Tufo tubular clincher tires

[1spd]

Ok, so I need to pick up a set of tires for what I call my spare wheels. I basically bought my bike second hand and got two sets of wheels with it but need tires and a cassette to make them both complete if you will.

In any case, the guy I bought the bike from really likes the Tufo tires. I believe he has the Elite's but I am looking at the S33 Pro's. I'm not too stressed about the weight (very odd for me) in this case as the wheels they will be going on are fairly heavy to start with. A set of Velocity Deep V's with White Industries hubs, Sapim spokes and brass nipples (28r/24f). Overall a very nice set of wheels. Durable, stiff, color matching celleste color to my Bianchi...

Ok, so I am curious if anyone has experience with this model or the Tufo's in general. I raced many years ago as a Cat 3 and used to ride tubulars all the time. But I don't race now and tubulars just aren't practical for every day riding imo. I do however like the idea of not getting pinch flats and being able to ride a tire at about 115 lbs. I hear they seem to be pretty durable tires over all.

In this particular case I am seeing several different weights for these tires which makes it a little confusing really. None the less, the highest I have seen is 335g/ea. This would be about the equivalent of say a Conti 4000 all season with a tube I guess. Sure you could go lighter and I have in the past. But I am quite interested in giving these tires a shot just to see if they actually have a similar feel to tubular.

So if you have some history with them or even weights, please post up!

[kbwh]

I'm an anything but Tufo kinda guy. Harsh ride and high rolling resistance seems to be their performance virtues.

Sorry.

[cxwrench]

i will ride almost anything, and do. i have tubular, tubeless, and normal clinchers on wheels that i use regularly. every experience i've had w/ tubular-clinchers causes me to draw the line just shy of using them. pretty much every Tufo road tire i've ever used rides like crap. they are durable, and rarely flat though.

[pmt]

I rode several sets to the point of wearing out one; I liked the ride quality and cornering, but flatting was a big problem and they are not repairable.

Just stay away; there's no point. They're bad for training as you'll get stranded unless you carry a spare, and they're sucky for racing since they're heavy with higher rolling resistance.

I switched to Road Tubeless and never looked back.

[MR_GRUMPY]

Tufo tubular clincher tires are the worst of both worlds.

Stick with clinchers. If you're not racing, stick with $30 clinchers.....or less.
.
.

[1spd]

Well, prior to reading all of this I pretty much made up my mind to stick with what has worked in the past and just get another set of Conti 4000s. They are lighter and seemed to work fine the last time I had them.

I got the bike with a set of Hutchinson's that seem to work pretty well but actually run narrow for their actual size. I have a 23 that looks like a 21 and a 25 (cut a sidewall on one of the 23's and had to get a quick replacement-guy gave me the wrong size) that looks like a 23. So I'm running them staggered like a race car now! None the less they are pretty heavy at 330g! Traction is ok and they are tubless ready. But a cut in the sidewall quickly stopped me from running them tubeless.

Basically I got a nick in the sidewall and made it home. Fortunately it was small enough that it wasn't that big of a problem. But when I tried to patch the tire, nothing would stick because of the sealant and I actually road home with a couple pieces of duct tape on the outside of the tire. It sucked but it worked and I was lucky to have brought my mtb tire pack that actually had a piece of duct tape in it.

So Tufo's are off the table at this point. Thanks for the feed back though guys!!!

[Gervase]

I run conti SR 4000 (tubular equivalent's to the GP 4000S=clincher) they are just like their clincher equivalent's reasonably light, fast rolling, fantastic grip and of course Durable. Not the lightest tubular, but at 265gsm not too heavy either, I like enough of the other qualities for me to decide that they are the ticket for racing on.
I do not run glue, as that is another 30gsm your adding to your rotational weight and it's not an even weight, as it gets slung around inside the tyre.
Just my opinion.

[cxwrench]

I run conti SR 4000 (tubular equivalent's to the GP 4000S=clincher) they are just like their clincher equivalent's reasonably light, fast rolling, fantastic grip and of course Durable. Not the lightest tubular, but at 265gsm not too heavy either, I like enough of the other qualities for me to decide that they are the ticket for racing on.
I do not run glue, as that is another 30gsm your adding to your rotational weight and it's not an even weight, as it gets slung around inside the tyre.
Just my opinion.

how does this have anything to do w/ this thread? and please tell me you mean you don't use SEALANT in your tires and that you do actually GLUE them to the rims.

[Kram]

Tufo tubular clincher tires are the worst of both worlds.

Stick with clinchers. If you're not racing, stick with $30 clinchers.....or less.
.
.

^^This^^ WTF pay $50 for a tire when you'll wear them out in 2k miles (or less) while riding your MS150's??

[Gervase]

how does this have anything to do w/ this thread? and please tell me you mean you don't use SEALANT in your tires and that you do actually GLUE them to the rims.

The relavance is to do with 1 spd mentioning his preference for conti 4000 GP s, I merely stated that there is a Tubular version?
what are you? a seargent? corporal? or just a private?..in the "thread police".....?

[cxwrench]

The relavance is to do with 1 spd mentioning his preference for conti 4000 GP s, I merely stated that there is a Tubular version?
what are you? a seargent? corporal? or just a private?..in the "thread police".....?

because he has clincher wheels, not tubular wheels. your experience w/ tubulars has nothing to do at all w/ what the OP was asking about.

[Gervase]

because he has clincher wheels, not tubular wheels. your experience w/ tubulars has nothing to do at all w/ what the OP was asking about.

Your not sticking to the thread now ......???

[nenad]

I use Tufo tires, C S33 Special to be specific. I use Tufo yellow sealant with them as prevention to getting flats. One lasted 5000 km, the other one has 7200 km and still going. I never got stranded with them. The one I ended up throwing away would deflate but would still end up holding about 3.5 bar pressure (thanks to the sealant), enough to get me home. Unfortunately, it had a hole larger than 2 mm and sealant could no longer maintain adequate pressure.

In short I like them. You get the benefit of tubulars on clincher rim. I recommend them.

[Zipp0]

I use them on the track - C S3 lite. I run them at 180 psi and so far I like them for that purpose. For running at those high pressures, I have to wonder if the rolling resistance is any higher than a clincher, since the testing was done at lower pressure. I really don't think the tires are slowing me dowm. At all.

When I make the Olympic track team* I will start to worry about the possible .003W that rolling resistnace might be costing me.




*I will never make the Olympic team.

[Scott AFD]

Hello,
dont worry about the weight of Tufo tubular clincher, you can get the model which is less than 165 gr. Dont worry about the rolling quality, just as - or even better than other tires. Dont worry about punctures. really the possibility to have a flat tire is very low. In my area most guys use the tufo tires for a long time and we dont change these for anything else. You can get serious information about the tufo tires from sylvain.gobel on facebook.