I can’t believe how many guys flatted yesterday in PR. This sport has become so popular and this specific race has become so important, I can’t believe that some team doesn’t put a little research into tire technology and get rid of this flatting problem. I’m not too sure how well tubeless clinchers on Shimano wheels would have held up, but I very much doubt that a Tufo 28mm with diamond tread pattern would flat. No tube, difficult to flat. And I’d bet it would be very hard to pinch through the sidewall. Put a little latex in the tire just to cover your bet. This tire weighs just 290 grams. I don’t think that the FMB 27mm tire that a lot of teams were using could weigh that little.
I have half a mind to research the problem a little and come up with something better. It is silly how many guys don’t have a chance to win this race because of no air in their tires.
This would alleviate the puncture problem for sure.
Funny you should say, I rode a Psyco-Sportif on the weekend with Tufo 28 Diamond Elites with Stan’s in them …. Still took me 3 and a half hours to finish, but they never flatted … Mz. Moots arrived safe and sound to the finish line.
http://www.ridewithrendall.com/race-results-2011-crc/
Van Summeren alledgedly road on a low/ flat rear tire for the final 5 KM! Also, given the 16 pound carbon race bikes, aero wheels, and medical “technology” of today, why are we a full one mile an hour slower than some editions from the 40’s and 50’s, where they were riding steel sleds, with frames and forks weighing over 3 times as much using 10 less gears?
Sure, it would work great! Until the shoe laces came untied….;)
Steve —
I’ve got the Tufo 28 Diamonds on my fixed gear commuting road bike — just did a Douglas County gravel ride followed by a lap of the River Trail in Lawrence. Excellent tire for all these applications. Never even think about flats. I should probably renew the sealant: I put Tufo goop in it a few years ago.
Lennard Zinn just posted a lengthy column about the road tubeless system and could not agree more with what he’s written based on using them for a couple years. There is a little learning curve, but once you use them, you love them. If Hutchinson would make a true 28mm tire, using that with some Stan’s in it would seem to be a perfect setup for Roubaix, or bombing around the local gravel roads.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/04/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-with-lennard-zinn-that-slow-leak_168677
You may not flat but you might throw a shoe!
New reader. Great blog.
I think the super stiff carbon rims may be adding to the recent puncture count in Roubaix. How many riders on carbon lost contention due to flats? The old school box rims have far more compliance and that may aid in preventing some flats.
Everyone was so worried that carbon rims would not stand up to the abuse of cobbles maybe they hold up too well.
The tires certainly haven’t changed.
Something to think about.