were the green goo stuff and no one used that stuff. I'd flat only if I really pushed a tire to its end of life limits, when the rubber was so thin you could feel the casing under it. I did have some unfortunate early flats. I remember crossing a short strip of gravel (they put pipe down) and flatted on maybe 2-3 feet of gravel, almost new tire. Ran over glass on a brand new tire, maybe 5-10 car lengths away from my car, flatted. Overall though tubulars are pretty good.

If you do flat a good tubular and the tread/casing is okay, you can send it to Florida and get it fixed. The place replaces the tube so it's not a patch. My teammates do a group order every winter, they're very happy with the place.

[pbarry]

You can fix them yourself. I've done hundreds. Some milnery work required.

[weisan]

You can fix them yourself. I've done hundreds. Some milnery work required.

awww.......the next frontier, now that I have conquered wheel-building. :D

[pbarry]

Not hard. Dentil floss, old waxed kind, is your friend. You can do this.

[Russian bear]

I run my Bontrager R4s (made by Vittoria) at around 75-80, unless i know the surface is going to be particularly good where I'm going. A little higher for racing. For time trials and hill climbs I plump them up to 110-115 though.