What Happened to Tubular Popularity?
 

I mean, I can understand the decline in popularity of Campy, but why tubulars? It seems that, at one time, tubulars were the only option, but as time went on, clinchers overtook tubulars in popularity, even though some people still ride tubulars. Given, they're cantankerous old men who pine for the glory days of downtube shifters, box rims, and Delta brakes, but they seem to be holdouts to the "tubulars are superior" mindset, and are a vocal bunch. If you can get the same performance out of a modern clincher as you can from a tubular, what's the point? Campagnolo?

Hmmm.

I use tubulars and Campagnolo....

Clincher technology has gotten much better and good tubulars are more expensive and far less convenient than good clinchers.

It's simple: cyclists have become "Nancies." ;)

I only have 2 sets of non tubular wheels out of 10 or so. Still popular at my house .)

This. Plus the usual reluctance of most folks to want to deal with gluing.

I was a long time tubular user, but clinchers just seem to make more sense now. I still believe tubular -can- ride nicer, but not by a huge margin anymore. Wheels are being designed in a way that 23mm tires balloon out to 25mm or more, with low rolling resistance and a lot of comfort.
A top of the line clincher tire like the GP4000SII can be found online very easily for $35 US. And its just so easy to swap out to a new tire on race day, etc.

I think the main reason pro's still use tubulars is because they are safer when they flat, and can be ridden flat, at least for a little while, while they wait for a support car to get to them.

I'm the same as El Chaba...

Campy and tubulars on all 3 of my current road bikes...hope to have #4 built up later this year.

Switched to Campy in 2001 and haven't looked back.

Made the move to tubulars in 2010 thanks to Old Potatoe and Vecchio's who built up my first tubbie wheelset, Record hubs on Major Tom rims. I really don't look at clinchers anymore...I do have one set of Shamals that I run tubeless that are now kind of a backup wheelset.

Tubulars are not difficult at all.

A slight learning curve but gluing is easy and straight-forward. The Effetto Mariposa Carogna tape makes things super easy!!!

BTW, I had many more flats when I ran normal clinchers than I have had on tubulars. (Knock on wood!!!)

i have 2 wheelsets that are tubulars never had a problem with flats. all bikes use campy, no problem either.

Tubulars are great. Its the people that are the problem.

I pretty much ride tubulars on all my road bikes. If you want lightweight wheels in the 1200 gram range and aero, there's very little that will compete. Tubeless has taken a share of the market, but then you're over 1500 grams. Vittoria Corsa have been the go to tire recently, great ride and about $35 a tire.

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Not adding much, but...

Clinchers are just so much more convenient. If I get a flat while training, it takes me around 5 minutes to get back riding (assuming the puncture isn't catastrophic).

If I flat a tubular, sure I can hit it with sealant, or peel it off and swap it out, but then I have to spend an hour when I get home gluing on a new tire. Once the tire is punctured, I would have trouble feeling confident cornering on it in a race or a hard group ride. So to me, the expensive tire is now trash.

(Disclaimer: I race on tubulars and ride campy)

C’mon! Tubulars are much more of a hassle.

I rode and raced on tubulars exclusively throughout the 80s and 90s. I loved the way Vittoria CXs and CGs felt compared the crappy clinchers of the day, and as a big rider, I’d get snakebite punctures whenever I tried to ride a narrow clinchers.

But tubies were a huge hassle. I remember unfondly the days of having tires in my closet prestretching on old rims, and pregluing and gluing tires, and having to find ways to carry multiple spare tires on long rides, and spending hours cutting apart and resewing tire casings to repair $50 tubulars (very expensive back then) that punctured on the first day of use.

Ride modern wider clincher rims like a HED Belgiums or Belgium plus rims, with good quality tires and latex tubes, and the ride quality is pretty damn close to that of a quality tubular. A good clincher setup rides far better that the affordable garden-hose quality tubulars you use for training and every-day riding. And quality tubulars are far more expensive than clinchers.

I don’t miss tubulars at all. I know can just ride my bike and carry a couple of spare tubes and a patch kit in my saddle bag. In a pinch, I can walk into any bike shop and purchase a tire. This is not the case with tubies.

When Conti makes a GP4000II in tubeless (Conti is working on it I was told at HAHBS), I’ll likely go that route. Until then, clinchers are great.

Folks are always eager to point out the technological advancements in clinchers, and imply that somehow tubulars have been sitting still over the same amount of time.

Vittoria Corsa G+ tubulars are the jam man, and ride better than even the clincher version of the same tire.

Wide rims happened.