I've always thought the Pros use tubulars vs. clinchers debate is absolutely meaningless to the common man. This is because it all boils down to one question to a Pro:
"Since I don't need to glue, repair or pay for tubulars every time I flat, why should I use clinchers?"
Give any Cat 3 rider this same luxury and I bet 95% of them would ride tubulars as well. The other 5% are just plain stupid or didn't understand the question. ;)
Doland Cheung SoCal
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Adams Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 1:04 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Tubular vs Clincher: What the pros ride
To throw a few more logs onto the fire of the debate regarding what tires are "best" and whether clinchers have overtaken tubulars as THE high performance rubber, I recently found an article discussing what the pros ride. The claim is, in spite of pressure from clincher making sponsors, something like 80% of the pros are riding tubulars in the TDF. The info is from a high up at Vittoria, who directly sponsor several teams and are a private label maker for other tire companies' tubulars.
http://www.velonews.com/
I wonder if this percentage has changed over time? I seem to recall that clinchers were a majority item for the pro teams in the late 90's. Of course that was when most teams were riding steel bikes, before the emergence of big tubed aluminum bikes as the racing steed de jour.
So if you are a retro grouch still riding sew ups, now you can confound your critics with this info.
Tom (I ride both) Adams, Shrewsbury NJ
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