Homebrew01

I've never ridden FMB. I want some good tires for my 2 tubular road bikes.

Biker Pete 

I recently got FMB ‘Record’ tubulars, one pair 23mm the other pair 22mm mounted on two wheelsets, for my 70s Motobecane. I ride about 70 miles per week on good roads and I think these tires are absolutely fantastic.

Bianchigirll 

Does anyone have any idea how old this might be? I seem to have been carrying it as spare on the Cornelo but not sure when or where I aquired it. Looks like it's never even been on a rim.

Bianchigirll 

I do that occasionally and I've even ridden a tubular on a clincher im on occasion. There was a time I had to commute all winter from my home in Quincy, MA 10-11 miles to the base so I carried a decent tubular that had been removed for a spare. It was much faster in the cold than trying to wrestle with a new tube. I wouldn't recomend for normal riding but in this case it was expedianet

pastorbobnlnh 

Bianchigirll only you can get away with picturing a "HAMMERHEAD" tubular propped up with box of 9mm ammo.

Can't tell you a dang thing about the tubular.

79pmooney

The great secret. Tubulars are O-positive. Work with just about any 700c rim. Even 700c rims too destroyed to work with a bead. Those who sneer at tubulars might consider that those "lessor" tires could get them home when nothing in a modern shop would work.

And a story of an epic ride many years ago around Mt Diablo. Epic because we were so unprepared. I didn't do a check to see that everything was in order. My friend was physically unprepared. He knew the roads better than me but health issues had taken a deeper toll than he realized. We were in our 20s. We parked at the Athena School. (He was an alumni.) We rode clockwise. A few miles in, still on the suburban low ground, my spare innertube fell out of my saddlebag, jamming and skidding the rear tire down to the cord. (I was the clincher guy that day; my friend was on the sewups.) I had a patchkit so we continued. The climb up Morgan Territory was hard. Too much for my friend. I assisted the best I could by riding alongside, grabbing his seatpost and pushing. (I'd done this before with my riding partner but she was a very skilled rider and fully understood that she was steering both of us. OMG hard but it worked.) My friend didn't get that he was "our" pilot. Pushing him and managing my own bike was over the top. But my willingness to go that hard got him up the climb. Our day wasn't over. At the high point, the road changed from old Morgan Territory to perfect California pavement. He crashed on the sweeping hairpin. Road rash and bruises. We had nothing for bandages or cleanup and the day was getting late so we pushed on. And my rear tire blew. Took out that tube.

OK, about an hour of light left. Wounded warrior on a sound bike and a still able though tired rider with a useless rear wheel. I suggested the best course was probably for him to give me his rear wheel, me to ride to the school and return with his car and if he wanted, he could put his spare on my wheel. We did the swap. I did a totally focused near time trial - focused because any old flat was going to be a real issue! and the light was going fast. Also, I needed to pay attention shifting. His Campy standard hub and freewheel and my SunTour wheel required different limit screw settings. So a ride ending careless shift was entirely possible! About 2/3rds of the drive back to where I flatted, I met my friend, his tired and battered body riding slowly on my wheel and his spare. He was glad to see me but also glad he didn't have to just stand around and wait - that he could have made it back to school. (But not before dark. He was now on roads he knew so the dark part probably wouldn't have added to the epicness, but still ...)

We still joke about that adventure.

And Quincy, Mass! I grew up in Milton. Other side of and one stop up the Southeast Expressway. Close to Blue Hill, a climb I did many times. Commuted 12 miles year 'round from Milton to close to Fenway Park through Brookline and Goddard Ave on a fix geared and sewupped UO8.

cyclic_eric

Great story!

MooneyBloke

Sadly, I'm unlikely to find anyone else on them in my neck of the woods. I had a recent leaky rear, and found that my spare was defective. (Check your spare especially if it's an old Vitt CX! *) A nice guy offered me a tube, and while I was certainly grateful for the offer, it wouldn't have put me back on the road. Praise be to patient understanding friends who pick your sorry butt up when this stuff happens. I had started walking back after taking off my cycling shoes and socks, and I had gone about two miles when we met up about ten miles out of town, and I stuffed my bike into the back of her jeep.

* I've had several Early Thai Vitt CX sew-ups with the purple tubes have failures near the stem. No clue why,

gkamieneski

When replacing my clincher tires, I always rotate the front to the rear, discard the old rear tire and install a fresh new tire on the front wheel.

Seems with my sewups (almost exclusively using Conti Sprinters and Sprinter Gatorskins), it ti almost always the rear tire that requires replacing and because gluing is involved I leave the front wheel alone and just replace the sewup on the rear wheel. Not to say that at some point the front sewup just needs to be replaced, but when it looks almost new with great tread and no cuts or damage, I just leave it alone.

Anyone else share my procedure? Have I been doing something wrong for all these years?

Homebrew01

I don't bother swapping tires front to back. Just replace whatever's worn.

Back in the day I did complete overhauls all the time. Now I only do what's absolutely necessary. Too much other stuff going on. I don't mind gluing tires though.

WGB 

I have a couple of "tubulars marked "Training". Assuming they are for use on a bike trainer.

If not for that, what are they for? Road training but not racing???

79pmooney

As I understand it, Vittoria went through a "teething" process when they took their manufacturing to Asia. Their approach as I understand it was to create a tire factory from scratch and train locals to do the work. Not work with an existing company to make their tires. So ultimately, Vittoria got an outfit where they had full oversight over QC but while their crew was learning how to make high quality bicycle tires with I'm assuming zero related previous experience, it was at times a wild ride for Vittoria. Their green treaded clinchers that made super wet city tires went through a period of beads and sidewalls failing often (mid '00s as I recall).

79pmooney

BITD training meant non-racing riding. Long miles, fast club rides. My week day 45 miles before breakfast. Wheels that get tossed in the wheel van for races. My training and race wheels were identical except rims were a step heavier (Arc en Ciel @ 333gm vs Ergals @ 290) and rubber was 300gm Vittoria cottons, not silk Clement Criteriums.

Now, that was mid '70s. "Trainers" did not exist yet. We rode rollers. And they were never caller trainers.

Edit: And yes, tires got demoted from racing to training when they became suspect. You really didn't want to be "that guy" who took out half a dozen when that tire blew on a corner. So that innocent "training" might really be "for gawd's sake, don't put this on a race wheel!!!" in two sylables

bertinjim 

WGB-
"Training " tubulars were a heavier weight tire used in typical road training. Lighter, latex tubed cottons or silks would be on the lighter race wheels.

WGB 

Jim
I might just mount that Vittoria set I have, just to use them up.