Best tubular tyres

chippyk

I need some new tubs for my race bike, I’ve had some Vittoria Triathlon Evos on for a couple of years but they’re getting a bit thin.

What do you recommend for training rides and up to Ironman distance races?

I’m looking for some quick tyres but with decent puncture protection. I’d like to sell them and get some carbon clinchers but my budget will only really run to Chinese clinchers. Options are some more Vittoria or some GP4000s. Is it advisable to run them with sealant already in?

trek_dan

I'd get Tufo's and fill them full of Extreme Sealant

thegreatdivide

I reckon you can't go wrong with a pair of Corsa G+ for tubs right now. I'm sure someone will be on here with a story of them going pop halfway down their driveway but IMO they cover all the bases.

As for sealant, I ride with a bottle of Tufo Extreme and a CO2 cartridge and that's worked for every flat. No more pre glued tubs rolled up for the ride. Extreme can fill some really nasty punctures and keep the tub going until you've run out of tread. It's excellent stuff and there's no need to pre fill.

cycleclinic

best tubular depends on what you want. for me it is durabiulity which means conti competition. dont run them with sealant if the have a latex tube you'll regret it when you try to inflate from flat. Also sealant means you need to use the tubs daily or the selant can ball up if its natural latex clogging the tube. i.e the tyre life needs to be shorter than the sealant life. selant is for repair.

Care a effing tub as a spare. thats what your supposed to do.

sloppyschleckonds

Vittoria or Continental

thegreatdivide

thecycleclinic wrote:

best tubular depends on what you want. for me it is durabiulity which means conti competition. dont run them with sealant if the have a latex tube you'll regret it when you try to inflate from flat. Also sealant means you need to use the tubs daily or the selant can ball up if its natural latex clogging the tube. i.e the tyre life needs to be shorter than the sealant life. selant is for repair.

Care a effing tub as a spare. thats what your supposed to do.

Bloody hell you really do post some tosh!

It's not what you're supposed to do, it's just an option. I choose to carry a bottle of really good sealant.

You're comment about regretting inflating a latex inner from flat with sealant is just rubbish. I'm typing this with a bike in front of me that's got a 24mm Corsa SR on the back with Tufo Extreme inside that took a flat last Sept - it's still going fine. Have I had to inflate is every day? Have I b00locks.

Matthewfalle

conti sprinters - £35 ish, light, roll well, pretty puncture resistant, last for eons.

mf has used loads of them.

very recommended.

tape them on.

mf fitted a new one tonight -took 4 minutes including removing old tub and inflating.

Matthewfalle

if you want, either slop some sealant in when you get a flat or carry a can of foam. simples.

cycleclinic

rubbish really. I have had latex tubes stick together with sealant in am an expensive tub. so not rubbish at all. It does not happen with butyl tubes but I have had conti tubs with sealant in them that have become difficult to inflate as the sealant has clogged up the valve, clearing out the valve did not help much as the stans had balled up inside I think.

So whos posting tosh? If you use tubs carry a spare. Carry sealant/pitstop (I do) too it can help you out but if you are preloading then in my experience it can and does create problems. Sealant does not seal up every puncture hense the spare tub is useful whatever anyone else says.

pippi_langsamer-2

There's absolutely no point pre-filling a new tub with sealant. You'll likely run into one of the issues mentioned above. I bought some DA 9000 C50s of a guy who had filled one of the Conti Comps with sealant. It ruined the valve, and a barely worn tub went in the bin. I couldn't inflate it at all.

I'd personally carry the can and use as and when necessary

turbotommy

I’d say pit stop is very hit and miss personally. I wouldn’t go back to it.

Regarding tubs, I rode conti’s for a couple of years. Comps and sprinters. Both are ok, hard wearing etc. But compared to corsa g’s they feel totally dead. My experience of tubs is fairly limited, as is a few of the people here judging from their comments. Although it won’t stop them from giving poor advice. Go over to weight weenies forum, everything wheels section and ask the same question. You’ll get a much better informed response

pippi_langsamer-2

I've only ever used Conti Comps and Vittoria Corsa Evos. Vittoria's ride nicer IMO, but last a fraction of the Contis re wear

sungod

veloflex sprinter/criterium, better dry grip than vittoria g+ compound, not quite as good wet grip

dugast strada soie excellent compound but a tad heavy vs. veloflex/vittoria

conti ride like hosepipes, as do tufo (who also seem to make clément these days)

on wet roads no fast tub has good puncture protection, even conti gatorskin tubs are easy to flat, imo there's little in it, ride veloflex

don't put sealant in good tubs, it'll probably dry out before they flat, take a bottle of tufo extreme for on the road sealing

acycles.co.uk and cycletyres.com have a good range of tubs and better pricing that most, which is best varies

thegreatdivide

The Sprinter and Criterium only come in a 22 or 23 respectively and they're becoming pretty rare these days, certainly from UK outlets.

chippyk

Great stuff, thank you. I usually carry a bottle of pit stop, a spare tub and tape.

sungod

thegreatdivide wrote:

The Sprinter and Criterium only come in a 22 or 23 respectively and they're becoming pretty rare these days, certainly from UK outlets.

yeah, the op didn't say what width, these are what i generally use front/rear, for wider rims there're wider options from veloflex

i gave up on uk suppliers, but acycles and cycletyres ship fast to uk and i've found them both reliable, there're other euro options but these two are generally well priced and have wide selections which is good if you fancy experiementing

Matthewfalle

thegreatdivide wrote:

The Sprinter and Criterium only come in a 22 or 23 respectively and they're becoming pretty rare these days, certainly from UK outlets.

loads at merlin/crc/ribble etc.

