Tubular tyre advice needed

firetone

Hi everyone,

I recently bought some tubs which came with Tufo S3 Pro tubular tyres. On the first ride they were great, good grip and seemed to have low rolling resistance. However, on the second ride I managed to get a 1mm puncture in the rear wheel from a shard of glass on the road. Leaving me with a long walk home (my fault for buying tubs, i know :roll: )

Yes, it could have happend on any set of tyres - tub / clincher, but i've never got a puncture on my GP4000s clincher tyres with over 3000km on my current set!

So my question is does anyone have experience with these tyres? Are they robust? in which case should I send the rear tyre off to repair? Or should I forget them and buy another brand of tyre altogether?

Given my positive experience with GP4000s on i've been thinking the best option would be forking out for some continental GP4000 / Sprinter Gatorskins - Would love to hear some feedback on those or reconditions on other tubs? I'm not too worried about weight or rolling resistance tbh (as long as its reasonable) - i'd rather just have a tyre with maximum puncture protection at a reasonable cost.

btw does anyone have any experience with Continental Giro Tubular's? Tehy retail very cheaply at around £16 a tye!

Thanks,

cougie

I've had very similar experience. Conti gp4000s - great tyres. I've had flats on tufo tubs. You can use sealant for them though - but even then I have had flats. Don't buy the conti gp4000 tubs - I flatted two on one ride and there's a bloke in cycling weekly who will repair tubs - but those aren't repairable. First off though I'd try the sealant and buy a cheap spare.

firetone

Thanks for your reply.

I tried sealing them up the other day. It worked for a full 5minutes, but then the sealant started spraying out of the puncture hole. Ok so no GP4000? Anyone know about Vittoria?

hopper1

I have Vittoria Crosa Evo CX 320 tpi tubs. About 10 races/TT's on them... No p*ncture yet.
Roll really well, too.

Pokerface

I've had Vittoria Evo CX's on my race wheels for the past year. One got a flat on the second ride - the other one has been fine for a year of races.

Sent it away for repair. Cost £12 total.

Conti Giro is a great all round tyre. Not as fast maybe as the Vittoria - but for the price hard to beat.


(My disc wheel is running the Conti 4000 - never had a problem with it. But also gets sparse use).

Pokerface

P.S. Contact this guy for repairs: http://www.tubular-repairs.com/

Best in the country!

Monty Dog

Why isn't there a 'facepalm' emoticon when you need it? :roll:

dennisn

Monty Dog wrote:

Why isn't there a 'facepalm' emoticon when you need it? :roll:

+1....Am I reading this right. This guy buys tubulars, goes riding, doesn't carry a spare(apparently), then blames tubulars for having to walk home? What's wrong with this picture?

lifecyclist2010

Try the Tufo Elite Pulse they are more of a puncture resistant "race" tub lots of tri-hards run them for ironman distances

markos1963

I started out with Conti Giro's, reasonable tough tyre and easy to repair yourself. Not that quick but good enough grip for me to race at some crits. I would say pay the extra and go for Sprinters but as someone else has said stay clear of GP4000 tubs

dennisn

firetone wrote:

Hi everyone,

I recently bought some tubs which came with Tufo S3 Pro tubular tyres. On the first ride they were great, good grip and seemed to have low rolling resistance. However, on the second ride I managed to get a 1mm puncture in the rear wheel from a shard of glass on the road. Leaving me with a long walk home (my fault for buying tubs, i know :roll: )

Yes, it could have happend on any set of tyres - tub / clincher, but i've never got a puncture on my GP4000s clincher tyres with over 3000km on my current set!

So my question is does anyone have experience with these tyres? Are they robust? in which case should I send the rear tyre off to repair? Or should I forget them and buy another brand of tyre altogether?

Given my positive experience with GP4000s on i've been thinking the best option would be forking out for some continental GP4000 / Sprinter Gatorskins - Would love to hear some feedback on those or reconditions on other tubs? I'm not too worried about weight or rolling resistance tbh (as long as its reasonable) - i'd rather just have a tyre with maximum puncture protection at a reasonable cost.

btw does anyone have any experience with Continental Giro Tubular's? Tehy retail very cheaply at around £16 a tye!

