Track Tyres, Indoor and Out

Right....

Race wheels. Shamals Track to be precise...

Need new tubs.

The big question... all my mechanics are telling me Conti are a pain to fit (this would be Sonderklasse)
And that Vittoria are preferred. This would be Pista Evo...

To ride at Manchester...

I can't decide...

big question... all my mechanics are telling me Conti are a pain to fit (this would be Sonderklasse)
And that Vittoria are preferred. This would be Pista Evo...>

Yes. Nylon Contis are a PAIN to fit and the Evos are really easy to mount.

While the Evos are a pretty good competition tyre for most uses I'd prefer my Sonderklasses. The Sonderklasse is one of the absolute best track alrounder tyres available--- the current nylon one with "Black Chili" are not as nice as the older 175s and 165s but still very good (and the new rubber is an improvement). They have really good stick, ride well enough and are pretty robust. My Evos are reserved for special events.

The new Cont's like most conti tyres are tight to fit out of the box.

The way to go is to put them on "stretching"rims at 10 bar for a few days and then glue the base tapes and let that dry for a day and put them back on the "stretching" rims until you are ready to fit them to prepared rims on your shamals. The final fitting of the tyres to a rim wet with the final coat of glue is relatively easy then if you get an assistant to be on hand to get the final bit of the tyre opposite the valve lifted on. The old Sonderclass 165 / 175 were robust tyres, the new ones more so with better rubber on them.

Vittoria Pista EVO's are nice to ride, very easy to fit but a bit fragile and are best kept for the competition carbon disks / five spokes in my opinion.

We are using the Vittoria Crono EVO tyres on some of our best race wheels, very easy to fit, a little heavier ( 5 or 10 G) than the Pista EVO but significantly more robust and cheap at £ 35 or so.
I have been sticking all sorts of tyres on to all sorts of track wheels continuously since 1979 and if you asked me I would put Crono's on your shamals .

Wonder what you ended up getting for your Shamals ?

Thanks for the input @EdwardZ @allister
Yet to make a change after bagging a frame building course cancellation so these are on the back burner at the moment, but advice duly noted...

RE the crono... any issues with low speed grip on steep timber banking's?

The Crono's seem plenty good enough for grip , we have a development girl who uses a pair of carbon wheels with them on and makes my heart stop when I see how slow she goes on them :-(

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I'll repost this here which seems more appropriate:

Are black or black with cream walls Schwalbe lugano accepted in velodromes? I read that Vittoria, Schwalbe and continental are the recommended brands as long as they're not coloured. But luganos are double compound afaik. And what about any other single compound black tyres? Are they really that picky in velodromes in general, London in particular? Tnx

At LVVP they said it was the silicon content of dual/triple compound tyres that cause the problem, and according to ChainReaction Luganos are a silica compound. Also not a slick so wouldn't want to risk it on wood.

When I got my track bike (second hand) it was shod with Schwalbe Ones, a top of the range road tyre, but triple compound. These had very little grip and squirmed and squealed on the boards at LVVP before I gave up and use a hire bike for the rest of the session and have since changes to track specific tyres (Vittoria Diamante Pro Pista).

Can't comment on outdoor/tarmac velodromes as I have only ridden them on hire/season bikes.

So, reading this thread with interest.
Just building up a Cervelo T1 and cash is tight (read now skint).
Consequently I'm going to need to used my TT front wheel (90mm) for now with a track axel fitted.
Thing is I run Conti Sprinters on the road as they fit my budget and I can get some reasonable mileage out of them.
Derby have said Sprinters are fine to use. I know they're not the best but should I have any concerns? Should I get something a bit tastier for the rear which will only be used on the boards?
Ps, I'm not racing yet.

Our experience is that Conti sprinters are fine on wooden tracks both indoors and out, the compound can go a bit "hard" after a few years and the older ones with the orange tread were prone to splitting at the edge of the tread band.

The new ones with the Chilli compound are fine. Keep them up at 10 bar minimum and enjoy the ride. If your not racing at a high level then there is no need to get anything lighter as they cost a lot more and are are less robust. One of our riders has ridden training wheels with sprinters and won British Championships on them . There is a good case for riding the same tyres back and front so as the grip and feel is the same.

Appreciate the feedback.

Ps, should I be gluing my tubs for track use? I use tape for TT's as its all pretty much straight lines.

" should I be gluing my tubs for track use? "

That's a whole different discussion , but in a nutshell .... no !

http://www.glasgowfixedgear.com/discussion/comment/103384#Comment_103384

That surprises me. Is tape sturdy enough then?

Sorry , that came out wrong, usually tubulars used on track wheels would be glued on, most steep indoor tracks have this stipulated in the machine requirements.
A track tyre on a velodrome is subject to much greater sheering forces than a road tyre under most circumstances.

Having said that I have seen the TUFO extreme tape used on track wheels and its been pretty good. The Jantex tape has its fans for use on the road but not many folk would use it on track wheels. The consequence of a taped tyre rolling off either when it punctures or even worse, when fully inflated are catastrophic.
Using glue is pretty easy if you do the preparation properly .

Good luck !

Ah, misunderstood.
Yes I had planned to glue my tubs.

Tnx, that really helps

Anyone tried continental GP4000s on an indoor track, I realise they're not fast tyres but are they ok grip wise?

They are road tyres, get some Vittoria diamante pista clinchers maybe?

Yes I've used them at Newport/Calshot/London - no problems with grip

I got to ride my T1 on Derby's boards for the first time yesterday.

As previously mentioned I'm running Conti Sprinters. Loved riding my own bike but I noticed I've got quite bad tyre hop on the front at the valve. A good couple of mm and noticeable on the boards.
I'm guessing my glueing technique might be a bit crap as these are the first tubs I've glued (used 3 layers on rims, 2 on tubs). Can I rectify this problem or is that what you get for running cheap tubs?
Cheers Jon
Ps, running carbon rims with Conti carbon glue.

Here's the T1. What a nice ride.

(Apologies for the decal's on the wheels but the front does match my FFWD disc on my TT bike).

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Think I've suss'd it. I've just pulled the tub off and re-applied (more glue of course) working the tub much harder away from the valve rather than just sticking it on.

On the tyre front, I have two sets of Miche Pistard WR wheels that I can use for starting out on track. To be used at H/H & Stratford;

• Vittoria Zaffiro Slick clincher
  
• Continental Sprinter tubular
  
  

No brainer for the tubular?

Everyone needs a tubular track set imo