Wanna Learn How to Glue Tubulars? I'll Teach You.

Here's the rub (see justification below): I am good at gluing tubular tires. I have glued many tires and I have never even come close to rolling one.

I am also a teacher by profession. For $100, I'll take your clean, new tires and clean, glue-free rims and prep them over two days and then teach you how to finish the job on the third day/night. The gluing lesson will take between 1 hour and 1.5 hours. You will leave with two securely and evenly glued tires and the knowledge that you need to do the job yourself in the future.

I will structure the lesson exactly how I would structure one of my classes at school: you will inspect examples of past work, hear about tubular gluing theory and practice and then see what you have learned applied directly to your tires. If you feel comfortable, you can glue your second tire with guidance after watching me glue your first.

I will provide all supplies, including Vittoria Mastik One tubular cement, acid brushes, painter's tape to protect the braking surface, plumber's tape for insuring that the valve extender/valve interface is airtight and any and all rags and solvents for clean up (including industrial strength citrus hand scrub).

All you need to provide is your wheels, free of all glue and glue residue (I'll wipe the rims with acetone before beginning my prep, but I will not remove glue) and a new set of tubular tires that have been properly stored and are stretching on your rims (these should be inflated to the highest manufacturer recommended pressure).

If you are interested in taking me up on this offer so that you can break free of paying others to do the job for you...hit me up. rmckittr at gmail dot com. If you just want your tubulars glued without a lesson, I could do two tires for $80.

Why I Decided to Offer This Service

I had to remove a tubular tire from a rim today. It took me over 1/2 an hour. I got blisters on my thumbs from pushing and pulling on the damn tire. Seriously, the tire was really stuck on there. Eventually, I was able to get a tire lever under the base tape. Still, I fought hard for every inch of tire that I removed.

During this excruciating and frustrating process, I realized something: I am really good at gluing tubular tires.

Over time, my method has evolved and improved. My ability to get the tire onto the rim "clean" has improved with every tire that I glue. The last set of tires that I glued is perfect. The glue is beaded up at the edges of the tire/rim interface, but not sloppy. You can pull on the tire with all of your strength at any point and the tire remains firmly in place, no peeling at all. The tire is seated perfectly and evenly.

I have also laid in a stash of the best tubular gluing supplies: cans of Vittoria Mastik One (google it, it is the best glue out there), acid brushes, strong solvents, plumbers tape, painter's tape (for protecting the brake surface from glue in the final mounting), a truing stand and blue nitrile gloves (though I now prefer to glue without wearing these).

Earlier in the road season, you may remember hearing about Gorgeous Gary Bavolar's terrible experiences with Wheelworks when he had them glue up his road tubulars (1, 2, 3, 4). I don't want anyone to be forced to ride on dubious tubulars. I glued Gary's first set of tubulars and that is why his standards were so high.

I never really understood bringing your tubulars to someone else to glue. You really, really need to trust the person gluing your tubs. Honestly, I just don't trust anyone more than I trust myself, therefore, I glue my own tires. If you feel the same way, then you should take me up on my offer before I get too busy and revoke it.

Cyclocross Wheel/Tire Selections for 2009.

I don't like to make excuses for poor performance. For instance there were a few mountain bike races that I didn't place well in. When asked about the race afterwards, I stated that I was happy with my performance despite my results. What I meant was that my equipment performed well, I evenly dosed my power output over the whole race and my bike handling was good. Results mean nothing if you rode the best race that you could and your equipment worked properly for the entire race, even when pushed.

At Blunt Park, I was forced to race on clinchers after discovering a flat in my only set of glued tubulars on the night before the race. Despite this curveball, my bike and my legs performed well and I handled my bike well. 4th place was nothing next to the feeling that I had put in good work to get the result. Palmer on the other hand saw my bike fail multiple times, which seriously irked me.

Last cyclocross season, I had two sets of tubulars, but lacked a real tire selection. After some races I felt like I would have performed better had I the luxury of different tires to select from.

I took this lesson to heart. I read articles. I did my due diligence and decided that I needed 4 wheelsets for cyclocross. One set of clinchers for training and 3 sets of tubulars for racing. I decided that my quiver should include a super supple 34 mm file tread, a robust, aggressive and durable 30 or 32 mm mud tire and an all-arounder, 32 or 34mm. I was not overly concerned with the quality level of the wheels, I was more focused on the tires.

I had two sets of tubulars already on hand, Reflex rims laced to 2006 Campagnolo Centaur hubs and a set of Easton EC90 Aero carbon tubs. I considered buying a set of Easton EA70 x tubs to round out the collection, but eventually settled on a set of 2006 Campagnolo Record hubs laced to vintage Campagnolo Omega semi-aero ceramic rims, which I procured on eBay. The new wheels are very pretty; you can fix your hair in your reflection off the hubs.

My next concern was matching the tires with the correct wheels. Conventional wisdom says that I should put the mud tires on the aero carbons in order to take advantage of their mud shedding abilities. Another school of thought said that I should put the all arounders on the lightweight aero rims, since I would use these wheels the most. In this case, I would get the competitive advantage of the carbon wheels in more races.

I decided on the following pairings:

1. Carbons with file tread
2. Mud tires on Centaurs
3. All arounders on Records

My logic is as follows: I put the file tread on the most expensive and most fragile wheels since I figure that these wheels will only be used on fast dry courses. I don't want to deliberately destroy my fancy wheels. The mud tires will see the most abuse so they are mounted on the most abused wheelset. The Centaur hubs are still smooth, but the rims are thrashed, so they are the perfect wheelset to misuse. The all arounders will see varied use. I am sure that they will get taken through the mud sometimes, but Record hubs are quite resistant to slop and are resilient. Also the ceramic rims offer great, predictable stopping in variable to sloppy conditions.

Oh, I have to go now. I have tires to glue...

Once they are all glued up, I will post pictures of the wheel/tubular tire quiver.

Tubular Fail: Pictures of Gary's Wheelworks Tubular Gluing Debacle.

I just found these on my camera. When Gary was going through his ongoing ordeal with Wheelworks (Part 1, 2 and 3), he asked me to corraborate his assessment of the shoddiness of the glue jobs that Wheelworks claimed were solid.

Though delayed, here is the photographic evidence:













I wouldn't ride these, let alone race them, you?