biker77 said:
Thanks for the replies.
I have never used or glued tubulars so the PITA comment is a perception. I am open to being converted if there are advantages
Seems like race day only is the advice....
So, just thinking about back to when I was riding tubulars daily. Safety over clinchers is #1 for me, if you've ever flatted a clincher at high speed you know the sensation of your life flashing before your eyes, because if you don't pull it together your going to end up skating on your rim and crashing, it's happened to me a couple times, I don't like it. Not a problem with tubulars, when it goes flat the entire casing basically wraps itself around the rim allowing you to safely brake to a stop, this has also happened to me, much easier on the mind when it happens. Or in Olano's case in the 1995 Worlds, you just keep going!!!

I've also done this, and longer too, once rode 5 miles home on a rear flat tubular, no damage to the rim. Try doing that on a clincher.
Secondly, ability to run a wide range of tire pressures is far from equal when it comes to tubular vs. clincher. This is a big reason why the ride is so good, you can really dial in proper tire pressure for varying terrain and not worry about blowouts at high pressures or pinch flats at lower pressures, this is due to the fact that it's usually a latex tube inside the casing of a tubular, and that casing is almost perfectly round, no deformations as in a clincher system.
Though in the last few years the emergence of wider, lightweight clincher rims has really opened up the flood gates. Clincher tire tech is really good now too, not like 1988 when clincher tires had the ride consistency of a worn out garden hose! A 23mm wide clincher rim with a 23-25mm wide high quality race tire with a latex tube, 80psi front/90 rear is the closest you're going to get to the ride of a tubular with a clincher system.