keep riding a tubular which survived a powerful impact?

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Alexandrumarian
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Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Location: Romania

by Alexandrumarian

A while ago I had a frontal encounter with a car, the front carbon wheel was shattered. Incredibly the tubular tire survived without a scratch (27mm veloflex). I set it aside. Recently I got an unexpected rear tire cut (brand new tire) and caught without replacement, in a hurry I decided to install the crash tub. It now has a week at full pressure and looks good. No bulges, no pressure loss. Still i am afraid to ride it. In a few days I'll go for a climbing week in Greece and afraid it might blowup during a descent and finish what the crash couldn't... I should change it just for the peace of mind but still, curious what someone else would do. Thanks...

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LouisN
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Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:44 am
Location: Canada

by LouisN

I would ride it till it "dies". The high density cotton casing on a Veloflex tub is very strong, and supple. Maybe a few cotton threads were damaged by the impact, but that won't make the tubular suddenly split in half. the worst that can happen IMO is a flat coming from a split in the casing. And that will happen gradually (the split).
Regardless of this issue, on any kind of trip I would bring a few replacement tubulars with me.
Louis :)

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sungod
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Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:37 pm

by sungod

^^^ this

if there's no visible damage and no bulge/other shape change at maximum pressure then it'd ride it, a pinch flat would have shown up fast

did you check the basetape adhesion was ok all the way around? i always do that with a tub i've removed and intend to reuse

Geoff
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Location: Canada

by Geoff

I had a similar crash that destroyed a Nemesis and severed a Colnago headtube from the main triangle. The Vittoria All-Weather survived. I remounted it and rode it until the tread was gone.

Alexandrumarian
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Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Location: Romania

by Alexandrumarian

Thanks guys! I think I'm past the paranoia episode and use it. Basetape is fine, I took it off slowly because the thread was like new (just a few hundreds as front).

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Calnago
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by Calnago

C’mon Geoff... driving your Lexus with the roof rack mounted Colnago into the garage doesn’t count as a “crash”. Lol
But yeah, as for the tire, unless it somehow got torn or ripped during the incident, I would think it’s as safe as it ever was.
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Geoff
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Location: Canada

by Geoff

No, we're a long-time Range Rover family. No need for roof racks, as bikes fit inside the full-sized Range no problem. I have no recollection of that crash (or the next few days), but I actually know the owner of that Porsche Turbo and it needed some work, too. Anyway, I keep that headtube on my desk as a reminder. The Vittoria All-Weather is long-gone, though, but it survived that crash just fine...

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