Thanks for that VERY important warning, Peter. Yours is no soapbox ... it is a lifeguard stand.
I discovered the exact same limitations in the Monti, made in Argentina tubulars that Mike Fraysee was (or perhaps still is) selling on Ebay. The "good deal" aspect goes right out the window when you have to spend so much time checking, and certainly finding, duds.
Ciao, Mark Agree Stuck with bad tubulars he failed to check before mounting and gluing, in Southfield MI USA ~ ~ ~
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:34:44 -0400 From: Peter Koskinen <prkbikes1@mac.com> Subject: [CR] FYI: Challenge TUBULAR Tires
For all of you out there that are always seeking the perfect match tubular tire for your vintage bike. Excel Sports IS pushing all of the Criteriums out the door for $38.88 each or so. This price is $20 less than wholesale. Now before you all go rushing out and ordering these I think that there are a couple of things that you should know about them.
First of all, In the last 2 years, I have bought almost 100 of these tires in a variety of models. When they would come in I had to do the following steps to insure that everyone was salable to the public.
1) Remove all from the packaging and put 100PSI in each to see if they held air. I would set them aside for a 24 hour period. All the ones that went flat were set aside.
2) Mount each tire on a wheelset, pump to 100PSI , spin wheel and check for deformities in the tire. Most of them would either have a bubble in the tread or the casing was twisted. Deflate and set defective tires aside with the first collection.
3) Return defective tires to distributor/manufacturer for replacement.
4) Start at step 1 when the replacement tires showed up via FEDEX. Return up to 50% of these...
Don't be misled by the words "GREAT DEAL" because in the end the good feeling of a great deal will be soured by reality of a tire that doesn't hold air or isn't round.
I'll get off my soap box now and send you back to your regularly scheduled programming.....
Cheers,
Peter
PETER REID KOSKINEN
Chapel Hill, NC, 27516