VN: Clinchers vs. Tubulars
posted by funkdaddy at 12:50 PM
Thursday, November 17, 2005
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9 Comments:
filling a tire with sludge and trying to keep it from burping sounds like loads more work than gluing a tire...watched Kabush running with his rolled clincher filled with sealant towards the pits at Alpenrose pointed out a major drawback - definitely not quasi-ridable like a flat tubular. - Evan
I've found that a thick layer of poo around your rim is better then tublars or an inter-tube.
Was this article sponsored by the American Clincher Tire Council or what? The michelin tread is really good, no doubt, but I'm pretty surprised that the author is giving so much credit to clinchers. Was there no mention of PINCH FLATS? Come on! In my experience, when a clincher pressure is low enough so the tire starts to feel like it works, you end up pinching on some rock or bump once you are going fast. Also, gluing tubulars isn't brain surgery. Anyone can do it. "If you're debating wether you need tubulars you probably don't" -what a lame thing to say. There was also no mention of the new tread patterns on the Challenge tubulars. There is an extra row of side knobs on their new knobby and it looks a lot better than the classic grifo tread in that respect. Challenge also has a really nice new file tread that has decent side knobs as well. Last year (or so) Dugast also came out with a slightly different new tread as well. The reason the new offerings are not totally new and different from the classic Grifo tread? That tread pattern works incredibly well in a huge range of conditions! Obviously there are guys who are winning on clinchers, but these same guys could probably win with no tires on their rims at all. I think the average cx newby that reads this article will come away with the impression that Euros use tubulars because they're very traditional and therefore unwilling to try the new, faster clinchers that we now have here in the US. What rot! They use tubulars because they're faster, period. More expensive, time consuming, all that. Also, faster. Let's all not forget- Tim Johnson is sponsored by Michelin.
They did mention pinch flats.
Tubies are a pain in the butt, but I love racing them. Def not for everybody, and I think the article sums it up, though nobody I know rides them because of 'tradition'. Last Fall I probably spent 20+ hours gluing tubulars on my 3 sets of race wheels...that's the one thing I don't miss about not being able to race this year.
OK, so I should have gone back and re- read the article a little before I began my rant. To me though, the fact that with clinchers, you spend the whole race trying not to let your tires bottom out makes me slower and more tentative (than I already am).
This is my third season racing, and every year I’ve pinch flatted at least once in a race. I’m carrying around a little less than 170lbs, so running at a low enough pressure to really improve traction with clinchers puts me at the borderline pinch flat regime. Someone (JAC) finally convinced me that investing in a set of tubulars is the way to go. I’m now a true believer. It takes sometime to learn how to dial in pressure and they do handle differently, but their advantage is tremendous…and they’re way fast, especially over the bumpy crap…and there are more tread offering showing up on the market (check out the new Flexus from Tufo).
I bought Tufos once, the casing was like buttah but the tread design SUCKED particularly the lack of shoulder knobs. All the guys who profess to love tufos must be covering up the fact that you need to change your cornering technique to suit the tire. Adam Craig had it right, a tufo casing with Michelin tread would be sweeet.
you can get dugust with michelin tread. about 130 a tire. but maybe worth it to some?
two words. tufo tape ( or the belgian equiv).
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