confessions of a tubular wuss

[Climb01742]

hi, my name is climb and i'm a tubbie wuss. my good pal obtuse/jerk is ready to hook me up with cees' latest ADAs for a test ride, and some LWs too if i want. but tubulars sorta scare me, honestly. the whole glue/tape thing would be a learnin' thing and dealin' with flats out on the road would be a learnin' thing too. it's fear of the unknown. and mechanically, i have 10 thumbs. obtuse/jerk, who i trust, says tubbies ride noticeably better. should i just suck it up and learn something new? are tubbies_that_much better? sweet wheels could be a better investment than another frame. what say the collective wisdom? my palms are already sweatin'. :D

[Smiley]

Tubbies are Ok when you have a nice set of back up wheels for the ride on crappy roads and when its really too cold out. Nobody wants to change a tire when its freezing out and I would think twice about tubbies for that cold winter ride. just my 2 cents. Hows Ed doing Climb :)

[david]

go for it. i'm in the same spot, sort of. used to ride only tubulars/sew ups back in the day. they are better. so i'm thinking of going back. the gluing thing isn't as difficult as it seems. it'll be messy at first, but you'll get the hang of it. and the flat thing is actually better. you just rip off the old tire and place a previously glued tire on the rim. easier than clinchers.

[Too Tall]

First off if you punks don't stop calling them things "tubbies" I'm going to pay a very small amt. of money to a rather short mean dwarf to do unspeakable things to you BOTH!!!!

OK. That's settled ;)

My friend, FEDEX is only a day away. Send the freakin' things to me. I'll take care of business and send them back. Throw in a couple spares and I'll prep. them too and the hard work is done. Seriously, not a prob.

xxoo, TT.

[djg]

Although Smiley is a wise man...generally speaking, I'd listen to Obtuse on this one. Mostly because he's right.

First off, although there are some very good clincher wheels out there, the kind of wheels o/j (but not OJ) is talking about come one way only, right?

Second, for that sort of wheel, you'd want the best tire out there anyway, and while there are some good clincher tires nowadays, there's not really anything in a clincher, IMO, that rides as nicely as the best that the tubular market has to offer. Ok, I dunno what's the best, but I'm pretty sure that I've never had a clincher tire I like as well as, for instance, a veloflex criterium. From my own blind subjective corner, it's not a close call.

Third, I think that Smiley is just wrong about cold weather tire changes. Anybody can run into some bad luck with a flat (or a string of them), but even race quality tubular tires are not especially fragile and I think that you're less likely to flat with a tubular tire (assuming roughly the same weight, etc.) than you are with a clincher. More than that, if you do flat on a nasty cold day, you might really find it easier to pull on a pre-stretched tubular with gloved hands than to muck about changing a tube.

[djg]

First off if you punks don't stop calling them things "tubbies" I'm going to pay a very small amt. of money to a rather short mean dwarf to do unspeakable things to you BOTH!!!!



First off, ever since I went to law school, I don't do that sort of thing anymore.

Plus my rates went up.

[Big Dan]

Try the wheels first and then decide....imho.... :)

[Too Tall]

I wasn't talking about you specifically but nice to know you are avail. if push comes to shove.

Anywho.

[amg]

Baby steps, baby steps. If you have some anxiety about riding on tubulars, I'd suggest approaching the subject slowly and step by step. First, start off with a nice hand built set of tubular wheels, say with 28 or 32 spokes built by a competent builder such as our own ergott and have a equally competent mechanic glue on the tubulars for you. Once you ride the wheels for a few hundred miles and realise it's nothing dangerous and feel more comfortable, then I'd say you're more prepared to spend big bucks on a uber high-end wheel set such as the ADA's and LW's.

If your're being given the opportunity to test ride such a nice set of wheels such as the new ADA's, I'd say as long as the tubulars have been properly applied, you have nothing to worry about. Think about it, professional riders descent down the Alps and Pyrennes on tubulars on scorching hot days at 60 mph+ and don't have any problems. You'll be just fine, enjoy the ride!

Best,

Antonio

[stevep]

if you do it you had better be prepared for whats next.
2 pr lightweight wheels
2 pr adas
$1,500 worth of tires..
i say, buy the porsche instead.

they do ride better but...
they are a pita no matter...unless you lived next to tt.

i quit tubulars about 5-7 years ago when i got a bunch of not round but very expensive tires in a row, very evil...gave it up for the moment..but i do have a pr of dynamite tubular wheels waiting in the basement for rebirth.

went to michelin and they are soooo round and so easy...and ride pretty good too...they support my program generously to boot.

