Beginning of the end for Tubular tyres?

There are going to be quite a few clincher firsts this year if things go to plan for Deceuninck-Quickstep. The winningest team of 2020 is riding clinchers – with tubes in them – almost exclusively this season. Sunday’s Tour of Flanders was, as far as we can tell, the technology’s first Flanders win.

Kasper Asgreen and the rest of his DQS team were on Roval’s latest wheels, mostly the deeper Rapide CLX, matched with Specialized Turbo Cotton Hell of the North tires in a 28mm. Inside those tires were latex tubes.

Though Roval’s Rapide and shallower Alpinist rims have most of the hallmarks of road tubeless setups, they are not approved for tubeless use. (We remain confused by this.)

When the wheels first came out last year, the team swapped back and forth between the newer, much wider, and more aerodynamic Rapide and Alpinist wheels and the tubular CLX50 that came before it. Julian Alaphilippe, for example, won the 2nd stage of last year’s Tour de France on Turbo Cotton clinchers paired with Alpinist wheels before swapping back to tubulars for most of the rest of the Tour de France.

[daanhilbers]

I think one of the biggest reason for the death of the tubular is the disc brake. And I am really surprised that I wasn’t said in the video. But on of the biggest reasons for a tub is descending with a rim brake. The clincher version can overheat much faster. I think that disc will kill the tub but on a rim brake bike I think they are still the better option.

[antikytheramechanism]

When Dave chimed in it sounded like the Magically Delicious Lucky Charm guy.

[ericpmoss]

I'm not a racer but the feel of a decent tubular so far outclasses every clincher I've ever ridden, I just don't care. On tubed tubulars with removable cores, I can add some OrangeSeal after the first puncture, pump it up and keep riding. On Donnelly tubulars that are made like tubeless, I treat them like any tubeless once I get my first puncture, which I haven't yet gotten.

[janeztomazic]

you guys are forgeting that tubular wheels are lighter, thats the main reason

[cheesesandwich]

I run 28mm clinchers so that pretty much makes me Kasper Asgreen.

[TheMerckxProject]

Tubulars for the modern consumer are certainly an acquired taste. But shouldn't the real question be whether or not this ends tubeLESS before it becomes the mainstay?

[rk]

I'll probably horde tubulars. acquire like 30 sets of tires and 5-6 sets of wheels. Should last me for the rest of my riding career.

[mortenreippuertknudsen]

RolfSørensen won Liege-Bastonge-Liege in 1993 on Michelin Hi Light Bi-synergic. Posibly other races in 93 (he won 12 races/stages that year)

[hedleykerr]

I will stick to my Vittoria Corsa+ tubulars for training and racing thank you! Having ridden the last 4 seasons on them and only 3 flats with 9700 miles between flats! The last time I rode clinchers I had 21 flats in 3 years 2011 to 2013 so it was back to tubulars!

[tinniswood]

Michelin Hi Light Bi-synergic simple superb clinchers! back in the day :-)

[selladore]

A lot of focus is on clinchers not because they are better than tubs but because team sponsors are pushing them. After all, clinchers sell in large volumes, most non-pro riders use clinchers. There is not much sense in trying to market tubular wheelsets and tires to regular Joes... Same thing has been happening in recent years with push towards road tubeless.

[peteracain]

I think the push to clinchers will follow a similar process as the push to disc brakes. Ultimately it's expensive for wheel manufacturers to make multiple types of rims (same for frames with rim vs disc) and they will make a business decision to phase out tubulars over time. This is particularly true given how good clinchers have become and with new innovations such as airliner tech etc.

[walshman]

It's very clear that the future of road race tires is tubeless clinchers. That's where all the R&D money is being spent. The benefit for the average Joe cyclist is that clinchers overall have improved immensely and can still be used with a tube! I've started running latex tubes and I might be delusional, but it definitely feels good. Tubulars will stick around for a bit in cyclocross... Due to the burping out problem with tubeless clinchers. But as you can see from the developments at Vittoria, even that problem is going to get solved.

[xanderschelfhout]

Very interesting! Even before Farm Frites TVM was using clinchers in the TdF from a brand called ‘Pariba’. They were low rolling resistance as they were made from natural latex and they could be recognized by the yellow colour of the complete tire. More recently clinchers were used in time trails by Tony Martin as the best clinchers have proven to have lower rolling resistance than tubulars and when flatting a spare bike is readily available on the car behind the rider. It would be interesting to know whether we see less flats the last years as if this is the case clinchers could even increase in popularity as one big benefit of tubulars (riding on a flat tire) is becoming less relevant

[TheDavidjakeson]

Tubulars will live on in CX, like you said, for a while yet. Even they will eventually be replaced by tubeless clinchers once wheel & tire manufacturers figure out how to keep tires on a 18 psi. Somehow we can do it with mountain bike tires, so I'm confident they'll get it eventually.

[pigeonpoo]

I'd love to ride a tubular tire, just so I can understand how they feel compared to eg Pro One's (cos that's a smooth tire). Enjoyed that, thanks guys

[waynosfotos]

Riders are paid or instructed to ride clinchers. WHY, because there is no consumer market for tubulars. So manufacturers want pros to ride salable goods. This has been the trend for some years now.

[geoffgoldplum]

Mechanics are going to be soooo happy when they don't have to glue the tubulars. And they will have ample time to think about while wrestling the tyre inserts into the wheels.

[kylesmith]

It’s about the tire structure, and how that clincher tire rolling resistance. Not just about weight and weather a pro can ride on a flat tubular.

[JohnAllison]

I've heard from a very good source at Specialized that this year's Rapide wheels will be tubeless compatible, unlike this year's with #teamtubeinside. Will be another 180 degree turn by Specialized in a year. lol

As a side note, I don't think tubular is going away in cyclocross as you really can't get tubeless down to 19-22psi that the pros run in the World Cups and still offer the pinch protection that tubular does.