Building wheels, should I try Tubs?

salsarider79

I'm building a set of wheels for my new bike and am thinking of running Tubs. I'm a lover of light weight wheels, as long as they aren't going to flex all over the place.
The frame and kit on the new bike is going to be quite a bit heavier than I'd like so I'd like to save weight if possible.

Whats the advantage of running Tubs, and is it worth it?

amaferanga

Are they for racing?

Chip \'oyler

For racing - definately

ugo.santalucia

Tubs are lighter, they roll better, allow you to use lighter rims and if you puncture on a descent at 50 mph you might be able to stop without the tyre coming off and attempting your murder (if properly glued).

However, they are expensive, punctures are expensive and if you use them for training you have to carry around a bulky tubular instead of a tiny tube.

In my view, only for racing and for racing on circuit/ or TT only. If this is the case, then highly recommended

fleshtuxedo

Like everyone else says - only for racing. Not worth the hassle for any other type of riding.

schweiz

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Tubs ... roll better,

I'd always believed that however a recent test in the German magazine TOUR comparing Tubs and Clinchers showed that clinchers had less rolling resistance!

I've not had time to read the full article properly but it caused quite a few discusions on a club ride a few weeks back

ugo.santalucia

schweiz wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Tubs ... roll better,

I'd always believed that however a recent test in the German magazine TOUR comparing Tubs and Clinchers showed that clinchers had less rolling resistance!

I've not had time to read the full article properly but it caused quite a few discusions on a club ride a few weeks back

I don't believe it... if that was the case, PRO riders would use clinchers, don't you think?

schweiz

ugo.santalucia wrote:

schweiz wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Tubs ... roll better,

I'd always believed that however a recent test in the German magazine TOUR comparing Tubs and Clinchers showed that clinchers had less rolling resistance!

I've not had time to read the full article properly but it caused quite a few discusions on a club ride a few weeks back

I don't believe it... if that was the case, PRO riders would use clinchers, don't you think?

The data is there to see. They used Continental's test facilities to check lots of different brands and the data they have cleary shows the clinchers had less rolling resistance. I don't have the magazine to hand so I can't check what pressures were used but like I said It caused a few discussions here and from my skim read of the article, the testers were surprised too. Maybe tyre companies have improved clinchers so much (as lets face it, they sell more clinchers than tubs, so will invest in R&D) that they are now better than tubs for rolling resistance? Tubs have other advantages such as the ability to run lower pressures in cros and on cobbles and also a better feel/feedback

Monty Dog

The reason that pros prefer tubs is reliability - the fact that you can roll to a halt on a flat tub is a big bonus whereas a clincher simply rolls-off the rim. Tubeless has the lowest rolling resistance I expect.

I agree that tubs are only worthwhile considering for racing and in particular for carbon rims - carbon clinchers are heavier , more expensive and inherently less robust. Tubs still are best for cross - you can't running anything else reliably at such low pressures.

balthazar

ugo.santalucia wrote:

schweiz wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Tubs ... roll better,

I'd always believed that however a recent test in the German magazine TOUR comparing Tubs and Clinchers showed that clinchers had less rolling resistance!

I've not had time to read the full article properly but it caused quite a few discusions on a club ride a few weeks back

I don't believe it... if that was the case, PRO riders would use clinchers, don't you think?

There are older but absolutely relevant RR test results here:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/roll ... bular.html



The Clement Seta and Vittoria CX are among the highest quality tubulars, and won't have changed much in the years since. There's a discussion of the test procedure here:

http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/rrdiscuss.html