Thanks,

To start with you bought Tufo's lightest tire. This should have told you something about
how long it would last. Why did you buy this tire if you wanted, as you have stated, max. puncture resistance at a resonable price? Neither of which apply to the S3 model.
And, to repeat myself from a previous post, why, oh why, would you even think that going out riding on tubulars would free you from needing to carry a spare? :roll:

dcj

gp4000 tubs. steer well clear from personal experience.

currently on continental giros made in the far east at under £15 each, on a nice set of mavic reflex CD rims. am really surprised how nice these are. sweeter than any clincher i have used including ones costing £40 :shock:

continental competitions are also very reliable, decent tyres although not ultimately the sweetest riding tubulars at their price.

i am also maturing some italian made veloflex criteriums which are about the same price as conti comps, and also some vittoria evo sc which were under £50 made in the far east.

the great thing about tubs is you can ride for miles on a flat at slightly reduced pace if you need to, or carry a spare if you want to, or sealant with compatible tyres.
so the issue of being completely stranded is more in the mind i think.

i decided to go completely back to tubs for training and sportives and so far i am a happy camper. a really nice set of sprints and tubs can still be MUCH cheaper than equivalent weight clinchers that cannot match the ride quality, so not necessarily a daft choice.

Pokerface

Monty Dog wrote:

Why isn't there a 'facepalm' emoticon when you need it? :roll:

That's a bit harsh isn't it?

I never carry a spare tub with me. Of course, I don't usually ride my tubs unless racing, but that's not the point.

Did the OP say he was blaming tubs for his problems, etc? Nope. Was just asking if there are more robust ones.


I'm now off to buy a spare tub to start carrying with me! :oops:

Monty Dog

OK, bit harsh, but there's a general trend of people buying lightweight 'race' tyres and wheels etc - perpetuated by weightweenies - using them for general riding and then start whinging that they don't last very long and somehow blaming the product rather than their own poor selection.

dennisn

Pokerface wrote:

P.S. Contact this guy for repairs: http://www.tubular-repairs.com/

Best in the country!

Other than trying Tufo sealant, Tufo's can't be repaired(no tube in them to fix).

on-yer-bike

I ride Vittoria Evos and they seem pretty robust and they're repairable, when you can get them. Im not sure about riding tubs all the time. I lost two nearly new PRO-3s last year so thats £52.00. I had one tub write off from a pot hole and one repaired.
Basically its daft to ride race tyres and tubs on these roads but irresistible at the same time. Since when has any of this high end bike stuff made any sense?
I always carry a spare tub and on the Dragon and Marmotte I carried two.

Pokerface

Just purchased a spare tub to carry with me. You al made me paranoid. I mean - I carry a spare tube, so makes sense to carry a spare tub.

Only problem is - I'm gonna want to ride my good wheels more often now!

firetone

First off, thanks for all the replies. I think i'm gonna go with Conti Sprinters and a couple of Conti Giro's too as spares.

the great thing about tubs is you can ride for miles on a flat at slightly reduced pace if you need to

OK so they wont come off the wheel but surely it will warp the wheel pretty quickly?

To clarify a few points:

I don't use my tubs for everyday riding or training, and in fact I don't always race with them but took them out for a spin twice when I first got them to test them out and on the second ride I got a puncture.

To start with you bought Tufo's lightest tire. This should have told you something about
how long it would last. Why did you buy this tire if you wanted, as you have stated, max. puncture resistance at a resonable price? Neither of which apply to the S3 model.

The Tufo S3s came "free" / were included with my wheels fitted. I wouldn't have bought them if it were down to me.

+1....Am I reading this right. This guy buys tubulars, goes riding, doesn't carry a spare(apparently), then blames tubulars for having to walk home? What's wrong with this picture?

I'm not blaming the tubs, I am just wondering if there are more resilient ones on the market and if so, to get some opinions on these. As I acknowledged in my original post, I deserved the walk home.

Thanks again for the help.

Pokerface

firetone wrote:

OK so they wont come off the wheel but surely it will warp the wheel pretty quickly?

Are your wheels made of cheese or summit? Do they magically melt if they don't have a layer of protective air around them? 8)

Monty Dog

Many years ago I rode home 20 miles on a flat rear after a second puncture - Campagnolo Sigma Pave rims - as long as the tub is glued-on properly it's far safet than a clincher. However, riding a flat front is inadviseable. With carbon rims however, it's less adviseable because the rim isn't protected from impact damage - a sharp edge / blow can crack a rim.

Pokerface

Monty Dog wrote:

With carbon rims however, it's less adviseable because the rim isn't protected from impact damage - a sharp edge / blow can crack a rim.

Agreed. But if you ride slowly and carefully, you *should* be able to still get yourself home on a flat tub without the wheel collapsing or damaging the rim. Certainly beats walking.