Wide tubulars?

[donpedro]

Could anyone recommend me some 25mm or wider tubular's with good puncture protection for audax rides?
Preferably with tan sidewalls, a decent price or a webshop that sell them. Grateful for any suggestion!

[Gus]

Vittoria Pavé are available in 24 and 27 mm, they where developed for Paris - roubaix.

I have only tried them as clincher and found them superb in rain and on rough surface.

Gus

[Nick H.]

I'm after the same thing in 27mm.

Believe it or not, the Serotta forum http://serotta.com/forum is a great place for info on tubs for road use

Peter White Cycles is also helpful http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/tubulars.asp

As far as I know, these are your choices. I don't know enough to recommend any of them:

- Veloflex Roubaix, 24 mm. These have lots of fans.

- The Vittoria Paves mentioned by Gus. They also have lots of fans, but the green is truly bilious. They made some limited edition ones in black a few years ago - maybe you can find some old stock.

- Dugasts, which cost tons. (I'm getting some in 27 mm with a kevlar belt - special order, taken me a year to get 'em.) Apparently I might regret this because since their takeover Dugast have been Not What They Once Were.

- The new Continental Grand Prix. They do them in 25 mm but I haven't seen any reports of them

- FMB http://www.fm-boyaux.fr/piste.htm They get very good reports as 'the new Dugast' and I wouldn't be surprised if they would be open to doing you a special order in 25 mm with a belt? I dunno - ask! I suspect you can't afford to wait forever though.

Have you done big distances on tubs before? What have your experiences been?

[donpedro]

Thanks for those tips, I'll check them out!
Have not had any tubs since I started training on a borrowed bike in the early eighties. So it is a steep learning curve ahead. When I got back into roadbikes I actually promised myself never to get any as it would only complicate life further. But then I stumbled on a original set of mint Roval wheels so here we go:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/France/Roval.htm
 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

The original Rovals are nice, I raced on them for a bit.

I'm not sure that a really wide tubular will be particularly aerodynamic and may be a little difficult to properly glue.  From memory, 22 mm tubs were a nice match to the (lateral) curve of the rim.

Tubs tend to ride more comfortably than HPs from memory, but that was a long time ago.  It is a little difficult to true Rovals (remove tub and use socket spanner), so they may not be the best choice for Audaxing.  Most of the sets I saw had really low spoke tensions and threadlock on the nipples.

[Nick H.]

Sounds like you've got an interesting project there!

Just in case you haven't heard, Vittoria now have a tub sealant called Pit Stop. Unlike the Tufo stuff it doesn't dissolve latex inners. I'm hoping that it will make touring with latex inners a lot less hassle than it used to be. Coupled with the Dugast SP belt, maybe I won't have many fairy problems? Never mind, there's always time to do some sewing when you're touring. It might even be a way to make some new ladyfriends if you get the needle and thread out in a cafe in Ulan Bator. Either that or you'd be arrested for being a perve.

[donpedro]

Thanks! Heard both good and bad things about the Pitstop. Apparently it's no good in colder temperatures below +15C. But certainly a thing to bring along on longer summer rides.

No plans on doing LEL or similar distances on tubs. But 200/300km and clubruns would be nice. Like you said they ride a bit comfier than clinchers so 24-25mm would probably do.

I'm not going down the same path as a clubmate: He used up all of the four new Vittoria tubs he brought to PBP. Then rode 25km on a punctured tub ripping it and a brand new carbon Zipp rear wheel to shreds. Bought a new Ksyrium wheel only to DNF in Lauduac after 450km due to a health reasons! 
No, I haven't got a clue how he manage to do that!

I could think of worst trips to do than ending up in a teahouse in Ulan Bator mending my last tubular. What a great adventure that would be! But as I said, in a ideal world these Rovals would never have followed me home!   

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
- Walt Whitman from Song of Myself