Author Topic: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?  (Read 4508 times)

Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« on: 30 August, 2018, 01:56:02 pm »
Has anyone here had any experience of using Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres "open tubular"?

http://www.veloflex.it/en/open-tubulars



Thinking of using the 25mm version (which come up quite small) on my Mercian Strada Speciale road bike build, I realise they're probably not the most durable things, but have heard good things about the ride quality and low rolling resistance of these (e.g. review here of an older version of the tyre: https://www.starbike.com/weightweenies/blog/?p=536 )
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #1 on: 30 August, 2018, 03:10:53 pm »
They are made in the original Vittoria factory - I think there was a worker buy-out when Vittoria moved out East.

Great tyres. Basically the same as the old Vittorias. Maybe fragile compared with some, but the quality of the ride more than makes up for that for me.

Even better, once worn they fold up really small to carry as an emergency spare!

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #2 on: 30 August, 2018, 04:06:30 pm »
Sounds good. BTW I would be using these tyres for commuting or touring, more for training, club rides and the odd sportive.
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #3 on: 30 August, 2018, 08:29:28 pm »
I’ve got 2 pairs of Open Corsa CX’s for sale on here if you want a cheaper intro to them. 320tpi, a lovely supple ride, but definitely not durable enough for touring or commuting.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #4 on: 30 August, 2018, 10:44:41 pm »
I’ve got 2 pairs of Open Corsa CX’s for sale on here if you want a cheaper intro to them. 320tpi, a lovely supple ride, but definitely not durable enough for touring or commuting.

Thanks, though I've now ordered a pair of Veloflex Masters in 25mm, found a good price for them.

For touring and commuting I use 32mm Schwalbe Marathon Supremes (on my Hewitt Cheviot), the Veloflex tyres are for quite different duties!
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #5 on: 30 August, 2018, 10:54:07 pm »
Worth considering using latex tubes with these? If so, which ones (preferably without removable cores and around a 40mm valve stem) - I've read good things about Vredestein ones, though the shortest valve stem length I've seen them in is 50mm: https://www.mantel.com/uk/vredestein-fv-latex-inner-tube

If not, will probably use the Veloflex tyres with Michelin UltraLight Air Comp Butyl tubes
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Pedal Castro

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Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #6 on: 31 August, 2018, 07:25:44 am »
Worth considering using latex tubes with these? If so, which ones (preferably without removable cores and around a 40mm valve stem) - I've read good things about Vredestein ones, though the shortest valve stem length I've seen them in is 50mm: https://www.mantel.com/uk/vredestein-fv-latex-inner-tube

If not, will probably use the Veloflex tyres with Michelin UltraLight Air Comp Butyl tubes

I use latex tubes for racing only, too delicate and too much faff otherwise. They are worth a few seconds but you don't notice the difference until the times are in.

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #7 on: 31 August, 2018, 07:52:17 am »
Worth considering using latex tubes with these? If so, which ones (preferably without removable cores and around a 40mm valve stem) - I've read good things about Vredestein ones, though the shortest valve stem length I've seen them in is 50mm: https://www.mantel.com/uk/vredestein-fv-latex-inner-tube

If not, will probably use the Veloflex tyres with Michelin UltraLight Air Comp Butyl tubes

I use latex tubes for racing only, too delicate and too much faff otherwise. They are worth a few seconds but you don't notice the difference until the times are in.

It would be more for the better ride feel and better resistance to puncturing (though pinch flats more of a risk) than butyl, though does sound like you have to be much more careful when installing and obviously they need pumping up much more often, though in the latter case, I would probably check and pump the tyres before each ride anyway
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #8 on: 01 September, 2018, 12:05:12 pm »
I’ve got 2 pairs of Open Corsa CX’s for sale on here if you want a cheaper intro to them. 320tpi, a lovely supple ride, but definitely not durable enough for touring or commuting.

Thanks, though I've now ordered a pair of Veloflex Masters in 25mm, found a good price for them.


How much and where, if you don't mind posting a link?

Wiggle has a pair for £48 if using the £10 voucher for new customers, Ribble seems out of stock and Probikekit's website didn't seem to work.

I'm using Vittoria Open Corsa for commuting, only one puncture in the last four months but they are about 15 years old ("matured").

For replacements when they wear out, I think Ill go for Veloflex Master 25.

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #9 on: 01 September, 2018, 05:53:32 pm »
I’ve got 2 pairs of Open Corsa CX’s for sale on here if you want a cheaper intro to them. 320tpi, a lovely supple ride, but definitely not durable enough for touring or commuting.

Thanks, though I've now ordered a pair of Veloflex Masters in 25mm, found a good price for them.


