Advice on tubular tyes

banditvic

Just purchased some Easton EC90SLX wheels off Ebay. I know very little on tubular tyres, these are to be used on ordinary roads and will only be used on dry days. Also is it best to use glue or i've seen tape, any good?

ugo.santalucia

Vittoria corsa EVO CX... they are that good... use tape, less mess than glue, Jeantex or Tufo, the latter being a bit better as the strip to remove is plastic and not paper that keeps falling apart.
May I recommend you get the wheels checked before you ride them? Easton are notorious for having tensions all over the place, resulting in repetitive spokes failures.
If you live in London I am happy to have a look at them for you for little more than a pint of lager

Monty Dog

Agree, that for ease of use, Tufo tape is the best. Either Veloflex Carbon or Vittoria CXs are reckoned to be the best tyres - both are race oriented so whilst they give a sublime ride quality, don't expect winter-tyre durability or puncture resistance. You can get slightly more robust tyres like Vittoria Pave or Challenge Pariji-Roubaix. Tougher still are tyres from Tufo or Conti Sprinter Gatorskins - but there is a compromise in terms of ride quality.

ugo.santalucia

I have the Gatorskins Sprinters too, but very pointlessly can only be found in 22 mm, while you would really like the 25 for winter use and general abuse, typical.... I just bought them as spares... but never ridden them as yet.
The advantage of the latter is the sidewall is designed to resist an artillery attack

banditvic

Thanks for the advice gone for the Gatorskin sprinters and Jantex from ribble. Thought i'd go for the tougher tyre, didn't want to get punctures to easily and regret trying Tubs. Regarding Eastons I have had 5 sets EA 90 SL, Tempest and others with no real problems. But my wheelbuilding skills have come on leaps and bounds since purchasing a set of Hope / mavic open pros from Merlin, They were 5mm out when I recived them and went out after the first 3 rides ,Have settled down now though.

ugo.santalucia

banditvic wrote:

Thanks for the advice gone for the Gatorskin sprinters and Jantex from ribble. Thought i'd go for the tougher tyre, didn't want to get punctures to easily and regret trying Tubs. Regarding Eastons I have had 5 sets EA 90 SL, Tempest and others with no real problems. But my wheelbuilding skills have come on leaps and bounds since purchasing a set of Hope / mavic open pros from Merlin, They were 5mm out when I recived them and went out after the first 3 rides ,Have settled down now though.

Those apparently are shockingly built, I read on a different thread

Monty Dog

My club mate bought 5 and then proceeded to suffer a puncture in each of the next three races - I know because of the amount of effort we had to put in pulling back into the race.

rpd_steve

Ive put a few K on a set of Swhalbie Ultremo HTs lately and think they offer a good alternative to CXs, roll very well, a bit cheaper and seem a bit tougher.

Probably my pot luck though!

ugo.santalucia

Monty Dog wrote:

My club mate bought 5 and then proceeded to suffer a puncture in each of the next three races - I know because of the amount of effort we had to put in pulling back into the race.

No punctures on the CX as yet... I've even used them on the Belgian pave' in the Retroronde a couple of weeks ago... they do bounce well on the stones.
Monty, you should bring your Gios to the Retro ronde, a real fun event, short enough (70 Km) to be taken full on and at least I'd have someone to battle it all the way to Oudenaarde... this year I "won" far too easy...