Tubular vs Clincher - What is your preference and why?

[Patchelicious]

I've listed them in the very first post of this thread, that was my whole reason for starting it. I'm struggling to find any practical advantages of clinchers listed above, that's why I'm pressing people for reasons behind their preferences Patch.

Your experience with tubbies this year seems to dispel the general opinion of why clinchers are more practical than tubbies, and I know that's why you are pressing for answers.

 

Even though it was a 15k year, it's still a single data sample point.

 

For me personally. I don't want to carry a spare tubbie in my pocket. Even though you didn't suffer a puncture this year, you could have. So perhaps it's the peace of mind that with a tube in my pocket, I can fix a puncture and get home. With tubbies, Uber will just make more money out of me than what they already do

[Mongoose!]

So what is it then about clinchers that make them a better fit for this imperfect world?

Flats , punctures . And yes tubbies also get them.

Stans in tubbies...bad idea...

 

So you flat on a clincher : fix it your self.

 

Eish,but flat on a tubbie.... need to call someone to come and get you.

And in races there is always the sweepers vehicle ( as all roads are closed on CTCT or 94.7). Putting your carbon steed at back of a bakkie or trailer on top of other Macro specials.

 

...happend to me one year on 94.7...

[skadonk]

I ride on a set of Lightweight Millenstein Tubs (25mm Tufo's) some would say 'the best wheels in the world'.

They are wonderful to ride, extremely responsive, roll like a dream,and generally ridiculously fast. That being said i feel

The downside to owning tubs for me:

1) carrying a spare tyre/gas/2 sided tape and the CO2 + a good half hour change time + having a all that stuff on you,whilst you roll around on a bike you have spent Thousands on trying to weigh as little as possible.

 

2)once its flat or semi damaged, unless you a maestro at sewing rubber tyres, you cry... and put new!

 

3) uber doesnt operate deep in the swiss alps, i know this....my boss on the same wheels flatted,it became a long day out waiting for help to arrive!

 

Unless you have a support car,or riding within a hour of home, or enjoy carrying a back pack of spares to fix a flat, i cant justify owning tubs.

 

*and yes, try selling 2nd hand tubbies, especially lightweights....it aint easy!

[WIPEOUT 1000]

A couple of comments:

 

Tony Martin has been riding clinchers on his time trial bike for at least 2 years and I cannot believe that Specialized & Quickstep spent the time and effort in wind tunnels etc. only to compromise him with sub standard tyres, especially at the Worlds. They clearly know something they're not sharing just yet.

 

 

It is true that due to hysteresis for the same conditions a tyre running at 11 bar would normally have less rolling resistance than one running at 7 bar. However, why would anyone want to ride a tire pumped that hard on a normal road?

 

 

All things being equal, with exception of pinch flats, tubular tyres do not have inherently better puncture resistance than normal clinchers and with tubeless tyres pinch flats is becoming even less of a problem. However, fixing a tubular next to the road is significantly more complicated and time consuming than fixing a clincher and since I unfortunately still regularly get punctures despite riding gatorskins this is a deal breaker.

 

 

Finally, there is one area, from my perspective, where tubulars are better and that relates to issue around structural integrity & heat dissipation due to extended braking using rim brakes on carbon rims. There are some very nice videos on youtube explaining why.

 

 

CARBON WHEELS - THE TRUTH!! (Part One)

 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET1jRVynOBA)

 

 

&

 

 

CARBON WHEELS - THE TRUTH!! (Part Two) (

)

 

 

However, after seeing these I would not ride a carbon rim on bike with rim brakes.

 

 

 

 

It was indeed interesting that Tony Martin rode on clinchers. Although he is a sponsored athlete, and the sponsors have a degree of persuasion when it comes to equipment "choice". I think the larger point here is that he won in spite of riding clinchers, and not because of it. I would contend that he would have been faster still had he ridden tubby's. An interesting statement in the report is that "Astana, another Specialized-sponsored team, doesn’t run clinchers because the team uses Corima wheels, which are tubular-only". As far as I'm aware Complete Cyclist have been selling clincher Corima wheels for several years now. Am I mistaken, or is this an indication of poor factual content of the article written by Dan Cavallari? In which case there could be several more inaccuracies... I ask this question because another quote in the article which doesn't sound right to me, and isn't substantiated in any way, is “The clincher tire with clincher rims has less energy loss from deformation, which makes it faster,” says VormWalde. Everything I know about tubby's and clinchers contradicts that statement.

 

Regarding the Corsa Speed TLR being the fastest tyre on the market, that's all good and well. The question is, is it faster than a tubby? Their test results clearly indicate an increased rolling resistance as the tyre pressure drops, so this obviously supports the rationale that tubby's will therefore have lower rolling resistance when inflated to pressures >10-11bar vs a clincher at 8.3bar. And with the admittedly low puncture resistance of the Vittoria Corsa Speed, is it therefore a practical choice for use on South African roads? Probably not, unless you have tubeless wheels, and run them tubeless with sealant. In which case, why would that option be better than tubular?

 

I think it's important for me at this point to clarify that I am in no way trying to convince anyone to buy tubulars over clinchers. I have no agenda, as I import and distribute both clincher and tubular wheels, and both clincher and tubular tyres. Several of our carbon clinchers are tubeless compatible too, so even that option won't affect our participation in that market segment. I have just found a number of advantages of riding tubby's over clinchers, and wanted to express them in order to perhaps inform some people, and provide some alternative perspectives. I'm glad I seem to have initiated some healthy debate and stimulated a few different thought processes :-)

[NotSoBigBen]

I'm a klutz and a fun rider so 'feel' is practically non existent ... I cannot feel the difference between riding my heavy training vs lighter (relatively) racing bike or tires of different kinds or even 170 vs 175 cranks etc. BUT having said that after years and years of clinchers I got a set of carbon tubbies about a year ago and they certainly have a 'special' feel to me that I cannot explain!

