tubbies vs clinchers: for recreational riders

There are a ton of posts about tubulars vs clinchers but none of them
addressed the fact that for the recreational rider, going out on a 50
mile spin around his/her favorite route, alone, without a support car
:-), why would he/she use tubulars? Are flats non-existent with
tubbies? I would think it would be a major pain in the butt to have to
strip the flat tubbie off, clean the rim, apply the glue, set the
tubbie on, let it dry, etc etc. I mean I hear people raving about how
tubbies are awesome and was thinking of using an extra pair of 8 speed
chorus hubs I have collecting dust and buying some old school tubbie
Ambrosio or Mavic rims from Fleabay and having a pair built up just to
ride around and see how they are. But if you flat, 60 miles out from
your home, it would be a real pain to change the tires. Anyone else
thinking like I am?

should be tubies....tubbies are those fuzzy creatures from the cartoon
show, Teletubbies :-) sorry for the screw up

wrote:
There are a ton of posts about tubulars vs clinchers but none of them
addressed the fact that for the recreational rider, going out on a 50
mile spin around his/her favorite route, alone, without a support car
:-), why would he/she use tubulars?

He or she would do so for the same reason some fishermen tie flies, or
for the same reason that some RC aviation enthusiasts will invest
hundreds of hours into building some elaborate balsa-framed plane whose
flying life before a crash would be measured in no more than tens of
hours.

Are flats non-existent with tubbies?

No, they exist. Sometimes they leak down more slowly than punctured
clinchers, and the conventional wisdom is that tubies are much less
susceptible to pinch flats than clinchers. But they are thin-treaded
tires and they do get plenty of punctures of other kinds.

I would think it would be a major pain in the butt to have to
strip the flat tubbie off, clean the rim, apply the glue, set the
tubbie on, let it dry, etc etc.

Yes, it would. But riders who use tubies don't do that. They mount a
replacement tire that has a cured film of glue on it, and they must use
great care to keep the tire and the rim from separating after a
roadside repair.

Chalo

wrote in message
oups.com...
There are a ton of posts about tubulars vs clinchers but none of them
addressed the fact that for the recreational rider, going out on a 50
mile spin around his/her favorite route, alone, without a support car
:-), why would he/she use tubulars? Are flats non-existent with
tubbies? I would think it would be a major pain in the butt to have to
strip the flat tubbie off, clean the rim, apply the glue, set the
tubbie on, let it dry, etc etc. I mean I hear people raving about how
tubbies are awesome and was thinking of using an extra pair of 8 speed
chorus hubs I have collecting dust and buying some old school tubbie
Ambrosio or Mavic rims from Fleabay and having a pair built up just to
ride around and see how they are. But if you flat, 60 miles out from
your home, it would be a real pain to change the tires. Anyone else
thinking like I am?


I ride tubies almost all the time. You get no pinch flats. As far as
glass, pointy rocks, staples, etc. you get about as many punctures as with
clinchers of the same tread thickness.

I inject about 10cc of Slime in the rear tires. You have to buy tires that
have removable valve cores to make this work. This solves about 90% of the
small punctures I would otherwise get.

If I am riding over potholes and gravel roads, then I ride on cyclocross
tubulars. These are almost indestructible, except once when I hit the
shattered bottom of a pop bottle and cut the tire clean through.

With respect to changing tires. It is easier and faster to pull a tubular
tire off and install a new tire than to replace a tube in a clincher setup.
You do not put glue on a rim and just go riding again. Before glue fully
hardens, it actually lubricates the interface between the tire and the rim,
making it easier for the tire to fall off. I put on my spare tire without
new glue. My spare is an older tire that is pre-stretched, and has some
glue residue. I then ride conservatively until I have time to properly glue
the repaired tire back on. No skidding around corners or panic braking.

As far as cleaning the rim, the old glue does not have to be stripped off
unless it is full of dirt. Otherwise, just slap the new glue on.

Finally, don't buy glue in the little tubes. Get the tins of Vittoria
Mastik.

In article
.com,
wrote:

There are a ton of posts about tubulars vs clinchers but none of them
addressed the fact that for the recreational rider, going out on a 50
mile spin around his/her favorite route, alone, without a support car
:-), why would he/she use tubulars? Are flats non-existent with
tubbies? I would think it would be a major pain in the butt to have to
strip the flat tubbie off, clean the rim, apply the glue, set the
tubbie on, let it dry, etc etc. I mean I hear people raving about how
tubbies are awesome and was thinking of using an extra pair of 8 speed
chorus hubs I have collecting dust and buying some old school tubbie
Ambrosio or Mavic rims from Fleabay and having a pair built up just to
ride around and see how they are. But if you flat, 60 miles out from
your home, it would be a real pain to change the tires. Anyone else
thinking like I am?

Since you have read those articles, you know the answer.

--
Michael Press

On 5 Mar 2006 14:10:51 -0800, wrote:

There are a ton of posts about tubulars vs clinchers but none of them
addressed the fact that for the recreational rider, going out on a 50
mile spin around his/her favorite route, alone, without a support car
:-), why would he/she use tubulars? Are flats non-existent with
tubbies?

No. And while to a significant extent it is possible to ride for a
while on a flat tubular, this does not do the wheel or tire any
favors.

I would think it would be a major pain in the butt to have to
strip the flat tubbie off, clean the rim, apply the glue, set the
tubbie on, let it dry, etc etc.