Matthewfalle

TurboTommy wrote:

I’d say pit stop is very hit and miss personally. I wouldn’t go back to it.

Regarding tubs, I rode conti’s for a couple of years. Comps and sprinters. Both are ok, hard wearing etc. But compared to corsa g’s they feel totally dead. My experience of tubs is fairly limited, as is a few of the people here judging from their comments. Although it won’t stop them from giving poor advice. Go over to weight weenies forum, everything wheels section and ask the same question. You’ll get a much better informed response

#patronise

think you'll find people on here have just as much experience as your chummies on WW....

jgsi

I am the equivalent of musically tone deaf when it comes to tubular tyres.
I cant tell the difference between £17 Rallyes and posh tubs at £80+ a pop.
Both puncture at inconvenient times..

imposter2.0

Matthewfalle wrote:

TurboTommy wrote:

I’d say pit stop is very hit and miss personally. I wouldn’t go back to it.

Regarding tubs, I rode conti’s for a couple of years. Comps and sprinters. Both are ok, hard wearing etc. But compared to corsa g’s they feel totally dead. My experience of tubs is fairly limited, as is a few of the people here judging from their comments. Although it won’t stop them from giving poor advice. Go over to weight weenies forum, everything wheels section and ask the same question. You’ll get a much better informed response

#patronise

think you'll find people on here have just as much experience as your chummies on WW....

Agree, that's slightly patronising. Personally, I've never really understood the "Contis ride like hosepipes" comments, as I've ridden both Competitions and Sprinters, as well as Corsas and also Schwalbe One HTs - and tbh they are all excellent. Sprinters maybe less so, as they are a cheaper, more robust all rounder, but I've never felt like I've been able to blame my choice of tubs for poor race performance. Like most high-end clinchers, most high-end tubs are all excellent. Of those listed above, I'll usually go for whatever I can get for the best price.

Matthewfalle

worst tubs mf ever used were Tufo S3 - one punctured really quickly & the other fell apart in no time.

cycleclinic

I use currently on various bikes, Conti comps 25mm conti gator skins 25mm, Gator skin 22mm, Vittoria Corsa 23mm, Vittoria Pave 25/27mm, Schwalbe ultermo 22mm (veloflex made according to sungod and he told us all about the deal on a german website), Challange strada Bianca 30mm, Dugast Paris Roubaix 27mm and there is a set of MTB tubs in fact three, Geax Saguro, Dugast fast bird and fast bird Ori and Schwalbe racing ralph. You could say I have a tub habit.

The contis do give the harshest ride but as an all rounder they are pretty good but sungod is right the gator skin tub does flat and they feel dead but grip well and I can ride quickly. The better riding tyres are lovely but they can be a bit more fragile.

Veloflex Vlaanderan 27mm is the next tub I want to try.

Matthewfalle

dirk has some vittoria things - greatifyou fancy pumping them up every day.

Matthewfalle

oh - those Vittoria training ones: utter rubbish.

jgsi

Am I the only idiot to commute on tubs?

cycleclinic

no your not alone. I have commuted on tubs all this week.

cal_stewart

Am l the only one who has never got pit stop to work?

chippyk

JGSI wrote:

Am I the only idiot to commute on tubs?

Only on the middle of a heatwave, I got caught out in a heavy rain shower once on my PX carbon wheels. Never again.

Matthewfalle

JGSI wrote:

Am I the only idiot to commute on tubs?

mf commutes, trains, races and poses on tubs.

why wouldn't you?

#confused

Matthewfalle

ChippyK wrote:

JGSI wrote:

Am I the only idiot to commute on tubs?

Only on the middle of a heatwave, I got caught out in a heavy rain shower once on my PX carbon wheels. Never again.

why? just either get some decent pads or learn how to brake

#confusedagain

sungod

Cal_Stewart wrote:

Am l the only one who has never got pit stop to work?

no you aren't! i tried it and all i got was myself/bike sprayed with pitstop mist as it sprayed out of a tiny puncture, that seems fairly typical

it might be ok on punctures from point penetration, but i find most punctures are linear cuts, it's no good on these

i've used tufo extreme with veloflex/conti/vittoria/dugast, all sealed very well up to 2-3 mm, but any carcass cut that's long enough to cause a slight bulge will result in the 'plug' of sealant being forced out by the pressure and worn down on the road, that can mean topping up sealant once it runs out/dries, but for large enough cuts it'll tend to blow too quick to be worthwhile

with a new-ish decent tub i'd rather fit the spare and do a repair, once they're more worn i'll use sealant if the cut looks like it'll be ok, for large cuts spare and repair or if the tub is really worn just bin it

there some 'tests' where sealants are shown handling different size punctures in tubs, typically from pins up to nails

imo these are poorly considered as the actual puncture size a pin makes vs. a sharp 3mm diameter nail is likely to be the same due to the way the tyre/tube will stretch around the nail - i've tried a few sealants that are 'good/best' in these conditions, with the exception of tufo extreme all were useless faced with linear cut

sealants in tubeless can handle bigger cuts if a worm is used, i suspect it's not a good option where there's a separate latex inner tube as it won't get into the tube and over time latex tubes get abraded by anything rough, but i'm tempted to try it and see