 

I may not be faster but I'll keep using them for sure ????

 

Sent from my LG-D958 using Tapatalk

[Cat2forLife]

So what is it then about clinchers that make them a better fit for this imperfect world?

 

It's purely from a practical stand point. I feel more at ease knowing that I can use my wheels everyday and should I get a flat, it takes 5 mins to fix and cost me a patch. Don't get me wrong, I love tubbies. they are amazing to ride and the performance advantages are clear in terms of weight, acceleration, rolling resistance and everything else that has been mentioned. But I still cannot manage to shake that feeling in the back of my mind that it could very well happen that I be stranded next to the road and have to fork out R1000 for a new tire.

 

To put it into perspective, the Specialized Turbo Pro tires I currently ride cost around R650 per tire. That's a saving of at least R350 per tire.

 

And then the issue of glueing tubbies.. What a mission.. I have glued my fair share of tubbies and I would not wish it upon my worst enemy..

 

I do realize that Tufo make the tubbie tape and I have used it before and it's brilliant! And not to step on your toes here, but it is rather expensive compared to a tube of tubbie glue.

 

But again, if those practical issues were not there, I would ride tubbies all the tie. but I'm sure everyone would ride tubbies all the time then.

[Warren Foyn]

Your experience with tubbies this year seems to dispel the general opinion of why clinchers are more practical than tubbies, and I know that's why you are pressing for answers.

 

Even though it was a 15k year, it's still a single data sample point.

 

For me personally. I don't want to carry a spare tubbie in my pocket. Even though you didn't suffer a puncture this year, you could have. So perhaps it's the peace of mind that with a tube in my pocket, I can fix a puncture and get home. With tubbies, Uber will just make more money out of me than what they already do

 

Yeah it is just a single data point, I will certainly concede that. But the main thing for me is the advances in sealant technology mean that although I did in fact suffer several "punctures", and lost a bit of air pressure at times (and at others the pressure loss wasn't even noticeable), not once did I actually flat. In fact, not once did I even need to stop and re-inflate the tubby. Every time I suffered a puncture the sealant did the job, and I continued with my ride, often none the wiser.

 

After the experience of the last year, all I ride with is a CO2 canister and valve, and a can of the tyre-weld stuff. And if that doesn't work, then Uber it is. If that happens once every 12-18 months, then it's a fair trade-off for me :-)

[Cat2forLife]

Flats , punctures . And yes tubbies also get them.

Stans in tubbies...bad idea...

 

So you flat on a clincher : fix it your self.

 

Eish,but flat on a tubbie.... need to call someone to come and get you.

And in races there is always the sweepers vehicle ( as all roads are closed on CTCT or 94.7). Putting your carbon steed at back of a bakkie or trailer on top of other Macro specials.

 

...happend to me one year on 94.7...

 

Agreed. Luckily this only happened to me once. But it sucked.. So much..

 

That's why I say, in a perfect world, where I had a team car behind me, tubbies win everyday.

[Warren Foyn]

Flats , punctures . And yes tubbies also get them.

Stans in tubbies...bad idea...

 

So you flat on a clincher : fix it your self.

 

Eish,but flat on a tubbie.... need to call someone to come and get you.

And in races there is always the sweepers vehicle ( as all roads are closed on CTCT or 94.7). Putting your carbon steed at back of a bakkie or trailer on top of other Macro specials.

 

...happend to me one year on 94.7...

 

Agree 100% regarding Stans in a tubby, bad idea! But then that's not what it's designed for I suppose :-)

[Cat2forLife]

Yeah it is just a single data point, I will certainly concede that. But the main thing for me is the advances in sealant technology mean that although I did in fact suffer several "punctures", and lost a bit of air pressure at times (and at others the pressure loss wasn't even noticeable), not once did I actually flat. In fact, not once did I even need to stop and re-inflate the tubby. Every time I suffered a puncture the sealant did the job, and I continued with my ride, often none the wiser.

 

After the experience of the last year, all I ride with is a CO2 canister and valve, and a can of the tyre-weld stuff. And if that doesn't work, then Uber it is. If that happens once every 12-18 months, then it's a fair trade-off for me :-)

 

If you would like some more data, I'd be happy to ride a set of your tubbies with that fancy sealant for a year. 

[Patchelicious]

If you would like some more data, I'd be happy to ride a set of your tubbies with that fancy sealant for a year.

And I will ride a set of your 28mm Carbon Clinchers as an extra data point to support the Clincher crowd. Wouldn't want to biased you know (Have had my eye on a pair for a while now)

[Thomo]

Owned a set of 404 tubbies for a long time but always found a reason not to use them (most of the reasons already listed) until I eventually sold them for next to nothing.

Sitting with a set of road tubeless now but not quite sold on the idea.

Perhaps just a bit of fine tuning needed but right now they're just an irritation.

[LOOK695]

Owned a set of 404 tubbies for a long time but always found a reason not to use them (most of the reasons already listed) until I eventually sold them for next to nothing.

Sitting with a set of road tubeless now but not quite sold on the idea.

Perhaps just a bit of fine tuning needed but right now they're just an irritation.

Care to elaborate on the "irritation" please

[Mongoose!]

I am willing to help out on testing the tubeless set up then...lol

[Thomo]

Care to elaborate on the "irritation" please

Just getting them to seal for starters.

Also had sealant spraying in all directions so perhaps I need to review those options too.

So yeah, possibly just minor teething issues.

[shaper]

Sounds like there is an excess of tubular wheels stock....