FMB starts making clinchers for road and cross

[jpritchet74]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

mine are looking good, rolling fast and comfy!

What's the inflated tire width on those Fulcrum Boras?

Also, if the tread was to come off like that, is Gorilla glue the best glue to use? I had that happen to some Veloflex tires a few years ago and tossed them. Should have just tried gluing the tread but hadn't thought of that at the time.

[Vamoots58]

Originally Posted by merckx

i have had extensive experience with fmb. Qc and/or methodology is hit or miss.

+1

[Toddykins]

Funny, in my experience there is a lot of consistency - Not a single road or cx tubular I tried from FMB lasted more than a few hundred KM. Most common issue, tread separation.

[Jan Heine]

I've raced on FMB tubulars for 10 years now – on the same set of Super Muds that have been incredibly reliable and durable. (Caveat: I don't ride them on pavement, where the small knobs would wear out almost immediately, and I only race a few times a year.) The FMB's wonderful ride is what convinced us to sell them at Rene Herse Cycles. I finally will replace them this autumn. The sidewalls are starting to look scruffy from abrasions. FMBs also have a great reputation in the pro peloton, where a tread coming off could lose an important race or cause a crash. (The pros have to pay for their FMBs like everybody else, so they use them only in very important races where they want better tires than their sponsors offer.)

That said, tread separation can be an issue with all hand-glued tires. Basically, there are three ways to make a tire:

- Vulcanize: The tire is heated and partially melted to fuse casing and tread together. This is how most production tires, including our Rene Herse tires, are made. The tread is inseparable from the casing.
- The tread is glued onto an inflated tire casing. This is how FMB makes their tires.
- The tread is glued onto the casing while it's laying flat on a workbench. This is how most small-production tires (Challenge, etc.) are made.

The first two result in the tread naturally being in the shape of the inflated tire. The third has a flat tread, which is stretched into shape as you inflate the tire. When the tire flattens at the bottom of the wheel, it returns to its 'natural' state. As it leaves the ground, it stretches back to the round shape. This takes more energy than flattening a tire that is naturally round – we've compared tires made with both methods, and the flat-glued ones were significantly slower.

Why don't all boutique tire makers glue the tread onto the inflated casing? Apart from the fact that you need a wheel for each tire that you have in production, you also can't apply much pressure, since you're gluing the tread onto an air-filled tire casing. This means that the glue bond is not always perfect. It's usually not an issue, but if there are other factors compromising the glue bond, it's sometimes not enough to stick reliably. These other factors are usually humidity in the air – the glue doesn't work as well when it's hot and humid. That is why most boutique tire makers switched to flat-glued tires – where you can push down much harder – when they moved production to SE Asia (where it's hot and humid most of the time). FMB is in Brittany, where it rarely gets hot and humid. If it does, they don't glue treads on tires for a day or two.

We've been testing FMB's clincher tires, but some of the magic of the tubulars is lost in the process of converting them to open construction. As others mentioned, the clinchers have a rubber coating on the inside to protect the casing from damage as the tire is mounted. That makes them less supple than tubulars, which don't need protection on the inside. And since the tires aren't tubeless-compatible, it's hard to see them being popular in 'cross. For gravel riding, these might be wonderful, but 'cross racers will opt either for tubulars or for tubeless tires to avoid pinch flats.

Jan Heine
Rene Herse Cycles

[denapista]

I would be bummed if my tread looked like that fresh from packaging.. Nothing a simple brush of Mastik wouldn't fix though. I've had tread come up like that before, and simply glued it and never noticed it again..

[Gabuyo]

Originally Posted by pritchet74

Also, if the tread was to come off like that, is Gorilla glue the best glue to use? I had that happen to some Veloflex tires a few years ago and tossed them. Should have just tried gluing the tread but hadn't thought of that at the time.

I did a little research and it seems a cyanoacrylate based glue will work the best for rubber adhesion. Gorilla has a few different formulas of glue, including one that is cyanoacrylate based, but the “original” formula is not ideal for bonding to rubber.

[Gabuyo]

Just a little update, FMB sent over a replacement, no questions asked, new tire has no issues. I did not need to return the faulty tire and I just glued the tread back on myself.

[martl]

i'm a sucker for traditionally built tires myself, but after some mixed experiences with "boutique" tires from Dugast and Challenge (super nice while they lasted, which wasnt very long due to quality imperfactions owed to the hand-made process), i stick to Veloflexes which seem to provide a good compromise between consistent quality and classic tire manufacturing

[Lionel]

Originally Posted by martl

i'm a sucker for traditionally built tires myself, but after some mixed experiences with "boutique" tires from Dugast and Challenge (super nice while they lasted, which wasnt very long due to quality imperfactions owed to the hand-made process), i stick to Veloflexes which seem to provide a good compromise between consistent quality and classic tire manufacturing

This is what I do as well. Veloflex are very consistent in my experience. Once in a while I buy a pair of FMB though. They always worked well for me.

[jpritchet74]

Can someone PLEASE get me an inflated tire width on a rim that's ~24mm wide external?

[jc031699]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

VERY common on these and Dugast. I was going to comment on I hope they figured out a way to keep the tread stuck to the case better, I guess not..

NEW tire and tread coming off..and Gorilla glue??..I'm guessing you see how expensive these are, yes?

Totally agree. It happened to my tubulars too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jkbrwn]

https://bikerumor.com/2021/03/03/fmb...beless-update/

New tubeless FMBs. That's a hard pass from me based on what I've read about their open tubulars. Sure do look pretty though

[El Chaba]

FMB offering clinchers is sort of like SRAM pushing 1x....If you can’t get a front derailleur to work, design a group without one....For FMB, if you can’t figure out how to keep a base tape from peeling, make tires without one. Unfortunately, they still don’t know how to keep a tread from peeling.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by El Chaba

FMB offering clinchers is sort of like SRAM pushing 1x....If you can’t get a front derailleur to work, design a group without one....For FMB, if you can’t figure out how to keep a base tape from peeling, make tires without one. Unfortunately, they still don’t know how to keep a tread from peeling.

What he said, along with Dugast...

Even JH says so.

That said, tread separation can be an issue with all hand-glued tires. :

[El Chaba]

It’s funny how tread peeling doesn’t seem to be an issue with Veloflex, and they are completely handmade as well....