Tubular troubles

term1te

It’s time to dust off the tubs and prepare them for the summer. I’ve been using some 50mm carbon rims with Tufo Jet special tubulars. I'm very pleased with the performance of this combo, fast, light, and hardly a mark on the rubber after about 3000 miles use. For the last three years I’ve used tape, either Tufo or Jentex, however with both I’ve experienced some tyre slippage, I switched from the Tufo the first time I noticed the slippage. I normally only use the tubs on relatively flat rides, but when I’ve taken to the hills with them the front tubular has slipped a few mm. Its not bunching up at the valve, but rotating fairly evenly on the rim. I guess this is due to the heat from the brakes softening the tape/glue and hard cornering pushing it round? The Jet special tubulars are not circular in cross section but slightly egg shaped, with the point of the egg in contact with the road, which might help to lever the tyre around? I run the tyres at around 140 psi so I don’t think low pressure is the issue.

Will glue be better than tape at preventing this? Or will moving to circular cross section tubulars solve it? Or both, glue and circular cross section tubulars?

ugo.santalucia

I had slippage coming down the Alpine descents and when I saw the front valve bent at 45 degrees I decided it was time to move to glue... problem solved

term1te

Thanks for the reply. It was descending from the Col du Mitllelberg that I first noticed the white base tape showing on one side of the wheel. The valve held the section around it it place, but the rest of the tyre had neatly slipped exposing ca. 3mm of the base tape the whole way around.

Glue it is, would you recommend any one in particular for carbon rims?

cycleclinic

Vittoria mastik one with that stuf they won't move and gettig them off will be harder. The maskik one is fine for carbon and alloy rims.

schweiz

+1 for Vittoria.

I tried using the conti stuff for carbon rims and it was a PITA to work with.

Are you doing Leman this year? We've got two teams (6 and 8 riders) in from work for the 180 km and 7 individual riders for the 110 km.

term1te

Thanks for the recommendation.

Schweiz, yes, I planto enter the Cyclotour du Léman again this year. I hope the weather is a bit better than last year, with all the rain at the start I was worried about braking, and nearly swaped out the carbon tubs and replaced them with an alu wheel set. But I figured that if you are using your brakes on that course, you're not really trying. With glued tubs this year I'm bound to go faster...