Tubs

I ride tubs almost every day, after you puncture these, get some conti's

^^^ must actually be the puncture fairy

I would like to make the switch to tubs on my town bike.

So I would love to know how you get on.

Keep us posted.

And good luck.

thanks i will,
maybe littlelegs has some tips

I have a couple of bikes on tubs and don't have a problem.

I've had punctures previously but Tufo Extreme tub tape is definitely your friend as are Continental Sprints - mine are totally shredded but haven't punctured.

Once you're used to removing/mounting them you can change one fairly quickly anyway. I've never used sealant though so I can't comment on that.

Sealant's worked a treat for me in the past, less faff than patching/changing an inner.

What goes in my jersey pocket of a Sunday morning:

I ride tubs almost every day, after you puncture these, get some conti's

I commute on tubs, and agree with the above. Conti Sprinter or Sprinter Gatorksins are probably the only general riding or commuter tub out there. Others are cheap and roll horribly (Vittoria Rally, Conti Giro), while race tubs aren't very durable, cut up easily on glass and/or have trouble in the wet (Vittoria again).

I keep a pre-glued spare and can of sealant with me, and not run in to any problems over the past eight months I can't handle yet

Asking from a position of nearly total ignorance here, but how do you stop the preglued tub sticking to stuff?

Fold the tub up so that the base tape is only in contact with itself. Like so :-

http://picasaweb.google.com/DiabloScottsBikeBlog/FoldingATubularTire

Better to pre-glue than to carry a roll of tape?

As long as you've glued your rims, saves faffing about taping another tub on. Just rip the old tub off, put the other one on, pump up and ride away. Shouldn't take much longer than putting a new tube in a clincher with a bit of practise.

I once taped a spare by the side of the road, wouldn't fancy doing it in the rain or cold

£40ish each! ouch. what is the longevity like?

^^^ Which tub you are talking about ?

As long as you've glued your rims, saves faffing about taping another tub on. Just rip the old tub off, put the other one on, pump up and ride away. Shouldn't take much longer than putting a new tube in a clincher with a bit of practise.

Typically, five hours after posting this I rode over something which slashed right through the width of a Sprinter Gatorksin. Tub 'banged' and went flat in a few seconds, trashing it. I then had to do exactly as above....

Bugger! What was it?

I'm going to try a pair of Sprinter Gators on my "everyday" tubular wheelset, move the Vittoria Corsa's to the Sunday best wheels.

That's probably what i'd run if I had a set of best wheels. Raced on the track on a pair of Corsa Evo CX's and they're very nice tubs in ideal conditions. I'd love to give Conti Comps a go too, and I'd definately try Veloxflex if they weren't so expensive

No idea what took out my Sprinter Gatorskin, didn't see anything obvious on the road and it was a clean cut into the tub.

I'm going Dugast for my posh wheels. Those Vittorias are well dodg in the rain/cold/grease (basically anything that isn't bone dry Italian roads). If the Dugast are no good I'll try the Conti Competitions.

Oooh, will one day try Dugast!

I have Conti competition on my tt, really, really nice, although I don't think they will compare to a Dugast, Veloflex or Corsa Evo(can't say for sure having never tried them) I also have a pair of Vredestein Fortezza on my track bike which are fast, but don't hold air forever..

Asking from a position of nearly total ignorance here, but how do you stop the preglued tub sticking to stuff?

Also, you just put a thin layer on the tub and it pretty much dries hard, when you put it in contact with the thicker glue on the rim it re-activates, genius!

So much easier than repairing a puncture or using tape..

Also, you just put a thin layer on the tub and it pretty much dries hard, when you put it in contact with the thicker glue on the rim it re-activates, genius!

Hardly genius, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_adhesive#Contact_adhesives

Hardly genius, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_adhesive#Contact_adhesives

How so?

I think it's fairly (in)genius, just because it dates back to 200,000 bc doesn't detract from it's brilliance.

I'm going Dugast for my posh wheels. Those Vittorias are well dodg in the rain/cold/grease (basically anything that isn't bone dry Italian roads). If the Dugast are no good I'll try the Conti Competitions.

I've heard conflicting interwebs chatter about the quality of Dugast tubs since the Dutch buy out a few years back. FMB are apparently the way to go now if you want a high end tub. All conjecture of course, not actually tried any of them myself.

I can only comment on their cyclocross tubs, but Dugast use cotton casings and don't use any kind of sealant on them so in time they will rot, no matter how well you look after them. FMB also use cotton casings but use a waterproof sealant, so they are more robust. FMB's problem is their availability, you have to go direct if you want to buy some in the UK.

That said, the Dugast Rhino remains the premier choice for muddy races (not that we've had anything resembling mud in any London X League races so far this season).

Aren't you supposed to apply something like liquid latex to treat the sidewalls of Dugasts ?

Interestingly I was reading elsewhere that you can get any manufacturers rubber/tread applied to Dugasts and FMBs, would make for some interesting combos especially with Conti's Black Chilli rubber