Tubs

Trying to decide what tubulars for a new set of wheels coming in the next couple of days.

On my list so far are:

• Veloflex Carbon
  
• Vittoria Corsa Evo CX
  
• Continental Comp
  
• Continental Sprinter Gatorskins
  
  

They will be used for club rides, sportives and races if I ever get my act together. Think both the Veloflex and Comp are out of budget if I'm being realistic.

So gatorskins or Evos? I feel like its a bit pointless getting tubulars and then going for mega puncture protection in the gatorskins or will they be better feel wise than I think?

Evos.
But I'd spend a bit more and get Comps if you want to ride in the wet.

Rolling resistance and ride on gatorskins won't be nice. And you're getting tubs, so get some decent ones.

Definitely Veloflex.

http://www.bike-palast.com/index.php?cl=details&anid=79900f1d22c43db029e59ec15556e17b&gclid=CPrj2pym8LgCFYZ4cAod9h0Abw

I combined mine with an Extreme up front where the wear would'nt be such a big deal.

http://www.bike-palast.com/Rennrad/Bereifung/Schlauchreifen/Veloflex-Extreme-28-x-22-mm-Schlauchreifen.html

Brilliant cornering on yesterdays fast'n'wet ride.

Vittoria Corsa Evo CX

I have CX's & CR's not sure which way round, one of them hole'd in the light drizzle this morning.

So if the comps are better in the wet, get them.

The Carbons ride nice like the Evos. But keep performing even when its wet.

I cant believe people go through the hassle of gluing, and use contis. I've be honest. I've never tried a conti tub. But the clinchers ride like garden hoses all the way along the range.

So scratch the gators, evos (if dry), comps (if wet), veloflex (if I ignore my budget)

Conti sprinter? Good tyre apparently and good RR.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/continental-sprinter-tubular-road-bike-tyre/rp-prod30282?ModelID=30282

How wide are the rims? 19 or 23? As if they're wide then you'll want wider tyres.

My rims are uber wide, and I have a 22 on the front its fine.

AFAIK Zipp designed the firecrests with a 22 in mind.

The sprinters are meant to be better RR than Comps. I just checked. Though neither are 'great'. But glued properly the sprinters will be good. They're also good in the wet and good puncture resistance. Accruing to reviews.

I'd just get them, if it were me.

Found a great deal on Evos... order placed

I'm not a tub expert by any means, but compared to clinchers I find the Conti Sprinter Gatorskin a lot comfier. If you are new to tubs you may be happy with them.

The roads where I am are often in a poor and dirty with glass etc. so a good tub is going to be wasted on them anyway.

Does anybody happen to know what the stitch on the inside of the Conti Gatorskins is called? I got Copydex, Tubular sowing kit, all sorted...but never sown before so looking up stitch before is good.

Looking up the stitch in time won't save 9 but me messing up my tube repair.

Stitched tub with the "fukititlldo" stitch and currently drying with Copydex to bond basetape.

A tip to mount tubs: Push the tub against a door/wall so you can work one side hard.
And if you get sore feet from standing on it, you can learn a bit against the spokes to get some extra power to push.

Off to brush rim and glue this week. It's lots of fun actually. Just not handy if you work etc. due to time consuming.

1,570 miles on my Veloflex Carbon tubs now, the rear really will need changing soon but I'm interested to see when "soon" is, I think it might last the rest of the year but we'll see.

The bike which those tubs are on will go into hibernation when the weather turns and won't emerge until it gets better again in 2014, so plenty of time then to change the rear, if I can coax it into lasting until then.

Lots of km's and very little sleep over the weekend.

Cruising along a quiet road, I was rudely awoken by the awful smell of an old Volvo. Then I heard that terrible pang/puff blowout noise. My heart sank into the seat of my pants. My little bottle of sealant wasnt going to fix this. 30km from home, 30km from destination, barely 300km use out of my lovely tubs.

Turns out it was the volvo.

Which was nice.

Hah!

^^ lol

I have this in my tiny saddle bag. I am not overly confident of my chances to fix anythin to be honest.

That things tiny!

What's it like to pump a tyre from flat?

Weirdly its gets the tyre filled pretty quickly. I've used it to bead clinchers a lot. My floor pump complians when there isnt already pressure in the tyre. As it doent know which valve to blow air through. Twat.

Its the pressure I struggle with. But I'd happily ride home on a 40PSI tub.

I'm not sure about the sealant. I wanted pitstop. None local. So I tried to import some. But its obviously made from napalm. Because no one would export it.

Day after I recieve the tufo sealant, a local webshop sends me an email saying they have pitstop now.

That tufo extreme sealant is meant to be very good

My early forrays into using pit stop have not been good. It's messy, expensive, and doesn't seem to work very well. I solved the problem with superglue instead in the end.

I 'tubed some tub repair videos hoping they'd show me how to sow a tub. Nothing. Feeling smug now for sowing mine.

But there were quite a few using sealant/superglue if anybody wonders how to do that on the road.

Stitched tub with the "fukititlldo" stitch and currently drying with Copydex to bond basetape.

When sewing tyres its best to use the same holes.. and do a loop stitch.. pulling tight with each loop.. The orginal stitch is a zipper and that is NOT what one wants.. The loop stitch is stronger but its purely a hand stitch. Go forward 2 holes, back 1, forward 2, back one.. This way they cross and make for a good strong casing. Cover with a bit of liquid latex or Remia rubber and re-attach the base-tape. The most important things are 1) keep the amount of the tyre opened to a minimum 2) use very strong thread (Belfast waxed linen thread as once used by UK Army is ideal and cheap through the usual surplus channels) 3) Use a regular balanced stitching technique to not create lumps 4) Stop worrying.

My early forrays into using pit stop have not been good. It's messy, expensive, and doesn't seem to work very well. I solved the problem with superglue instead in the end.

Repairing using the ancient techniques is best. Keep the pit-stop for road side emergencies or tyres not worthy of repairing--- or use as repair materials--- but too good to toss..