Cycling UK Forum

So I bought a 80's cyclocross bike. It came with tub wheels. I've got a spare set of clincher wheels going on but do fancy using the tubs, I'm going to use the bike for tow paths, etc, so can someone recommend suitable tubs, looking at the cheaper end and I have to ride on road to get to tow paths.
Next glue or tape? Veering towards glue as I believe it's possible to peel off one if in p*ntures and stick a spare on, which should get me home. Or is that nonsense? Discuss......

Tape - easier to apply and you can still peel off a punctured tub easy enough. Just by some of the cheaper 'training' tubs from the likes of Vittoria. Enjoy! Don't think about p*******S when riding!

Tape - much easier to apply (I recall messing around with cement) and there's a chance it will remain on the rim when you peel the flat tub off. If worried, it is not much hassle to carry a spare tape with the spare tub.

Tub - I last rode tubs about 3 years ago and favoured the cheaper end of the Tufo range.

If you have plenty of clearance they do 29er tubs! Victoria used to do some nice cyclo X tubs at a reasonable price and Schwalbe do some budget tubs that I used on trails this summer without issue.

To me tubs are way too much hassle for general riding around, sticking them on, but especially from the point of view of dealing with a puncture. Repairing a punctured tub is very tricky and most won't bother.

In cyclocross racing tubs are de rigeur and they require great care in glueing on. Due to the low pressures used and mucky conditions there would be a high risk of rolling the tub off unless stuck on most securely. Proper rim cement is essential and sometimes people use cement with a layer of tub tape.

Tape by itself is often not secure enough. I still sometimes use tubs but find that the common Jantex tub tape on my alloy rims (Mavic GL330) and Vittoria tubs is not good enough. It needs renewing often and under braking going downhill the heat in the rim will soften the tape causing the tub to creep around, resulting in the valve pointing at an angle through the valve hole.

Another family member's carbon rims and Continental tubs seem to stick much better with the Jantex tape. I think the rim profile is better suited to the stitched seam on that tub.

However things may be about to change on the tape front, I am keen to order this stuff:-

http://www.effettomariposa.eu/en/produc ... y/carogna/

Some useful notes here:-

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/05/ ... ore_370761

Not cheap and seems tricky to find at the moment. But what price one's safety? Plus so much less trouble than spending a couple of days sticking a tub on with rim cement.

http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/effett ... wgodkvkKbg

flash wrote:So I bought a 80's cyclocross bike. It came with tub wheels. I've got a spare set of clincher wheels going on but do fancy using the tubs, I'm going to use the bike for tow paths, etc, so can someone recommend suitable tubs, looking at the cheaper end and I have to ride on road to get to tow paths.
Next glue or tape? Veering towards glue as I believe it's possible to peel off one if in p*ntures and stick a spare on, which should get me home. Or is that nonsense? Discuss......

No it's not nonsense and it's something I did loads of times years ago. I prefer glue - tape often stays on the removed tub and it's not easy to get off and re use to fit your spare tub.

If you are going to ride tubs, learn how to repair them, it's not as hard as some people would have you believe.
find the puncture
peel back the base tape about 3inches either side of the puncture site
you can draw pen lines across the line of stitches to aid correct resewing, I didn't
carefully cut the stitches with a sharp modelling knife or scalpel, don't try and cut through the stitching just cut the exposed stitches and pull them out with pliers
open up the tyre to expose the tube, some tyres have a stitched-in liner between the tube and stitching carefully cut the row of stitches on one side of this, you wont re-stitch this strip
Mend the puncture, high-end tyres have latex tubes, use the best patches and glue you can get
Now the interesting bit...
using a sail makers needle and thread sew up the tyre, don't try to replicate the original stitching, single thread overhand stitch all the way in a diagonal pattern, use a pencil to keep the nasty pointy thing away from your now repaired tube, at the end return the stitches to make a cross pattern
re-stick the base tape
I hope this all makes sense

Ugly wrote:If you are going to ride tubs, learn how to repair them, it's not as hard as some people would have you believe.
find the puncture
peel back the base tape about 3inches either side of the puncture site
you can draw pen lines across the line of stitches to aid correct resewing, I didn't
carefully cut the stitches with a sharp modelling knife or scalpel, don't try and cut through the stitching just cut the exposed stitches and pull them out with pliers
open up the tyre to expose the tube, some tyres have a stitched-in liner between the tube and stitching carefully cut the row of stitches on one side of this, you wont re-stitch this strip
Mend the puncture, high-end tyres have latex tubes, use the best patches and glue you can get
Now the interesting bit...
using a sail makers needle and thread sew up the tyre, don't try to replicate the original stitching, single thread overhand stitch all the way in a diagonal pattern, use a pencil to keep the nasty pointy thing away from your now repaired tube, at the end return the stitches to make a cross pattern
re-stick the base tape
I hope this all makes sense

That all sounds easy enough.... ....not!
Forget the tubs and have the wheels rebuilt with ordinary rims and don't worry about the hassle of tubs.

I must say that, outside of pro level road racing, or perhaps track use, there is no real need to use tubs these days. For normal folk it merely smacks of a special kind of masochism. I have several sets of sprint wheels and they lie gathering dust.

cheers

Thank you chaps, all useful info. That Corogna tape looks interesting. I may get that, their glue remover and a pair of the cheaper Vittoria Rally tubs and use them for my Sunday best rides.....

Ugly wrote:If you are going to ride tubs, learn how to repair them, it's not as hard as some people would have you believe.
.....
re-stick the base tape

Now it's that last bit I often had trouble with. Either the base tape seemed to have stretched a little, or it never seemed to glue back on securely, leading me to worry that the tub could start to roll if the base tape left the rest of the tub.

Brucey wrote:I must say that, outside of pro level road racing, or perhaps track use, there is no real need to use tubs these days. For normal folk it merely smacks of a special kind of masochism. I have several sets of sprint wheels and they lie gathering dust.

cheers

Ahhh, but it's hill climb season coming up Brucey.

But I do agree with you, tubs are just too much of a pain outside the special occasions.

Des49 wrote:
Ahhh, but it's hill climb season coming up Brucey....

ahhh, but that is a special form of masochism.....

cheers

For me the wheels are soooo nice, it would be a shame not to use them......

Tubs are still very popular in the cyclocross circuit, as you rarely puncture on grassy/off road circuits and they are very immune to impact punctures which clinchers are prone to.

Continental hand always been my favorite and for cross you really want the tubs well glued on, not taped. Have seen a few tubs roll on tricky sections, and the riders with them!! As I remember, hard packed, frosty ground hurts a lot, when you hit it...