Yes. Now consider the fact that tubulars were originally the only
tires available. Clinchers of some type have been in use for at least
100 years, but they didn't immediately displace the tubular. Modern
clinchers didn't really dominate the market until around WWII from
what I've heard.

I mean I hear people raving about how
tubbies are awesome and was thinking of using an extra pair of 8 speed
chorus hubs I have collecting dust and buying some old school tubbie
Ambrosio or Mavic rims from Fleabay and having a pair built up just to
ride around and see how they are. But if you flat, 60 miles out from
your home, it would be a real pain to change the tires. Anyone else
thinking like I am?

From the fact that clinchers essentially own the recreational and
transport markets, draw your own conclusions. (Of course, the vast
majority of recreational and transport cyclist have probably never
even heard of a tubular tire, and if they had it explained to them,
they'd most likely wonder how something that bizarre ever got
started.)
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Per :
But if you flat, 60 miles out from
your home, it would be a real pain to change the tires. Anyone else
thinking like I am?

Not me. I once rode around the island of Oahu with a guy who was on tubs.
When he flatted, my impression was that he was up and running again faster than
I would have been had I patched a clincher tube. He just sort of ripped the
old tire off and slapped a new one on.
--
PeteCresswell

On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:10:51 -0800, mxd1007 wrote:

There are a ton of posts about tubulars vs clinchers but none of them
addressed the fact that for the recreational rider, going out on a 50
mile spin around his/her favorite route, alone, without a support car
:-), why would he/she use tubulars? Are flats non-existent with
tubbies? I would think it would be a major pain in the butt to have to
strip the flat tubbie off, clean the rim, apply the glue, set the
tubbie on, let it dry, etc etc.

Well, I share the initial question -- and decided for myself that it was
not worth the trouble and expense to continue to use tubulars, especially
since clinchers have gotten so much better, and tubies have not.

But you don't have to do all that when you change a flat tubular on the
road. You just pull off the flat one, put on a (previously glued)
spare, and go. Faster than changing a tube on a clincher, which was one
of the points of using them for racers back when they had to change their
own flats.

Flats are far, far from nonexistent with tubulars, and the argument that
they are immune from pinch flats is both not true and not important,
because pinch flats are not a problem if you use proper tire pressure and
wide-enough tires to support yourself.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not
_`\(,_ | certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to
(_)/ (_) | reality. -- Albert Einstein

peter wrote:
Werehatrack wrote:
On 5 Mar 2006 14:10:51 -0800, wrote:
I mean I hear people raving about how
tubbies are awesome and was thinking of using an extra pair of 8 speed
chorus hubs I have collecting dust and buying some old school tubbie
Ambrosio or Mavic rims from Fleabay and having a pair built up just to
ride around and see how they are. But if you flat, 60 miles out from
your home, it would be a real pain to change the tires. Anyone else
thinking like I am?

From the fact that clinchers essentially own the recreational and
transport markets, draw your own conclusions.

I used sewup tires for awhile a few decades ago since they came on a
used bike that I bought at a good price. I changed it over to clincher
tires after the sewups wore out since clinchers were less expensive to
buy and easier to repair.

But changing a flat tire out on the road was much faster and more
convenient with the sewups. Just pull the old one off (no levers
needed), put on the spare (no messing with a separate tube and prying
the last inch of bead over the rim), and pump it up.

The harder part came later at home when the flatted sewup had to be
taken apart to be patched and then sewed back together.

You can change one on the road in no time, depending on your rim
cement. Back in the day, that old red crap held them pretty tight, and
you might have a little struggle. Ordinarily, though, it was fast.
You had to do the whole pains-taking repair job when you got home.
Jobst always talks about the bad old days when he used to have get
together with his friends to fix sew-ups. He tells that story to show
that sew-ups were a pain in the ass (which they were), but those
get-togethers sounded like fun -- a manly sewing circle -- drink beer,
stitch tires, swap bicycling stories. Beats Nick at Night or those
men's groups where they beat drums. I am getting so nostalgic with all
these tubular threads that I am thinking of resurrecting a pair just
for the hell of it. -- Jay Beattie.

writes:

There are a ton of posts about tubulars vs clinchers but none of
them addressed the fact that for the recreational rider, going out
on a 50 mile spin around his/her favorite route, alone, without a
support car :-), why would he/she use tubulars?

This has been addressed many times.

Are flats non-existent with tubbies?

No. And it's "tubulars," "sew-ups" or "tubs" in English. "Tubbies"
is derogatory for obese people.

I would think it would be a major pain in the butt to have to strip
the flat tubbie off, clean the rim, apply the glue, set the tubbie
on, let it dry, etc etc.

Umm, that's not how it works. Have you ever had *any* experience with
tubulars?

I mean I hear people raving about how tubbies are awesome and was
thinking of using an extra pair of 8 speed chorus hubs I have
collecting dust and buying some old school tubbie Ambrosio or Mavic
rims from Fleabay and having a pair built up just to ride around and
see how they are. But if you flat, 60 miles out from your home, it
would be a real pain to change the tires. Anyone else thinking like
I am?

Probably not. Tubulars are simple to change and take only a couple of
minutes. The problem comes when you have one more flat than you have
spare tubulars. Or when you want to actually patch the tube.

Personally I think that tubulars are a PITA and not worth the
trouble. But there are many who think otherwise, and for them it is
good that there are options.