How much and where, if you don't mind posting a link?

Wiggle has a pair for £48 if using the £10 voucher for new customers, Ribble seems out of stock and Probikekit's website didn't seem to work.

I'm using Vittoria Open Corsa for commuting, only one puncture in the last four months but they are about 15 years old ("matured").

For replacements when they wear out, I'm going for Veloflex Master 25 as the price of Open Corsas are now ridiculous plus they are made in Thailand whereas Veloflex are made in Italy.

£28 each from here, I also bought 3 Michelin Comp Ultralight inner tubes: https://www.acycles.co.uk/veloflex-master-folding-tyre-700x25-black-6430.html
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Samuel D

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #10 on: 03 September, 2018, 12:21:02 pm »
I have the Veloflex Master in 23 mm. It has the most supple casing and especially tread of any tyre I have used. Feels clearly different from conventional tyres in the hand and on the road. Rolling resistance has been tested at Bicycle Rolling Resistance as pretty good but not exceptional. Presumably it performs relatively better than indicated due to lower suspension losses for a given pressure and/or the option to comfortably run higher pressures to reduce losses to hysteresis.

Puncture resistance is negligible. I mostly used these tyres for riding at Longchamp and got several punctures from glass on the 5 km way there (by comparison, none over ten times the number of Longchamp trips with the Schwalbe One HS448 although that tyre is unusually puncture-resistant for its speed). The tread suppleness comes from the seemingly total lack of a puncture-resistant belt (though I’ll only know for sure when I cut one open). If there’s a belt there, it’s not the usual sort.

Wet grip is not great. Wear rate is pretty good but there’s little rubber to wear. One of mine, the rear, suffered partial delamination of the tread from the casing early in its life. The two tyres I have have greatly different bead lengths making one easy to fit and the other hard.

Skinwall tyres supply an attractive contrast against deep carbon rims but get a bit lost against shallow silver rims. That didn’t stop me running them, mind you.

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #11 on: 03 September, 2018, 02:45:08 pm »
Thanks for the feedback Samuel. BTW when did you get your Veloflex Master tyres? Just wondering as I think they've changed the design a little recently, including, I think I read somewhere, the puncture protection belt (it does show an illustration of the puncture protection belt on the box). Do yours have the Veloflex writing on the natural casing, or on the black rubber?
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Samuel D

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #12 on: 03 September, 2018, 03:33:43 pm »
Do yours have the Veloflex writing on the natural casing, or on the black rubber?

I got them secondhand (barely used) maybe two years ago from a friend. He must have bought them separately each side of the labelling change, because I have one each of the styles you describe. Maybe that’s why they’re a different size, actually.

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #13 on: 15 November, 2018, 11:52:52 pm »
What's the actual width of the 23mm and 25mm versions?

I know different rim widths will affect the width of the same tyre.

dat

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #14 on: 16 November, 2018, 06:29:43 am »
I was thinking about veloflex or corsa but ended up picking these up for £20 each.
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYCHOPPARO/challenge-open-paris-roubaix-700c-folding-tyre
I think they're supposed to come up a bit large. I hope they'll fit under my short reach DA calipers.

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #15 on: 16 November, 2018, 08:32:27 am »
What's the actual width of the 23mm and 25mm versions?

I know different rim widths will affect the width of the same tyre.

I think they're meant to be very close to spec. or just under on 15-17 mm rims
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #16 on: 16 November, 2018, 01:39:44 pm »
I was thinking about veloflex or corsa but ended up picking these up for £20 each.
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYCHOPPARO/challenge-open-paris-roubaix-700c-folding-tyre
I think they're supposed to come up a bit large. I hope they'll fit under my short reach DA calipers.

I’ve got a pair of these and they’re nice, although I find them better at higher pressures than tubeless tyres. On 18mm rims they are about 30mm wide, but are more like 27 on 14mm rims. Quite tall though.

Also, I had one come off a tubeless rim, although that may have been the inner tube getting trapped as they are quite tight. They’ve been fine on Kinlin XR270 though.

Mike

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #17 on: 16 November, 2018, 01:55:13 pm »
BTW I was thinking of putting the 25mm version of these on Mavic Open Pro C rims, which I think are 15mm. Has anyone else tried this combo?
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: Veloflex Master / Corsa tyres?
« Reply #18 on: 05 January, 2019, 04:34:06 pm »
Width of the 25 version is 22.5mm on 20mm wide Mavic MA2 rims.

A minor quibble is the "label", it's unbelievably huge and ugly and on both sides of the tyre!

Otherwise the colour is perfect.