Value priced tubular tires?

[paredown]

(I didn't say cheap...)

How bad are Vittoria Rally's? --I see these on eBay for $37-44...

I see Tufos for a little more money--then a cluster of ones around $50 ish.

(I thought I's solved this with a set of bargain Zipp Tangentes from Merlin--but one out of four failed during first inflation--hand pump, not crazy... and a second failed overnight--they are refunding me but still...)

Looking for something in a true 25 (the Zipps claim to be a 27, but inflate about like a 25)...

Recommendations?

[AngryScientist]

Vittoria Rubino Pro's are pretty nice and usually found for around 50ish a tire.

[thwart]

Hard to beat the price of Andy Muzi’s Yellow Jersey tubulars…

I mean $60 for 3. Really.

http://www.yellowjersey.org/tt.html

To be clear, I’ve never ridden them, but know folks who have.

[Pastashop]

How fat of a tubular do you seek?.. Occasionally there will be sales by the UK-based shops, where you could get into a Rubino / Strada class of a tire in 25 or 27 mm width for under $30 each, but prices seem to have gone up substantially recently. Bike 24 has some great deals on the cheaper tires, but it may be worth saving up for a better $40/$50-ish tire from Vittoria / Challenge / Veloflex / Schwalbe, like these:

https://www.bike24.com/p296329.html?...868,1951,22,35
https://www.bike24.com/p2307271.html...868,1951,22,35

... with a pouch of Caffe Latex sealant, you should be able to get longer life out of them. There's also Tire Alert, who will replace a tube for a fee, which is worthwhile if the tire is good to begin with. (I have a stash of otherwise nice tires that are out of service due to failure of the valve core, which I'm planning to send in for repair over the coming year... plus a few 22, 24, 25mm tires that are new or near-new that go unridden, as I've all but stopped riding on paved roads.)

[jamesdak]

Yep, Veloflex's from UK have been my go to and I can normally catch them for sale in the $40 range. Haven't bought any in a year though so I don't know what today's prices are.

[tuscanyswe]

Best "non expensive" tubular is the conti sprinter imo.

Tho 3 for 60 damn..

[chrisroph]

No such thing as a good cheap tubular. Get Conti steher, vittoria or veloflex.

[glepore]

Veloflex Arenbergs at Merlin at around 50.

[pasadena]

Originally Posted by thwart

Hard to beat the price of Andy Muzi’s Yellow Jersey tubulars…

I mean $60 for 3. Really.

http://www.yellowjersey.org/tt.html

To be clear, I’ve never ridden them, but know folks who have.

I have a few of these, they are great

[Wakatel_Luum]

Originally Posted by paredown

(I didn't say cheap...)

How bad are Vittoria Rally's? --I see these on eBay for $37-44...

I see Tufos for a little more money--then a cluster of ones around $50 ish.

(I thought I's solved this with a set of bargain Zipp Tangentes from Merlin--but one out of four failed during first inflation--hand pump, not crazy... and a second failed overnight--they are refunding me but still...)

Looking for something in a true 25 (the Zipps claim to be a 27, but inflate about like a 25)...

Recommendations?

Vittoria Rally's are crap. Which is fine as you get what you pay for but the hop at the valve is the hardest part to live with.

[paredown]

Originally Posted by glepore

Veloflex Arenbergs at Merlin at around 50.

Drat--I should have asked before I bought. The Zipps were cheaper--but I was going back and forth on the Arenbergs--and then frugality won out...

[ceya]

Originally Posted by thwart

Hard to beat the price of Andy Muzi’s Yellow Jersey tubulars…

I mean $60 for 3. Really.

http://www.yellowjersey.org/tt.html

To be clear, I’ve never ridden them, but know folks who have.

Noooo, he raised the price. They were 3 for 50 . Damn, I knew I should have gotten some.

[martl]

Originally Posted by paredown

(I didn't say cheap...)

How bad are Vittoria Rally's? --I see these on eBay for $37-44...

I see Tufos for a little more money--then a cluster of ones around $50 ish.

(I thought I's solved this with a set of bargain Zipp Tangentes from Merlin--but one out of four failed during first inflation--hand pump, not crazy... and a second failed overnight--they are refunding me but still...)

Looking for something in a true 25 (the Zipps claim to be a 27, but inflate about like a 25)...

Recommendations?

In my experience, riding "reasonably priced" tubulars is possible, but it comes at the price of losing a good deal of the benefits a really good tubular brings to the table. tires like Rallys or any sort of Tufos i tested feel downright wooden compared to, say, a Veloflex Roubaix.
i do use such tires but not on bikes i ride a lot or greater distances.

the conti sprinter is a reasonable compromise of price/quality

[PETER REID]

Vittoria Rally's are akin to the Conti GS41 or a Wolber junior. Its a good tire as long as you keep the air psi at 90 lbs. If you shop around you can find Tufo's for less. Personally I think that if you are going to ride tubulars, buy good ones and then use 35-45ml of caffe latex in them to prevent punctures. It has always been my opinion that riding clinchers is like pushing the bike through the mud. Tubulars will always give you a nicer ride.

Happy cycling.

[redir]

Rally's are junk and they don't call Tufo garden hoses for nothing

I'd be curious to know about the Yellow Jersey ones but I can tell ya that what they had in the past were junk too.

Life is too short to buy cheap (inexpensive ) tubulars.

Of the ones mentioned here I would say the Sprinters would be as about as cheap as I would go.