It was reported on Versus that Fabian Cancellara rode specially hand made tubulars for that race ... which he won (whether with or without a bottom bracket motor hidden in his seat tube). A few years ago while Lance was still on top, it was reported on OLN (now Versus) that all of the team's tubulars were stored for something like months or even two years IIRC, partially inflated in stacks, in a dark, cool basement, and they showed footage of it ... probably on "The Lance Chronicles" or the like. I'd say that our beloved tubulars are still very much a part of modern professional racing, even at the highest level.
Ciao, Mark Agree Southfield, Michigan, USA ~ ~ ~
Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:50:00 -0400 From: John Betmanis <johnb@oxford.net> Subject: [CR] Are tubulars obsolete on off-topic race bikes? To: CR List _ClassicRendezvous@bikelist.org_ (mailto:ClassicRendezvous@bikelist.org)
Here's something that I wonder about regarding the kind of tires used in road racing in the classic era compared to the present. From what I recall, in the early 1980s racers always used tubulars unless they were just starting out and couldn't afford them or were overwhelmed by the maintenance required. However, in that decade fast, lightweight clinchers were starting to appear. From that time onwards, more and more serious road riders switched to the new clinchers and more racers used them. Something I've always heard about tubulars is that with all other things being equal, such as weight, section, materials, tread and rim weight, they were still faster and felt livelier than clinchers. So, what I want to know is, do pro racers today still mostly use tubulars? Certainly, they wouldn't have to worry about changing them or fixing them themselves. In today's stage of the Tour, George Hincapie said he had to ride one kilometre on a flat tire before he got a new wheel. One of the advantages of tubulars I've heard is that they're not as dangerous and squirrelly to ride when flat. Would the teams in the Tour be using tubulars on clinchers? This may sound off-topic, but it's the tires I want to know about. I know that many classic bike owners have switched to clinchers for ease of maintenance, even though the bikes originally came with tubulars.
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John Betmanis
Woodstock, Ontario
Canada