re: What tire and pressure do you run on your road bike?

quote:

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To the others running tubulars, do you really find a big difference? I see that on other websites geared toward bike geeks who are worried about the ridiculous small stuff. But to the average cycling enthusiast, are they that much better? And if I was running them in a triathlon, how much of a pain is it to deal with a flat. Can I throw on a spare and not worry about the tire rolling off the rim since I didn't get a professional glue job? I can find race rims much cheaper in tubie rims, but never rode them before.

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trade-offs for sure.

i use the 'glue tape' for my tubulars and it couldn't be any easier. just peel the double-sided tape and put it on the rim and then 'pop' the tubular (inflated to like 20 psi) on. if its not perfectly centered as you air it up it will drop into the valley and seat itself correctly.

in the rare event of a blowout during a group ride, you can actually peel it off and assuming you have a spare tubular in your pack, stick the new one on the existing/residual tape/glue. you'll get home just fine.

during a race, it doesn't matter because you should have a spare set of wheels in the support truck. if you flat and can't hot-swap a wheel your race is over regardless of whether you're running a tubular or clincher.

eta having said all that, i'm much more likely to pull out the bike with the clinchers for group rides because let's be honest, clinchers are easier to fix flats on the road than tubulars. tubulars are useful for hardcore training or races.