What Happened to Tubular Popularity?

[smontanaro]

Originally Posted by El Chaba

I use tubulars and Campagnolo....

Ditto. When I got into vintage cycling several years ago, tubular wheels were actually less expensive. It doesn't hurt that I like the ride better, or that I used them back in college. Back then (early 70s), that's what decent bikes came with.

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[palincss]

Originally Posted by smontanaro

Ditto. When I got into vintage cycling several years ago, tubular wheels were actually less expensive. It doesn't hurt that I like the ride better, or that I used them back in college. Back then (early 70s), that's what decent bikes came with.

That's what some decent bikes came with. You could get Paramounts with either tubulars or clinchers, and most Jack Taylor models were made for clinchers.

[marciero]

Tubulars on a 700c bike that gets ridden 20% of the time and only in-season, but I've only had a single flat in going on three years, and that one happened after I got home and was able to seal it with sealant.
But that's not why I ride them. To me they just raise the ride and handling to that extra level of smoothness. With them the bike is like a Mercedes 450 SL-not a race bike, but more of a sports touring machine for civilized jaunts up the coast. With tubed clinchers-and these are Compass 28-the ride is more pedestrian. I may revisit and experiment with pressures and do more of a controlled experiment. I think maybe the tubulars mitigates the stiffer ride of the oversize tubing on this steel bike.

The majority of my riding is done on 650b 42 and 48 clinchers. The difference tubed and tubeless of these (at least the 48 so far) is roughly akin to what I am experiencing with clincher vs tubular on the the 700c bike. So maybe I should try road tubeless?

[Vamoots58]

Originally Posted by yakstone

I ride Campy and tubulars.

I don't see gluing tires as a hassle nor is it a hassle to change one on the ride if necessary.

To each his own.

+1 - Tubulars only and Campy Only here!! Also completely agree with not finding mounting a hassle!!

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by palincss

And are a lot harder to fix when they do puncture. So there are four ways in which they are "superior in every way", and five ways in which they are not. I'd say the NAYs have it...

Then don't use them..I see no compelling reason to own any clinchers..all I own are tubulars..

"wear more quickly"..ahh. no..a lot of 'open' clincher casings re the same as the tubular..so 4 to 4..a draw!!

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by .RJ

For all of you cranky tubular riding campy users, how many miles a year are you putting on your tubulars? Training 5k, 8k, 10k miles a year?

Clinchers have gotten really good. I wont ride garbage tires, but with putting a fair amount of miles out on the road I just cant see the hassle of tubulars being worth it for me. Yes, they are hassle compared to dropping by the shop on my ride home, buying 2 new vittoria corsas and putting them on the bike in 15 minutes.

About 3500 or miles a year..more involved with tubulars but not a black art or real hassle. Yup, not worth it for you, yes, 'worth it' for me...must be winter.

[jamesdak]

So as an aside. I've wound up with two sets of older tubular wheels that I want to use. My normal setup on my bikes is usually the Conti 4000s II in 700 x 25 with latex tubes. I can this type setup on my many bikes for 5000-8000 miles a year and normally see maybe one flat.

I'm thinking on running the Veloflex Arenberg or maybe even the Vlaanderen. Can any user of the Vlaanderen speak to how they truly measure, are they to size? The 700 x 25 Conti's measure in the 27/28 mm range so I figure if the Vlaanderen are true to size they should fit on most any bike I chose to use them on. Am I making a good choice?

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by 11.4

If one considers cycling to be at least in significant part an extensive collection of learned skills, one learns more about tire pressures and use of different tires and with a little discernment comes to realize that tubulars are more amenable to optimization in skilled hands than are clinchers.

Cycling is different things to different people.

Sure, there was a time when Campy and tubulars were the 'best' and you had to know how glue tires and rebuild a shifter if you wanted to ride a lot.

Equipment is really good now and its just not necessary any longer, IMO. Its easy to buy a bike with clinchers and shimano 105 and it'll go many thousands of miles with no hassle with nothing more than fresh cables and chain every other year. If you enjoy that stuff, great, but dont thumb your noses at the people that dont, certainly not if we want new people to start riding.

As an aside, I think most of us would fail the pepsi challenge when it came to identifying a nice set of clinchers vs. tubulars.

[yakstone]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Then don't use them..I see no compelling reason to own any clinchers..all I own are tubulars..

"wear more quickly"..ahh. no..a lot of 'open' clincher casings re the same as the tubular..so 4 to 4..a draw!!

I'm with Peter on this one, all my rode wheelsets are tubular and Campy.

However, on my MTB I do run tubeless on two bikes and standard clinchers on one.

[rwsaunders]

Originally Posted by jamesdak

I'm thinking on running the Veloflex Arenberg or maybe even the Vlaanderen. Can any user of the Vlaanderen speak to how they truly measure, are they to size? The 700 x 25 Conti's measure in the 27/28 mm range so I figure if the Vlaanderen are true to size they should fit on most any bike I chose to use them on. Am I making a good choice?

I have ridden about 4,500 miles on Vlaanderens over the past few years and I love them. Not the longest wearing tire but it's comfortable and reliable just like other Veloflex tubulars. They measure just a hair under 27mm at 80psi on Nemesis rims. I have quite a few more miles on Arenberg/Roubaixs which are exceptional tires (measure a hair under 25mm), but I like the ride of the fat boys better. Isn't that what Vlaanderen means?

https://windinmyface.com/gear-tires-...laanderen.html

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by rwsaunders

I have ridden about 4,500 miles on Vlaanderens over the past few years and I love them. Not the longest wearing tire but it's comfortable and reliable just like other Veloflex tubulars. They measure just a hair under 27mm at 80psi on Nemesis rims. I have quite a few more miles on Arenberg/Roubaixs which are exceptional tires (measure a hair under 25mm), but I like the ride of the fat boys better. Isn't that what Vlaanderen means?

https://windinmyface.com/gear-tires-...laanderen.html

Thanks for the insight on the size. I just ordered a set. I'll test fit them on both wheels before gluing to see how they clear on the various bikes.

[VC Slim]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

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

Agreed. While I was changing a tubular flat on a recent group ride the general sentiment of my clincher buddies was why don't I switch.

[Big Dan]

Yeah, I bought into the dream of tubulars years ago.
Cost me a bunch of money and nothing else.
They are all gone now.

[VC Slim]

Originally Posted by John H.

Tubulars haven't been popular for more than 30 years.

Doesn't make them bad, just not the popular choice for most riders.

And most riders are not competitive which is where tubulars were/are used in higher numbers. The pros will thankfully always use tubular and thus be available to enthusiasts.

[VC Slim]

Originally Posted by saab2000

Thousands of miles. Also, my anecdotal experience is that I do flat less often with my tubulars. I have no evidence to back this up nor do I have any agenda of trying to convert people. I’ve just been using them since I got my first road racing bike in 1984. I ride clinchers more nowadays because they’re so close in ride quality that even after 35 years on tubulars I can barely tell the difference. I can tell the difference, but it’s so small as to not matter to me.

When my stash of tubular tires is gone I may be done with them. That’s still a few years away though.

My reply to the why don't I switch question is that my inventory won't let me, lol. My current price point for top end tubulars is around $30. Plus I don't use sealant which allows me to patch flats.