If, despite Greg's advise, you decide to "cheap out" Vittoria Rallys are a fair option. They are availbale with white sidewall/ black tread and in 23mm as well as 21mm for $20 to $25 if you shop around a bit. They also have kevlar which may help on bad road (as in littered with beer bottles).
Regards,
Jerry Moos Houston, TX
gpvb1@comcast.net wrote: Hi Greg: The short answer is, "not much these days." Many currently-manufactured tubs are goofy colors and/or unacceptable quality it seems. The Veloflex Criteriums are great (I can get them if anyone is interested - I am testing them myself and so far I am impressed with their quality). Veloflex also has several other sizes/widths of quality tubulars. These are all hand-made in Italy. I have some NOS Italian-made Vittoria Corsa CG "Squadre Prof" tires listed on my website. These are the real deal, are really nice, and are $69 each, or $119 for a pair. Continental has a couple tires that are appropriate, and I'm hearing that their quality is better than ever these days, although I haven't personally tried any recently. There is always Dugast, too, of course, which are really fine tires, but don't look like the typical 1970s sewups very much, and are at the "summit" of the price mountain.... My main recommendation for any sewup tire purchaser would be "don't cheap out." Good tubulars are a joy to ride, generally last a very long time, and you will be disappointed with the cheap ones sooner or later (probably sooner). Regards, Greg Parker Dexter, Michigan http://www.bicycleclassics.com
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 23:49:08 -0400 From: greg arnold To: Subject: [CR]Classic tubular tires
With so much talk about classic 'sew-ups', what are the best currently available tires for a classic 70s DeRosa, Colnago, Cinelli etc.? I know in the old days tread patterns varied, as did construction and material for various conditions and race purposes - let's assume a great road tire for those 50 kilometer weekend road trips. What are the modern choices for natural (gum) colored sides and black tread? What's the best?
Greg Arnold nyc