Clincher/Tubular

[ASpeedRacer!]

Help. I'm new to road racing. Can you run a 25mm tubular tire on a rear-wheel disc and a 23mm clincher tire on the front wheel, or does it have to be tubular on the front and back or clincher on the front, and back should the wider tire be on the front wheel?

 

[topt]

you can run whatever you want, usually you run narrower tyre in the front cause of aerodynamics, I assume you also have different wheels, clincher and tubular wheels are not the same.
Also this thread doesnt belong here

 

[JayKosta]

Tubulars do ride very nicely, but they are expensive and difficult to repair. And a complete tire (or 2) needs to be carried as a spare. Clinchers with light weight inner tubes are very good - and you only need to carry spare inner tubes (and small tools).
Also, 'some current thinking' is that narrow high pressure tires are not as efficient as slightly wider/lower pressure ones - with high pressure the tire has to 'climb up' over small bumps (more effort), lower pressure allows the tire to flex a bit and 'roll over' the bump without having to climb. Also the comfort of slightly lower pressure can reduce the fatigue that can come from harsh ride of higher pressure.
And as mentioned above, DIFFERENT rims are needed for tubulars - DO NOT attempt to use a tubular on a clincher rim.

 

[ASpeedRacer!]

you can run whatever you want, usually, you run narrower tyre in the front cause of aerodynamics, I assume you also have different wheels, clincher and tubular wheels are not the same.
Also, this thread doesn't belong here

Thank you for responding. I have tubular and clinchers. My front wheel is a Bontrager Aelous 9 90mm clincher with a Continental Grand Prix 4000 ii 25mm which I'm going to replace with a Michelin Power Competition 23mm or a Michelin Pro 4 Service Course clincher. I have a Bontrager disc on the rear with a Challange Triathlon 22mm tubular. It's hard to find the Aelous 9 90mm rear 10-speed wheel in a clincher. Looking to replace the Challange tubular with a Michelin Power Competition 23mm or 25mm tubular. What category is this thread supposed to be in? Thanks again.

 

[ASpeedRacer!]

Tubulars do ride very nicely, but they are expensive and difficult to repair. And a complete tire (or 2) needs to be carried as a spare. Clinchers with light weight inner tubes are very good - and you only need to carry spare inner tubes (and small tools).
Also, 'some current thinking' is that narrow high pressure tires are not as efficient as slightly wider/lower pressure ones - with high pressure the tire has to 'climb up' over small bumps (more effort), lower pressure allows the tire to flex a bit and 'roll over' the bump without having to climb. Also the comfort of slightly lower pressure can reduce the fatigue that can come from harsh ride of higher pressure.
And as mentioned above, DIFFERENT rims are needed for tubular - DO NOT attempt to use a tubular on a clincher rim.

Thank you for replying. Tubulars are expensive to glue and not many shops have the techs to glue them. I glued my H E D front wheel using Youtube as my guide. On a scale of 1 -10, I give myself a 7. It's also very time-consuming, the stretching the waiting. Maybe somewhere down the line, I may get my zest back for tubular. Thanks again.

 

[JayKosta]

When I install a new tubular, I first put it on a dry (no glue) rim and fully inflate it for at least several hours - that helps with the initial stretching. The spares I carried with me were already pre-stretched using that method. If a new tubular is too tight to fit on a dry rim, using a little water on the rim as lubricant can help.

 

[topt]

Thank you for responding. I have tubular and clinchers. My front wheel is a Bontrager Aelous 9 90mm clincher with a Continental Grand Prix 4000 ii 25mm which I'm going to replace with a Michelin Power Competition 23mm or a Michelin Pro 4 Service Course clincher. I have a Bontrager disc on the rear with a Challange Triathlon 22mm tubular. It's hard to find the Aelous 9 90mm rear 10-speed wheel in a clincher. Looking to replace the Challange tubular with a Michelin Power Competition 23mm or 25mm tubular. What category is this thread supposed to be in? Thanks again.

is this a triathlon bike ? I assume you want as much speed as possible, if that is so I would go with the GP 5000 clincher front with latex tube. Its the fastest tyre out there outside od special TT tyres. Why would you want to change the disc ? Power competition is a good choice for tubular since Conti doesnt make 5000 tubular.
There is the bike and gear section of the forum

 

[topt]

Thank you for replying. Tubulars are expensive to glue and not many shops have the techs to glue them. I glued my H E D front wheel using Youtube as my guide. On a scale of 1 -10, I give myself a 7. It's also very time-consuming, the stretching the waiting. Maybe somewhere down the line, I may get my zest back for tubular. Thanks again.

I stopped using glue a while ago, go with the effeto mariposa tubular rim tape, its damn easy to use

 

[ASpeedRacer!]

I stopped using glue a while ago, go with the effeto mariposa tubular rim tape, its damn easy to use

One of my colleagues mentioned the rim tape but shied away from it. Somehow during one of his rides the tape came loose and he took a nasty spill. Thanks for replying.