Best Light All Purpose Tubular?

[sandico]

I am trying to get a sense of what tubies I should replace my current set with.

Front: I have a Bonty XXX or whatever and its well past its prime. It loses air like Washington spends my money.
Rear: I have a Conti Sprinter. Been a GREAT tire but its also around 270gms.

When I first got tubies I was satisfied with the overall weight savings vs clinchers/tubes. But since these need to be replaced, I thought I'd try to get tubies in the 180-200gm range.

I have looked at The Listings (someone always says look there!). First off, the listings seem to have become the dead letter office. Many of the postings are 6+ years old and the items there are not even available many times.

I would like a set that is pretty durable. I don't race but do log a lot of miles. Mostly nice surfaces but we all come across the gravel and debris on occasion if we ride on roads. So the Corsa Evo CX for example, while it would be around 100 gms less per tubie (!!!) would probably be too fragile for my needs.

I am 180lbs +/- so can't ride things with light weight limits. On the other hand, (knock on wood) I have never had a flat out on tubies.

I have seen the following tubies as options.

Vittoria Chrono Evo CS (170gms)--probably not an option unless others feel differently
Vittoria Corsa Evo (250 gms)--would just stick with Conti at that weight
Tufo S3 Lite--(125 gms!)--not sure these even exist anymore
Tufo Elite Jet--(160gms)--reviews indicate these are egg-shells
Schwalbe Stelvio Tubular (170-180 gms)--not seeing them but on eBay
Veloflex Servizio--(210gms)--not seeing these anywhere

So, as you can see, not sure what the latest good all around tubies are.

Thoughts?

[LionelB]

180-200g tubular are TT specific tubular. Forget about that for every day riding. Also forget about anything Tufo.

250g is the sweetspot and veloflex carbon is your best option.

[sandico]

Why Veloflex Carbon?

I have a new unmounted Conti Sprinter that I can put on my front, which is in the greatest need anyway. The Conti Sprinter rear I have is gum bead, whereas the new one I have has a tread pattern.

Either way, the rear has at least 3k miles and from what I can tell is hardly showing wear.

The other advantage of the Sprinters is they are quite reasonably priced.

So, is there nothing in the 200-230gms range that I should be considering?

[Kayrehn]

New listings http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=71888#p637760

[sandico]

Thanks. Sure doesn't give me much hope here. Looks like there isn't anything in the 200-230gm range.

[LionelB]

Why Veloflex Carbon?

I have a new unmounted Conti Sprinter that I can put on my front, which is in the greatest need anyway. The Conti Sprinter rear I have is gum bead, whereas the new one I have has a tread pattern.

Either way, the rear has at least 3k miles and from what I can tell is hardly showing wear.

The other advantage of the Sprinters is they are quite reasonably priced.

So, is there nothing in the 200-230gms range that I should be considering?

veloflex extreme

[mrfish]

Try something light by all means, but to finish first, first you have to finish. If you're doing road racing or general road riding I'd therefore definitely go for a 250g tub. Main issue is that in a bunch you can't see where you're going or choose a line, so you often ride over things which you wouldn't hit if riding alone, then the HQ is typically a bit off the beaten track etc...

I would personally use up the Sprinter tub, then try either Conti Competition or GP4000 tubs to colour match the remaining sprinter. Both are a bit lighter than the Sprinter and work very nicely. Or if you start over then the Veloflex Carbon or Vittoria Corsa CX or similar are nice do-it-all tubs. Veloflex Extreme is also nice, but a bit marginal - if you live in Switzerland or Singapore probably fine, but will probably not last too long if you live in UK.

Yes you can get much lighter, but they are lighter because they are often simply smaller and have no tread and no puncture protection. Soon you start getting into the zone where one piece of glass or locked wheel on a descent will ruin your day.

[CBRE]

I got Carbons on the rear and Extremes on the front on three sets of wheels, great light durable combo.

[djconnel]

I use Vittoria Chronos for hillclimbs. But if they see anything remotely sharp, they pop. I use them only if I consider it worth the 10% probability I'm going to puncture.

So I'd stay away from the light stuff. Save weight somewhere else. Get synthetic cables or light quick-releases or other low-hanging fruit.

[sandico]

How about these?

http://www.all3sports.com/vittoria-tria ... bular.html

190gms, look to have at least some tread pattern. Anyone ride these?

I agree about not shaving too much weight at the expense of safety or being stranded.

I guess the ones mentioned above would give me 40 gms or so total weight savings, not bad.

[sandico]

I'd welcome any thoughts on low hanging fruit you see on my build--its at 6190 gms as of now

60cm 2009 CDale Supersix frame and matching fork
Full 2013 SRAM red shifters/der (the newest stuff)
Honkin FD clamp (LBS special and has gotta go)
Hollow tech cranks/factory rings
Speedplay X1 pedals BTP tuned
Bonty xxx lite carbon tubulars
Continental Sprinter tubular rear
Bonty XXX Lite Race front
Spin Stix skewers
Zero G brakes
KMC X10 SL chain
Token cassette
Selle Italia SLR saddle
Forte Precision Seatpost
Apparently OEM seat post clamp
Easton EC90SL bars (interestingly these do not appear to be carbon, but they clearly say EC90 which I thought the "C" always meant carbon?)
FSA OS99 stem
Ascent cages
random cables
Nashbar carbon look bar tape
Carbon look end caps
Grease
Air

I plan to swap out the following:

33 gms saddle (SLR 140 vs Alero carbon 97)
12 gms post clamp (stock clamp 22 vs. PZ racing 10)
30 gms bars (EC90 SLX3 195 vs.New Ultimate "claimed" 165)
40 gms (?) FD clamp (huge-ass thing LBS put on (not weighed) vs. Alero Carbon 6gms)
40-60 gms Tubies of some sort

[Kastrup]

Cables could be a place to save some weight while even bettering shifting performance.

[sandico]

I've seen cables noted before. I know the bike has SRAM Red stock shifter/der cables but also has Jagwire brake cables.

Any idea what savings I might gain if I went with something lighter? Will other stuff work with the SRAM Red?

And, what cost range am I talking here? I try to have some reasonable $ per gms saved analysis.

[Kastrup]

As for combatability, do a search here, you won't be the first to inquire about specific cable sets' function with Srams levers.

I hear the Alligator stuff shouldn't be to expensive while still being very light and deliver proper shifting.

[mca56]

"I got Carbons on the rear and Extremes on the front on three sets of wheels, great light durable combo"

+1