Hi, tubular newbie here.

I have only fitted one pair of tubular tyres (vittoria pave), which I found easy to get on the rim and straighten. My question is what other tubular brands are easier to fit/straighten? As I am wary of purchasing tubs which are a bugger to fit, for example I have read continentals have good puncture protection, the ride may not be as supple as vittoria's, but are a difficult to run true/straighten once installed. I know they definitely need to be streched before gluing.

Don't want to waste £70-80, sweat and tears on a pair of tubs I cant align.

Cheers

Zipp tangentes mounted up almost perfectly when they went on the rim. Only 3-4 spots to straighten out nthey were monted on hed stingers

Contis are harder to install than Vittoria but I find them to be better tires. Low rolling resistence and better traction.

Vittorias are pretty easy to install though.

One thing I have done to straight tires is jam a plastic piece, like a tire lever or a plastic ruler, through the space between the tire and rim. By sliding that piece along the circumference of the rim, you can easily move the tire both along the rim to straighten the valve, and side ways to make sure it sits in the center.

Hope that helps.

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How do you put a piece of plastic between your tire and rim when you have glue all over the tire and rim?

Yes jamming it across is the tough part. I guess part of the reason is the base coat is dry and last layer of glue is still fresh. Plus the idea is not slide the thing aound the whole rim, but only a section of it that is enough to allow you to adjust the position.

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My Vittoria evo slicks were my first and so easy I wondered what people are talking about the difficulty of tubulars.

Compared to my new clinchers, conti 4 seasons that we're almost impossible to mount.

Veloflex Carbon & Extreme seem easy to install. Do not need much pre-stretching, no fitting or straightening issues encountered. Puncture protection seems fine. I use Carbon or the rear and Extreme on the front.

The easiest tubular to install is the one you pre-stretch the best. Centering is a different story. Veloflex anything is good to centre but I've had a few Vittorias I simply could not do easily. Of about a half dozen, one vittoria crono evo was simply not centerable (period...it just wouldn't) and one CX was very difficult (30 mins of swearing). Some others took considerable effort until I was finally happy that it was perfectly straight. FWIW, the crono was also "out of round".....I wish I'd have checked it earlier.....I'd have taken it back!

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Veloflex. Super supple and don't need pre stretching because of this. Also, they perform really well across the broad spectrum of traits that are required from a good tub.

Hi,



A piece of steel cable is even easier to use as it has far less surface area.

The only brand of tubulars I know of that's a royal PITA to mount is Continental. Especially on Campa rims.
You can stretch them for a decade, they just don't seem to stretch or if they do they regain their original shape as soon as they're off the rim....

In general the more supple (high true TPI count) the tub the easier it will be to fit. Vitto or Veloflex in particular do not even need to be pre-stretched IME.

Ciao,

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