A couple years ago I found a pair of clement clinchers, made in Korea or someplace similar at the Trexlertown swap meet. Still sealed in a plastic wrap (just like the Grand Bois) they were lovely tires, about 25-26 mm wide, tread bonded to the cotton? casing, and the edge of the casing wrapped around a double strand of kevlar and bonded to itself. I mounted them to my freshly acquired rusty beach Masi and headed out for a ride with a friend. I got almost a mile before the rear tire went. While my friend went back for the car, I pulled the tire off and found that the monkey who'd glued the tire's bead together had no concept of it's purpose with the edge of the casing wavering side to side so that there were at least four locations along the bead with virtually no overlap for the bonding agent to hold, a flat waiting to happen. The other tire was perfect.
I'd like to say how supple the ride was, but I was concentrating more on how nice to be riding with a friend. Turn's out Lou Deeter had a matching set, one bad and one good. I'd lost my faith in them, so Lou got the good one.
So how about it Lou? Just how nice did those tires ride? They looked like the perfect size for a criterium seta, and the sidewalls certainly weren't vulcanized. I'll bet they really were nice. Too bad, those Clements never found their market.
Dan Artley, riding the 26 mm Grand Bois in Parkton, Maryland USA
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Nice tire. Not as good as a good tubular. Not as light either, and the difference in both ride, and weight, are not subtle, imho.
By *good tubular* I mean the current equivalent to the best Clement had to offer back in the day, so, the Criterium Seta, the Campionato Seta and Paris Roubaix seta. There is no current clincher that can match these on a Fiamme ergal 32-hole rim. There are some nice tubulars that come close, though.
Charles Andrews
Los Angeles