I'm used to the clinchers but I'm thinking about getting tubulars for the new tri bike. I'm just worried that if I get a flat in a race, my day is over. Any thoughts?

And that isn't true with clinchers? I don't know spit about tris. Are the gaps big enough that it's worth the bother of changing a flat on the road?

We roadies have something called the "support car." :)

In my experience, (28 years on tubulars, then 7 years on clinchers), it takes about the same time to change a flat with either type of tire. However, if you've got hands of steel and can rip your flatted tubular off with nary a single grimace, fixing a flat with a tubular would probably take considerably less time than with a clincher. For one, you don't have to feel around on the inside of the tire to track down that thorn, nail or staple that did you wrong. You just rip the old one off, slap the new one on, pump her up and go.

I don't know much about tubular wheels and tires, but what about the glue? Doesn't the new tire need any or is there enough left over from the other tire's mounting to glue the new one on?

Right. I am thinking it would take less time to mount a tubular on a wheel, but I've read that it takes seveal hours for the glue to dry. Is it possible to put on a new tubular and immediately hop on the bike and start riding again?

Is it possible to put on a new tubular and immediately hop on the bike and start riding again?

Yes, it is. As a matter of fact, that quick tire change without using new glue was one reason why racers without support cars rode tubulars exclusively. Two things are important if you want to do a quick on-the-road change:

1. You need to learn to glue tubulars right—strong enough to not roll off the rim during high speed cornering, but not so strong that you can't rip them off the rim rapidly.

2. The spare you carry must be an older, stretched tubular that's been on the road before and has some glue left on it.

After such a tire change, you do need to ride more carefuly through turns than you normally would.

As a footnote, a tip that I hesitate to recommend, but that worked for me: when glueing up a road-race tubular, I left two identifiable 2-inch sections of rim dry to give me a start when ripping the tubular off. These sections can't be adjacent—they must be separated by at least 2 inches of glue-covered rim. Some of my team members placed two 2-inch strips of paper (also separated by at least 2 inches of glued rim) between the tire and the rim for the same reason. I can't recommend this for criteriums.

And again: never carry a brand-new tubular as a spare. It won't stick to the rim well, and it's a bear to get on the rim.

As a footnote, a tip that I hesitate to recommend, but that worked for me: when glueing up a road-race tubular, I left two identifiable 2-inch sections of rim dry to give me a start when ripping the tubular off. These sections can't be adjacent—they must be separated by at least 2 inches of glue-covered rim. Some of my team members placed two 2-inch strips of paper (also separated by at least 2 inches of glued rim) between the tire and the rim for the same reason. I can't recommend this for criteriums.

Great tip, thanks! :thumbsup:

Great tip

Well, as they say in German, it didn't grow on my manure pile. It came from an old training bible written by Rudi Altig and Karl Link, champion riders in the mid-1960s.

The scan shows the paper strip method. The book also suggests to put the strips opposite the valve hole at the rim weld seam (usually covered by a sticker). That way, Altig says, you can immediately find the place you need to start ripping the tire off. As everyone who's done this knows, the start is the problem.

To the OP: fast rear wheel removal and replacement is important as well. If you have a rear flat, get the chain onto the smallest cog even before you're off the bike.

So it sounds like you really have to know what you're doing before you feel comfortable racing on these things. I know clinchers may take some time to get off and on, but I guess I like the comfort of knowing that they won't roll off the rim will taking a steep downhill turn. Any more thoughts out there? I'd love to be convinced to get tubulars b/c a lot of the wheels I am looking at only come in tubular.

So it sounds like you really have to know what you're doing before you feel comfortable racing on these things

Nothing you couldn't learn in one evening of googling tubular tires. But you do need to change a few tubular flats just riding around so you remain calm if you flat in a race.

Remember that the complex and detailed tubular mounting instructions you'll usually see on the web apply to the shop only. Out on the road it really is just rip flat off, put spare on, inflate.

As a footnote, a tip that I hesitate to recommend, but that worked for me: when glueing up a road-race tubular, I left two identifiable 2-inch sections of rim dry to give me a start when ripping the tubular off. These sections can't be adjacent—they must be separated by at least 2 inches of glue-covered rim. Some of my team members placed two 2-inch strips of paper (also separated by at least 2 inches of glued rim) between the tire and the rim for the same reason. I can't recommend this for criteriums.

Also,if you use the Tufo Extreme tape-leave a diagonal 1/4" wide gap in the tape at the opposite side of the rim from the valve hole to save sore fingers later.-credit Rocco for this tip amongst the many he had for me as I just received my first set of tubulars today(Campag Boras).

In the "good old days", racers would sometimes wrap a spare tubular around the seat tube and the seat/chainstays. This way, should they get a rear flat, all they nneded to do was to cut off the flat, stretch on the spare, and continue along-all in less than 1 minute. Of course, the glue wouldn't have set, but at least they could continue. This was in the days before repair crew cars, BTW....

I'm sorry. I still don't fully understand. Does the glue have to set for hours or not? They say it does, but then it sounds like you can just slap them on and go. What is the chance that they are going to roll off?

I don't know either what the previous poster meant by " . . the glue wouldn't have set."

When you pull the flat tire off, you're left with a rim which has old glue on it. Because tubular tire glue hardens extremely slow, that residual glue on the rim still has "sticky" left, even if it was put on months ago.

A previously used spare tire also will have some glue left on it. When you place the spare on the rim, the two old glue surfaces will bond, a bit like contact cement. When you inflate the spare, the bond strengthens instantly and you can ride. For the first few minutes of your continued ride, the bond strengthens even more as the tire beds itself into the rim.

Because you bonded old glue surfaces together, the bond isn't quite as strong as a bond made in the shop with fresh glue. But the difference isn't as great as many people believe. Unless you're descending in 95-degree heat, all you have to do is exercise the same kind of caution you would riding in rain: full out on the straights, hold back just a bit in very tight turns.

In 23 years of riding and racing on tubulars, I have never seen anyone carry a tube of glue as part of their spare kit or use fresh glue while mounting a spare on the road. Almost all tubular tires I've seen rolling off a rim were not road-repair spares, but tires mounted hastily by inexperienced riders in their home or shop, or tires that had been on a rim for more than one season and were not checked for adhesion. It's much more likely that your first efforts at glueing tubulars will result in a tire that will be very difficult to get off the rim should you flat.

Ok, so there may be a bit more risk involved but it's not too bad. My next question is, what benefits does a tubular have over clincher?

That's been debated ever since good clinchers became available in the late 1970s. For me, the only three benefits that no one can argue away are

1. Tubulars tend to stay on the rim when they flat,

2. Because they do, you can ride a flat tubular some miles to the finish line or home,

3. If you're good at it, you can be on your way again in 2 minutes or less after you flat a tubular.

I gave up on them because of the costs—I no longer have the patience to repair flatted tubulars and would throw them away.

Off to Boston to the Head of the Charles Rowing Regatta. Later.