Handmade Tubulars!

[sspielman]

Okay, for all of you who have an addiction to great tubulars-not that trashy smack that is readily available on the street- there is a new company of interest.
Dugasts have been discussed on this forum from time to time, usually in reverent, hushed tones. This respect was well fonded for the REAL Dugasts, but since the company was sold a couple of years ago, the quality has headed south in a handbasket. I wouldn't touch one with a ten foot pole.
Of course, Veloflex remains superb...with quality that is even better than most of the tires of the "good old days" Unfortunately, their offerings are limited to three basic models...all with cotton casings.
So, there is a new company from France- "Francois Marie Boyaux". According to rumour, Francois Marie was a former employee and apprenticed under Andre Dugast. In any event, they come highly recommended by a source that I trust. The website is fm-boyaux.fr. I have no idea if he sells directly or if their is anyone who is thinking about importing.
It is great to hear that another craftsman is interested in doing it right and that the craft is still alive. I would be very interested in hearing any other info that anybody has on these tires or the company.

[coylifut]

Okay, for all of you who have an addiction to great tubulars-not that trashy smack that is readily available on the street- there is a new company of interest.
Dugasts have been discussed on this forum from time to time, usually in reverent, hushed tones. This respect was well fonded for the REAL Dugasts, but since the company was sold a couple of years ago, the quality has headed south in a handbasket. I wouldn't touch one with a ten foot pole.
Of course, Veloflex remains superb...with quality that is even better than most of the tires of the "good old days" Unfortunately, their offerings are limited to three basic models...all with cotton casings.
So, there is a new company from France- "Francois Marie Boyaux". According to rumour, Francois Marie was a former employee and apprenticed under Andre Dugast. In any event, they come highly recommended by a source that I trust. The website is fm-boyaux.fr. I have no idea if he sells directly or if their is anyone who is thinking about importing.
It is great to hear that another craftsman is interested in doing it right and that the craft is still alive. I would be very interested in hearing any other info that anybody has on these tires or the company.

you need to hang out with the cx crowd. we've been all over this for a year

:beer: :beer: :beer:

[sspielman]

you need to hang out with the cx crowd. we've been all over this for a year

:beer: :beer: :beer:

I don't know about that CX crowd...I hear that certain members of THAT group here on the Forum have actually had their threads removed...something about Youtube and political dissidents, but my ADD prevented me from fully following the plot....

On topic, have you tried or seen any of these?

[11.4]

I picked up a couple of the road tires plus a handful of assorted track tires last time I was in Europe. They are quite nice, like the Dugasts of several years ago. (Dugasts today don't even look the same -- the road tires and basic black-tread Pistes are far diminished in quality from what they were when Andre still ran the shop under the velodrome.) He has quite an audience among the long-distance audax/randonee kind of crowd, and more of the racing set are showing up. If you go to the shop, you can pick through tires in the bins and if you race or are in a legitimate club jersey (i.e., not a Discovery or T-mobile jersey from Colo Cyclist) you can buy at his wholesale rates. (Dugast lets you do the same thing, so you can buy pink track silks, for example, for about $75 a tire -- quite nice if you happen to be passing nearby.)

The casings are good, the treads are mostly (but not all) Thai (same as Dugasts again). The handwork actually looks a bit erratic to the eyeball, but the tires so far haven't been lumpy and ride very nicely. They are a fairly loose fit (more than Veloflex, not as loose as a Vittoria Evo Pista). That being said, I don't see a real advantage over, say, a Veloflex Criterium. It's a case of being a 97 on the quality scale, or a 98.