Todd Kuzma wrote:
>
> (snip) If you believe that these tires ride better than cheap
> tires, it's because of the suppleness of the silk casing and relatively
> light latex sidewall coating. Once the latex has hardened and cracked, it
> will not be as supple. Adding additional latex doesn't help matters as this
> will stiffen the sidewall even more.
Back in the day you were supposed to "solution" the side walls of your tubulars to "renew" them as they dried out.
The product of choice on the West Coast was Jevelot™ Tire Life, which is liquid latex. The layer of latex you added to the side wall was exceedingly thin, essentially replacing what was lost not adding additional thickness to the side wall at all.
http://www.worldclasscycles.com/
Hugh Enox, owner of Jevelot, has posted to the list in the past and I expect he'll step in pretty soon, but here's the directions for "preserving" the side walls of tubulars:
"To preserve tubular tire sidewalls, inflate tire, wash tire with detergent, rinse thoroughly, and let dry. Shake Tire Life well, apply a thin even coat to sidewalls with clean coarse bristled brush. Keep tire inflated 24 hours until dry, then dust with talc to eliminate tackiness. (and) Tire Life may be thinned, when necessary, with distilled water."
Periodic solutioning of your tubulars was one of those things you routinely did if you were conscientious about your bike's maintenance. Most of the people I rode with in the mid 1970s never bothered to solution their tubulars, but of course they didn't bother much with periodic maintenance of their race bikes either.
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
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