Tubular tyres - cobblers

southdownswolf

Just been reading an article by Team Sky about the cobbled classics and apparently they "age" their tyres for the cobbles, just wondering if anyone knows if this is common practise? Also, do any of you "amateurs" do this, or is it straight on the bike, no messing?

"We actually age our tyres for this part of the season. That means we prepare the tyres a few years in advance and then store them in a special room at our service course. We do this as new tyres tend to puncture easier. When you age a tubular wheel, it becomes suppler and doesn’t cut as easily."

http://www.teamsky.com/teamsky/home/art ... QfLzZQT.97

thegreatdivide

http://sheldonbrown.com/brandt/tubular-fables.html

thegreatdivide

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/02/ ... ing_160921

Smokin Joe

It used to be common practice to buy tubs well in advance of needing them and letting them "Mature".

iron-clover

As above, with older tyres (they all used to be tubular at one point) the rubber would harden over time and to get reasonable puncture protection you would need to age your tyres in a dark place for at least several months.

There is at least one case where a team in an old edition of the TDF was badly let down by their tubulars as their team had swapped sponsors close to the race and were supplied with brand new tyres, and suffered lots of punctures as a result.

I'm not sure how this applies to modern tubular tyres with more modern rubber compounds and puncture guards though- probably depends on the brand.

EDIT: Those links above are good- it seems it may have come from non vulcanised tyres where the rubber is glued on- the glue hardens a bit more over time. However, it seems with modern tyres they will only get worse with time (rubber becomes more hard and brittle with age- just look at surviving tyres on old shopper bikes you see around)

Monty Dog

Ageing only works with vulcanised rubbers where cross-link bonds form over time. Bike tyres are made from synthetic rubbers which don't 'mature'. All rubbers age-harden due to UV, ozone and some chemical compounds which makes them weaker.

southdownswolf

So it seems that it obviously was and still is common place, despite what Sheldon thought...

Man Of Lard

I age my tyres on the bike. When they're suitably aged, I discard them and 'age' a new set...

southdownswolf

Man Of Lard wrote:

I age my tyres on the bike. When they're suitably aged, I discard them and 'age' a new set...