[Jack Brunk]

You are not doing your top notch frames justice. You've only seen about 90% of your frames potential. You won't believe what that last 10% feels like. Go for it and with minimal practice, you'll be able to change a flat faster on a tubular than a clincher. Good luck.


Jack

[Kevin]

I am scared of the unknown (the glues and the mess). I am sticking with clinchers.

Kevin

[mike p]

if you do it you had better be prepared for whats next.
2 pr lightweight wheels
2 pr adas
$1,500 worth of tires..
i say, buy the porsche instead.

they do ride better but...
they are a pita no matter...unless you lived next to tt.

i quit tubulars about 5-7 years ago when i got a bunch of not round but very expensive tires in a row, very evil...gave it up for the moment..but i do have a pr of dynamite tubular wheels waiting in the basement for rebirth.

went to michelin and they are soooo round and so easy...and ride pretty good too...they support my program generously to boot.


+1 They are better, not a nite and day difference but they are better. But no matter what anybody tells you they are a hassle. I'm down to two set's of tubular wheels and only use them for racing

Mike

[swoop]

sew-ups, gluing them, and replacing on the road is no more difficult than changing a clincher. frankly, changing a flat is easier if you ask me.
that being said... with today's clinchers on most road bikes.... there isn't much of a performance improvement (from sew-ups) and some argue that improper guing costs you wattage compared tubulars....

so, just ride what you like based on your own experience.. but go have the experience first. gluing is a nice meditative thing.... it's not hard... anyone can do it.

between you and me.. given the choice.. dare i say (?) i prefer clinchers.

[Ginger]

Princess (as in princess and the pea, bike-a-chondriac Ginger) says that you should give them a try. Perhaps go with something a little more everyday first...and give them a good try at different inflation levels...

I like them. This summer I'll be riding my set of tubulars more often...really I will. I really really like them...we'll see if I really like them or if my little forays on them just weren't enough to form a neutral/negative opinion of them.

[catulle]

Atmo,

-There is a small entry fee to pay. Namely, it is a good idea to have some cheap old rims were to stretch your tubulars before installing. Buy new tubulars and just keep them on the cheap rims for stretching. There is glue to buy. You need at least one spare tubular with glue in case you have a flat. I have some six old rims for which I paid about two dollars for each (new old stock).

-Once you have all the gear about you, the process of gluing tubulars is very easy if you learn to keep it nice and simple. Namely, on a new rim apply a light coat of glue, let it dry (an hour or less, or overnight if you want to), then apply a couple of additional coats following the same procedure. Plastic gloves (Atmo's advice) work great and help keep things nice and neat.

-Pump some air into the new tubular, just enough to turn the inside out and to make it manageable. Same procedure with glue as above. A few light coats of glue and let it dry well. Of course, the new tubular has been stretched before the application of the glue.

-Once the glue is nice and dry on both the rim and tubular, to apply the stretched tubular to the rim is easy and neat. Pump some air into the tubular, just enough to align it properly with the rim and you're set to fill it to the desired pressure. If you've done it right, the end result will be perfectly neat; as if you hadn't used glue at all.

-A pre-glued spare tubular is not messy at all either. A tubular is certainly bulkier than a spare innertube to carry but that's a small price to pay. If you get a flat, simply peel off the flat tubular and fit the spare one. Once you inflate it, the dry glue will hold the tubular to the rim just fine.

-The learning curve is pretty short. For me, the most important issue is to keep things neat; once you learn to do that, you'll soon gain confidence and start to really enjoy riding tubulars.

-Of course, if you don't want to bother, just don't; it's simple.

[manet]

Tubbies are ... tubbies ... just my 2 cents...

Smiley _ if you need to use baby talk well ok, but spell the baby correctly...
TUBIES not tubbies. tubbies are fat gay englishmen adorned in colored suits that frolic about on green pastures and hide from the religious-wrong's flame thrower by sitting it out in an underground bunker.

climb _ whatever...

BUT if you're on carbon rims you better be on sew-ups. this laminating of aluminum to make a clincher out of an otherwise nice light, fairly aero rim is absurd.

do a mock-up first by carrying around your wife's hand bag.

[swoop]

which one is pucci?

[stevep]

im the one in yellow. the jerk is the geek on the right.
the others are serotta andrew and serotta dave powers.