Grand Tour Tubulars

[davemess]

So I was thinking about this yesterday on a ride. How often to riders get their tubulars (Most riders use tubulars) changed in a grand tour? I know it gets confusing with wheel changes and all, but what would be the maximum distance one would see on a given tyre?

 

[sometriguy]

So I was thinking about this yesterday on a ride. How often to riders get their tubulars (Most riders use tubulars) changed in a grand tour? I know it gets confusing with wheel changes and all, but what would be the maximum distance one would see on a given tyre?

It is my understanding that depending on the softness of the rubber that tubulars can and do last as long as regular road tires. But, most of us that use tubulars change them well before the 3-5k mark because we only use them on our race wheels and we want to be extra careful.

My guess is the pros are using a medium density/weight wheel and probably put about 500 and no more than 1000 miles on them.

 

[runninboy]

i have a friend who used to wrench for a Pro team & later the tour.
Since they had an unlimited supply of tires they changed pretty often.
They would pull the tires when they had any appreciable wear because why flat because of some small debris? I think they changed them about every week to ten days. Also they never reglue a tire so when they had a wheel repair it always got a new tubular. Time trial wheels always got new tires before the next stage just in case.
I was lucky they used to pile the tires in the team garage and since i was on the amateur squad we got as many "old" tires as we wanted. I got about 45 and the pile looked like it hadn't been touched...
ah the good old days

 

[Marva32]

I think I remember reading something in an article talking to the mechanics that during grand tours they change tubulars every 2-3 stages