C
On Wed, 11 May 2005 18:32:04 -0700, <[email protected]> wrote:
>Veloflex claims to make clinchers by hand. I don't know if that is relevant
>for how well they work.
>
>http://www.veloflextires.com/
Dear Cel,
You're right--they do make clinchers by hand.
The question is really just simple physics.
Given the same materials and thickness, a clincher should
have less rolling resistance than a tubular because the
tubular adds a layer of glue between the tire and the rim.
Extra material increases rolling resistance.
Once Jobst Brandt looked at his test results and pointed
this out, even people like me could understand it.
To be fair to smarter folks, history obscured the point--all
racing tires were tubulars for a long time, so people were
comparing excellent tubulars to far-from-excellent
clinchers. The clinchers used heavier rims, were more prone
to impact flats, couldn't be ridden when flat, and weren't
what the pros used. It was understandable for people to
assume that tubulars were also somehow blessed with
inherently lower rolling resistance, but that just doesn't
seem to be the case when practical road tires are actually
tested.
Interestingly, another part of the Veloflex site indicates
that only one other company still makes tubulars by hand in
Europe:
"Life is changing even here though. While tubulars are for
the moment safe, caused by private label demand for
professional cycling teams each year, Gabrielle Colleoni
wants to stop making them so he can free up people to make
clinchers. It's simple economics, they only have so many
pairs of hands and so much production time. The far simpler
and easier to produce clinchers are what is demanded on the
whole by the purchasing public and they can't make enough to
fulfil the orders they receive. So if they cut out tubular
production they will increase total numbers of tyres
produced. It's a tough choice, and unfortunately is being
forced upon them by sheer public demand actually created by
the big boys and their marketing departments. If Andre
Dugast were to stop as well there would be no old world
style handmade tubulars being produced in Europe. The day
that happens will be the end of an era."
http://www.veloflextires.com/veloflex_info.htm
Carl Fogel
>Veloflex claims to make clinchers by hand. I don't know if that is relevant
>for how well they work.
>
>http://www.veloflextires.com/
Dear Cel,
You're right--they do make clinchers by hand.
The question is really just simple physics.
Given the same materials and thickness, a clincher should
have less rolling resistance than a tubular because the
tubular adds a layer of glue between the tire and the rim.
Extra material increases rolling resistance.
Once Jobst Brandt looked at his test results and pointed
this out, even people like me could understand it.
To be fair to smarter folks, history obscured the point--all
racing tires were tubulars for a long time, so people were
comparing excellent tubulars to far-from-excellent
clinchers. The clinchers used heavier rims, were more prone
to impact flats, couldn't be ridden when flat, and weren't
what the pros used. It was understandable for people to
assume that tubulars were also somehow blessed with
inherently lower rolling resistance, but that just doesn't
seem to be the case when practical road tires are actually
tested.
Interestingly, another part of the Veloflex site indicates
that only one other company still makes tubulars by hand in
Europe:
"Life is changing even here though. While tubulars are for
the moment safe, caused by private label demand for
professional cycling teams each year, Gabrielle Colleoni
wants to stop making them so he can free up people to make
clinchers. It's simple economics, they only have so many
pairs of hands and so much production time. The far simpler
and easier to produce clinchers are what is demanded on the
whole by the purchasing public and they can't make enough to
fulfil the orders they receive. So if they cut out tubular
production they will increase total numbers of tyres
produced. It's a tough choice, and unfortunately is being
forced upon them by sheer public demand actually created by
the big boys and their marketing departments. If Andre
Dugast were to stop as well there would be no old world
style handmade tubulars being produced in Europe. The day
that happens will be the end of an era."
http://www.veloflextires.com/veloflex_info.htm
Carl Fogel