road newbie with ?'s

shytiger72 said:

can you replace a 650cc wheel with a 700cc wheel?

what's a good tubular carbon wheelset?

You CANNOT replace a 650 with 700c.

thanks for the quick response

shytiger72 said:

can you replace a 650cc wheel with a 700cc wheel?

what's a good tubular carbon wheelset?

Why do you want tubular? The only people I know who ride tubulars are hard-core racers.

One guy just bought some AC Carbons (tubular), and he was very impressed with them.

cabon tubies? price no object:

ada.prorider.orgada.prorider.orgOpen ↗

xentis.comxentis.comOpen ↗

seriously, zipp 808 or zipp z8 (not sure if z8's are UCI approved for mass starts)

badkarma said:

Why do you want tubular? The only people I know who ride tubulars are hard-core racers.

One guy just bought some AC Carbons (tubular), and he was very impressed with them.

b/c i live in an extremely rural area (so rural i have no home address). i have to order whatever i need and few places ship to p.o. boxes. i am also a small person without a lot of hand strength....i takes me literally an hour to change a tube. i have cycled for a good ten years but am a newbie in as much as i bought my first bike and have not keep up with cycling equipment and how it has evolved. anyway, i just want something that is going to last a long time requiring very little maint.🙂

In most cases, it takes just as much hand strength to put a new tubular on a rim as it does to put a clincher on. Unstretched, it's a real tight fit. The last set of tubies I bought brand new, I thought the shop had screwed up and sent me 650's at first, they were so small. Eventually, I got them on an old rim for stretching, but it was a fight.

Seriously, for a newbie, tubulars are more trouble than they're worth. Light, and they sure ride good, but repairing a flat takes at least an hour or two of unglueing, unstitching, restitching, and regluing. Peel the tire off of the rim, locate the puncture, pull the inner strip away from the tire, cut the threads, pull the tube out, find the hole, patch it, shove the tube back in the casing and stretch it into place, stitch up the casing with a big needle and heavy thread, glue the inner strip back onto the tire, glue the whole thing back on the rim. It's a finger pricking, knuckle banging, messy job, and you end up with a very strong and very persistent glue all over the place the first couple of times you try it.

Repairing a tubular is a fine art, not necessarily appreciated by everyone.

But if you must go that route, a set of Zipp 404's, 2001 or newer (earlier models had troublesome lightweight bearings) is probably your most cost effective approach. $700-800 on ebay.

JohnO said:

In most cases, it takes just as much hand strength to put a new tubular on a rim as it does to put a clincher on. Unstretched, it's a real tight fit. The last set of tubies I bought brand new, I thought the shop had screwed up and sent me 650's at first, they were so small. Eventually, I got them on an old rim for stretching, but it was a fight.

Seriously, for a newbie, tubulars are more trouble than they're worth. Light, and they sure ride good, but repairing a flat takes at least an hour or two of unglueing, unstitching, restitching, and regluing. Peel the tire off of the rim, locate the puncture, pull the inner strip away from the tire, cut the threads, pull the tube out, find the hole, patch it, shove the tube back in the casing and stretch it into place, stitch up the casing with a big needle and heavy thread, glue the inner strip back onto the tire, glue the whole thing back on the rim. It's a finger pricking, knuckle banging, messy job, and you end up with a very strong and very persistent glue all over the place the first couple of times you try it.

Repairing a tubular is a fine art, not necessarily appreciated by everyone.

But if you must go that route, a set of Zipp 404's, 2001 or newer (earlier models had troublesome lightweight bearings) is probably your most cost effective approach. $700-800 on ebay.

thanks so much for the information! this is exactly why i joined the forum..i appreciate your time.

shytiger72 said:

b/c i live in an extremely rural area (so rural i have no home address). i have to order whatever i need and few places ship to p.o. boxes. i am also a small person without a lot of hand strength....i takes me literally an hour to change a tube. i have cycled for a good ten years but am a newbie in as much as i bought my first bike and have not keep up with cycling equipment and how it has evolved. anyway, i just want something that is going to last a long time requiring very little maint.🙂

I agree with the other poster that switching to tubulars is not the best way to get around the tight clincher mounting issue.

Different brands of tires and rims seem to fit differently. Although they are generally heavier and not intended for racing or other high-performance use, I have found wire-bead (non-folding) clinchers easier to mount than the folding ones. They are cheaper and for general training use and commuting, they are adequate.

One option to get a bit of both worlds is to try the Tufo tubular-clincher.