Clincher VS Tubular

[GrasB]

TUFO tubs would be particularly suitable for this purpose, as you can almost always fix them with a bit of sealant. Or even pre-emptively put some in.

Conti Giro is my tyre of choice for daily duties. I've had 7 punctures so far in >40k miles & all of those happened when the tyre was well worn anyway.

 

[172traindriver]

Got speaking to some of the Spin Rotor Primal team lads that took part in the Tour Series at Redditch. A lad called George Pym who was one of the team was telling me some of them were riding clinchers on their Spin Cycle Works deep section wheels. I was quite surprised but he said they were as good as tubs. He was a top nice friendly guy and really approachable. I was asking as I have some of their deep section clinchers.

 

[VamP]

I ride on clinchers as I don't race (yet) and need to be able to carry out a repair at the roadside, possibly a long way from home. If I phone Mrs O to come and pick me up following a puncture the answer, after she stopped laughing, would be a no. Even if she did agree to get me, the chances of her actually finding me, despite being told how to get to me would be slim.

All that said I wouldn't rule out tubs at some stage in the future. Although my new bike has hot tubeless compatible rims on it, so there is a chance I may give that a oh first.

People always say this, but it's really not that hard to change a tub... It's a lot easier than fixing a Marathon Plus

 

[VamP]

Conti Giro is my tyre of choice for daily duties. I've had 7 punctures so far towards in >40k miles & all of those happened when the tyre was well worn anyway.

That's pretty decent, and supports my belief that tubs don't puncture as much. And that's despite Conti being misguided enough to use butyl.

 

[Andrew_P]

Ok educate me about tubeless as apposed to clincher and tubs? http://road.cc/content/review/95313-schwalbe-ultremo-zx-tubeless-tyres Was looking at maybe Hutchinson though

 

[AlanW]

All depends on what you intend to use them for really, for normal training and commuting then it has to be clinchers. However, if you are serious about racing then it has to be tubulars.

 

[GrasB]

That's pretty decent, and supports my belief that tubs don't puncture as much. And that's despite Conti being misguided enough to use butyl.

Yeah but they're also the cheapest tubs I can find. I'm picking them up for £12-15 each... and they're a damn sight better than a £10 clincher.

 

[Dave Loasby]

I used to TT on tubs many years ago. they were always the cheapest my Dad could find, and i don't ever remember having a puncture. Now days its clinchers, but only because I no longer race and i have to pay for them myself. Tubs always used to be classed as being more responsive, but imo that was mostly down to pressures, which now days is not such an issue.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Zipp state at 36 seconds... "Clinchers are significantly faster"

As a company which produces both tubs and clinchers they have no reason to promote one over another.
The latest generation of clinchers are used by world tour teams on regular basis and a consideration when setting up the bike.



.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

A nice write up to this question can be found at..
http://runblackdog.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/tubulars-vs-clinchers-2/

Conclusion

For the vast majority of age-group athletes tubulars simply do not make sense. A good modern clincher tyre with a latex inner tube has a similar rolling resistance to a properly glued tubular. If a tubular is glued properly to benefit from the lowest possible rolling resistance then it is not practical to remove the tyre from the rim in the event of a puncture. If the tubular is lightly glued to allow removal during a race then the rolling resistance suffers and an equivalent clincher with latex inner tube is faster by around 20 seconds over 25 miles and 90 seconds for an Ironman. The weight difference between a clincher wheel and a tubular wheel can be negated if the rider on tubulars is carrying spares and even given a 300g weight difference a clincher wheelset is faster than a lightly glued tubular wheelset for gradients up to around 8%, with most races being not exclusively uphill so this will be more than negated by the clinchers performance on the flat and downhill.

If you are a front of race athlete looking for marginal gains and where a puncture would mean that you are out of contention by all means runproperly glued tubulars. Everyone else should be on clinchers and using latex inner tubes when racing.

 

[VamP]

A nice write up to this question can be found at..
http://runblackdog.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/tubulars-vs-clinchers-2/

Yeah, but that's just some guy's opinion. And a TRIATHLETE to boot. Why would anyone but a tri carry spare tubulars in a race?

Also the rolling resistance claims don't tally up with this.

The weight argument is probably the most persuasive, combined with cost of course. I can get 1100g aero tubular wheelset for £450. Why would I spend three times that for a heavier clincher set?

 

[GrasB]

Yeah, but that's just some guy's opinion. And a TRIATHLETE to boot. Why would anyone but a tri carry spare tubulars in a race?

Also the rolling resistance claims don't tally up with this.

The weight argument is probably the most persuasive, combined with cost of course. I can get 1100g aero tubular wheelset for £450. Why would I spend three times that for a heavier clincher set?

My finding is that tubulars are better compared to clinchers the rougher the surface. So a turbo trainer based Crr measurement is going to see clinchers in the most favourable light.

There is also no mention about vibration induced fatigue, which over 100 miles can be considerable. Time & time again I find that tubs, even cheap ones, are more compliant than all but the most expensive clincher tyres & inner tubes

 

[VamP]

My finding is that tubulars are better compared to clinchers the rougher the surface. So a turbo trainer based Crr measurement is going to see clinchers in the most favourable light.

There is also no mention about vibration induced fatigue, which over 100 miles can be considerable. Time & time again I find that tubs, even cheap ones, are more compliant than all but the most expensive clincher tyres & inner tubes

Indeed.