John Thompson wrote:
> Chuck Schmidt wrote:
>
> > 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\u2122 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.
>
> [...]
>
> > 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.
>
> I've been doing it for years on all my tubulars -- I just finally ran
> out of my supply of solution. I appreciate all the responses, guys; thanks!
John, I'm with you on this. Folks have put Tire Life even the sidewalls of even new sewups to protect them. I don't see anything wrong with continuing to do so. And I would for darned sure rather ride on old-but- well-kept Campionato del Mundo SETAs than brand new Vittoria Rallys.
I bought a bottle of Tire Life through Cycles Deoro (my LBS) about a year or so ago. It's in the QBP catalog. I had to flip through the pages and find it for the counter guy, but it showed up in the store in less than a week. And it's still listed according to the online catalog at harriscyclery.net.
Good luck with them!
Tim Victor
Greensboro, NC