[Pierre]

Had to change a valve on the rear wheel of my track bike this week. Pulling the tubular off was quite easy. Dealing with the old cement on the aluminium rim...well that was another story!!!

The previous owner must have really caked on that stuff as it was so thick that no amount of Goo-be-Gone was gonna help. Resorted to help from the internet and found some chap who claimed that careful application of heat from a torch would take care of it with ease. I winced at the thought but then winced at the prospect of any more time wasted on removal so gave it a try.

Well, that worked but man, it still took some time believe it or not. The suggestion was to heat until the glue starts to bubble and then wipe glue off. Well, the glue was previously applied so thick that I had to resort to a few different rounds of heat/bubble/wipe for it to finally work. Wow. The approach was effective though. You do go through a few rags as you need to make sure that you have a clean part of the rag to wipe with for each pass. If you make the mistake of using a previously used bit well, back goes the glue on the rim!

But the work doesn't end there. Apply new cement/wait hours repeat 3x, wait longer, apply again, then put tubular on. Holy crap. Who has got time for this???

Anyway, just whining. I do love the idea of the tubulars though, but this is definitely a reminder of why I just cannot afford the time commitment of having these on the road bike!