Spotted these on wiggle, does anybody know where they sit in the veloflex line Up.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/veloflex-servic ... r-tyres-1/

Hi,

Top of the food chain.
There may be one or two tyres out there that could outclass it but it'll be a close match.
You definitely want to age these for at least six months (more is better to a point) and match them to a rim that does not exceed their width.

Campa Bora, Hyperon and consorts should be fine, they measure 19 dot something.
As the name suggests, this is a race day tyre and not much else. Their current equivalents would be the Veloflex Extreme (Black sidewalls) and the Sprinter (Tan sidewalls) which run 22mm wide as opposed to the Sevizio Corse's 20mm.
The newer, wider, tyres ride differently due to the increase in width. A 20mm tyre, as you can imagine, can feel like riding on blades.
Nonetheless, it only takes confidence and for mere speed I'd say they're impressive. I'd buy them again and again if they'd still be made.

That said, the asking price as stated in the link is pretty steep. 60 to 65 Euro is more like it.

Ciao,

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Cheers for the info. With regards to rim and tyre width. Is it easier to straighten a tubular that is wider. For example, 25 easier than a 23 on Hyperon, or does it not make much difference?
Or is it the rim width with such as the wide ENVE rims as the tubular as a larger surface area to sit.

Secondly is a wider width tubular more resistant to puncturing? For example, arenberg/roubaix vs carbon. The reason I ask is I have a pair of vittoria evo cx stretching and I don't know whether to glue these or purchase some veloflex carbon/criterium or roubaix. They will be ridden on UK roads. I have only ever glued some vittoria pave tubulars before so have no experience of other brands.

Thanks.

Hi,



In general the slimmer tyres are easier to fit/center on an equally slim rim. It should not make much of a diffrence either way.




In theory, yes, it would.

Ciao,

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In my case Vittoria CX evo didn't last long. It was better with veloflex extreme. There is the same story with their open versions.
Veloflex seems to be better than Victoria in the puncture resistance department. At least it worked that way for me.

Because riding these type of tubulars is a big joy, I didn't want to compromise the quality of the ride and the same time wanted to ride them on daily basis, I decided to go with Arenberg. They fit nicely on wide Zipps too.

On top of this, as you may know UK roads are far from being called perfect or even good.
So the more meet on them the better chance of not using sealant or changing the tire during the ride you've got.

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I ride Veloflex extremes on UK roads, and I've not had any issues (no puncture for 8months), that said I'd probably use a slightly wider tyre when these do wear out/ puncture as the road surface is terrible near me. The extremes are however wonderful on Alpine and Pyrenean roads in the summer!

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This might be one of their older tires as it is 'only' 300 TPI. Newer ones are 320 and 350

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I thought the Sprinter was the replacement for the Servizio Corse? My understanding is that the lower end tubular was the Criterium (still a great tyre), with the Carbon being identical just with black sidewalls - then the better tyre was the Sprinter (replacing the Servizio Corse), and it's black sidewalled twin the Extreme. Records were the finest tyre but obviously their lifetime is not so long, for hill climbs and time trials really. Criterium/Carbons are about 300g, Sprinter/Extremes ~250g, and Records are 200g.

Hi,

Traditionally Veloflex tyre's name's reflect their intended use but it can become a little confusing as now all except the Record are available in either black or tan sidewall versions.

Servizio Corse was only available in tan sidewall but since the move to wider tyres from 20mm to 22 or 23 and so forth Veloflex decided to offer their race flagship tyre in both black and tan sidewall versions. Unfortunately the names have lost their meaning in the switchover but you still need to think of them as Servizio Corse tyres meaning for race service primarily.

My experience with older Record and Servizio Corse tyres was that puncture resistance was such that it automatically resigned to races and not much else unless you don't care spending money on replacing punctured tyres. This has been improved dramatically with the wider versions and when properly aged they are on a par with most of the competition.
They're not city tyres in that they will puncture far more often if you ride them in the center of a city of a suburb.
They're not meant to deal with that crap. Other, more natural obstacles such as pebbles and sylex they handle remarkably well.

Some people seem to insist on riding top quality tyres in glass laiden areas for some odd reason.....

Anyhow, the breakdown on Veloflex tubs is pretty straightforward:

Record: tan wall TT and TRI.

Servizio Corse split in Extreme (black) and Sprinter tan has moved from 20mm to 22mm width. Race only but IMO good enough for a varity of uses for as long as you keep out of crap areas.

Criterium used to be a different tyre compared to Carbon but that has been changed a few years back making them identical twins except for the sidewall colour.
This is what the afficionado uses for common use with similar restrictions as the Servizio Corse only less so.
These are still available as a 22mm tyre but new production is 23mm wide only.
Personally I ride Extreme/Sprinter on the FW and Carbon/Criterion on the RW with no problems at. No punctures to date ( a couple of years use equating many thousands km). Always aged for at least six months prior to use.

Roubaix/Arenberg are mainly 25mm versions of the orinal 24mm wide Roubaix which was desigened for pave routes.
Even though I have some in my stash, I don't think I'll use them much. To me their use is as limited as the Record.

Most of the tyres in my personal stash are at least five years old before being used. Not that this is a must, it just happens I have so many. They do not get "old" as in unusable, they are all fine and as said before when used under the right circumstances they do not puncture either. They all do ride great though. In every single respect, that is.

Similar story for the open tubular versions which are exactly that especially when paired to a fine latex inner tube. The latter comes with its set of restrictions but that's a totally different kettle of fish.

Ciao,

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Being a snob is an expensive hobby.

Fdegrove, great post, thanks for your knowledge. I ride Veloflex master clinchers all the time and think they're some of the finest tyres I've ever ridden. Only drawback I find is that sometimes the puncture is so big that the outer tyre has to be thrown away as it won't hold an inner tube; but that's down to the terrible condition of British roads currently.

These will be new old stock

I got some Veloflex Criterium 22 Tubulars from Wiggle 2 weeks ago and they were stamped April 2012, they are now superseded buy the Criterium 23 (although the seem to fit EXACTLY the same, I think it is only a name change not actually a wider tyre)

So think of these as pre-aged,