[Buying Advice] Tubbs for Commuting.

studiorat

Not that one...

Are any of the brethren running tubulars on their trainers or commuter bikes. If so what tyres are you using? Are you using puncture sealant? How's that working out.

Thought I might give it a go. I need two and a spare, €80 a pop for Conti's isn't really on the cards. Can anyone suggest a cheaper alternative? Supplier?

Damn! Wrong Forum, sorry lads.

Beasty

Moved from cycling adverts;)

Lumen

You want to commute on tubulars on a tight budget?

Next week: which private jet has the best fuel consumption?

:pac:

DirkVoodoo

Tubs for commuting, why?

Seeing as the main disadvantage of tubs is punctures can ruin your day without the aid of a support car, I can't see why.

The right combination of tyre/tube will give you something reasonably comfortable for commuting while being far more practical should you puncture.

Commuting = practicality rules.

Idleater

Any chance the op might mean tubeless?
If so, Hutchinson are good too, and I am a fan of stan's sealant on mtb tubeless.

studiorat

Why not? It just requires a little imagination, the wheels worked out very cheap. I guess no one want's them. I'm thinking €100 for two decent tires and a spare. If I wanted practical I wouldn't be doing the commute in the first place!!

I'm running tubeless on the rear of the mountain bike it's great. I'll probably try a ghetto job when it comes to changing the front tire. But I was thinking why don't people run something like Stan's sealant in tubulars? Fair enough if for weight obsessive team riders, but surely someone's thought of sealant in tubular tires.

http://vimeo.com/6477712

Idleater

studiorat wrote: »

but surely someone's thought of sealant in tubular tires.

Vittoria had something equivalent to stan's. It's been done, it's just not cost effective for many commuters so I presume the push just isn't there.

Lumen

studiorat wrote: »

I was thinking why don't people run something like Stan's sealant in tubulars? Fair enough if for weight obsessive team riders, but surely someone's thought of sealant in tubular tires.

Tubulars are safer for racing as you can ride on a flat until the support car gets to you, and the fact that they're more expensive, harder to fit, and difficult/expensive to repair makes no difference. At that level putting sealant in makes no sense.

AstraMonti

I am carrying one of these with me when I am on the tubs, http://www.effettomariposa.eu/en/products/espresso-family/espresso/. Thankfully I haven't found out yet if it actually works in case of a flat.

studiorat

Lumen wrote: »

Tubulars are safer for racing as you can ride on a flat until the support car gets to you, and the fact that they're more expensive, harder to fit, and difficult/expensive to repair makes no difference. At that level putting sealant in makes no sense.

I know that, what I was saying was do any mortals use it?

What tubs do you use Lumen?

I'm trying to get an idea of what's the actual differences in an expensive (€80ish) versus a mid priced (forty quid) one, doing 120 to 200k a week? And will something like Stans handle 100+ tire pressures.

What tires are you using Monti?

Lumen

studiorat wrote: »

I know that, what I was saying was do any mortals use it?

Oh right. Yes. From the reports I've read and things I've been told the gunk works about 50% of the time when applied after a puncture.

studiorat wrote: »

What tubs do you use Lumen?

I don't. I'm not racing at a level where I have a support car so there isn't a clear case for tubs.

I know of one person who uses tubs every day - he's a cycling guide in Spain and does about 500km a week on supercheapo generic carbon tubular wheels. The roads are cleaner and better surfaced than here, and if he gets a puncture that isn't fixable with gunk he can call his partner for support.

You can get gatorskin tubs, FWIW.

AstraMonti

studiorat wrote: »

I'm trying to get an idea of what's the actual differences in an expensive (€80ish) versus a mid priced (forty quid) one, doing 120 to 200k a week? And will something like Stans handle 100+ tire pressures.

What tires are you using Monti?

I am running Veloflex Carbon. The difference between the expensive and the cheap tires are the rubber compound (high TPI for the more expensive) and the internal tubes (latex instead of butyl).

studiorat

Sounds very bling!!

What's the story with repairing Latex tubes? Is it any different?

The Crunch

I understand that our Olympic Triathletes will be using sealant in their tubs in London this year. No following cars in triathlon.
I've heard David McCann has used it in TTs, too.

doozerie

I believe that you can repair latex tubes in the usual way (regular adhesive and patch, and presumably sandpaper too although I'm not sure whether you should/must use sandpaper on latex). I've seen people suggest that patches cut from an old latex tube work better than the typical patches you buy for butyl tubes. I've never tried though, 'cos in the 2 years or so that I've been using latex tubes (on my winter bike) I've never punctured (a statement which must be to fate what a red rag is to a bull!). I've also seen it written that you shouldn't touch latex tubes directly as the oils in your skin can damage them but I've never encountered any problems with that, having handle the tubes several times when swapping between wheels.

...oh, and all of that applies to latex tubes in clinchers, but might be applicable to latex tubes in tubulars too.

I can see the appeal, economy wise, of buying a cheap set of tubular wheels for commuting but I wonder whether any savings you make on the wheels themselves might be written off by the cost of tubulars (even just replacing used ones, whatever about replacing damaged/punctured ones)?

AstraMonti

doozerie wrote: »

I can see the appeal, economy wise, of buying a cheap set of tubular wheels for commuting but I wonder whether any savings you make on the wheels themselves might be written off by the cost of tubulars (even just replacing used ones, whatever about replacing damaged/punctured ones)?

I guess if it's just for commuting you can get the cheaper one with a bit of puncture protection, like this Vittoria. At 16euro it's probably much cheaper than a decent set of clincher tires/tubes.