As Keepers Tour crossed from dream to reality and routes over the cobblestones of Northern Europe were sketched out, with it came the familiar tingling in my fingertips and uneasy sensation at the base of my spine as my mind starts its irrevocable journey towards categorizing as mandatory an unnecessary indulgence. I was going to need a wheelset and tubular tires that were up to the job.
The folklore goes a long way towards that justification; Paris-Roubaix is the race where every trick of the trade is exploited to deliver riders safely to the finish. Equipment which usually carries riders for a season or more finds itself in the trash heap after a single day on in Hell – maybe good enough for training but certainly not be trusted for another race. Special wheels are built, and only the strongest tubulars are glued to the rims. Aldo Gios, De Vlaeminck’s mechanic, is said to have aged his tires in his wine cellar to allow the rubber to harden, making them more resistent to punctures.
Ignoring the possibility that there may be some difference in strength, speed, or skill with which the Pros ride over the Cobbles, it didn’t take me long to determine that it wasn’t so much a matter of wanting a set of tubulars for Keepers Tour, but that it was indeed my obligation. I have a responsibility, after all, to the attendees of trip that I not fall off my machine and bash my head open on a cobblestone. Messy, certainly, but it may also frame the event in a somewhat negative light, and I think we’d all like the opportunity to do this again some time. The only way to assure I don’t suffer some catastrophic equipment failure and jeopardize the trip was to build a set of wheels based on the same components the Pros select for the purpose, and line them in the same rubber they choose. Logical, really.
The seduction of symbols was the first phase, followed quickly by the art of building wheels. The final step was to procure the right tires for the job. FMB is perhaps the most revered name in hand-made tubular tires; inspection of photos of Roubaix will reveal the pale yellow or green sidewalls of the FMB Paris-Roubaix tire on many of the wheels bouncing over the cobbles – often rebadged on order to satisfy sponsorship obligations.
I needed a set, naturally.
The tires were ordered in December, as from January onward Francois (of Francois-Marie Boyaux from which FMB takes its name) becomes overburdened with orders from the teams riding Roubaix and indicated he wouldn’t have time to squeeze in an order from a nobody such as myself. They arrived in February, at which point they displaced a few bottles of wine to age in the darkest corner of our basement which doubles as our wine cellar. Having mounted another set of tubs on the wheels in order to bash the bejezus out of the wheels so as to make myself a little less certain that I buggered the wheel building process, they had to wait until this past week to be mounted.
They have not yet been ridden, but they certainly look the business.
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Gluing on a tubular tire is a glorious study in patience and settles beautifully in the intersection between art, science, and ritual. And the glue smells distressingly fantastic.
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@frank
WHEW, that third picture is quite the podium.
@Cyclops
I understand the hesitance to move over to tubs completely. I run clinchers to just ride or train. But for racing or the track, tubbies all the way. I finaly got one of my training partners on a tubs - a set of Zipps, but tubs none the less.
Er, sorry is that my snob coming out (the Zipp comment)
@frank
Of course I pre-stretched them. Actually it was a conspiracy. It had been about 25 years since I'd had anything to do with tubs so - silly me - I didn't realize until I was half way into it that the tube of cement I had wasn't going to go far enough to complete the job and the to bike shops in town only had the 3m crap that Zipp specifically says not to use. I got my LBS to order me a big tub of Conti glue. After completing the jog I went to air them of and one of the aluminum valve stems broke. I was really pissed until I found out that you can replace the valve stems on the Vittorias. Also I tried everything to get the old glue of the Zipps and nothing worked really well so all in all it was a pain in the ass.
@frank
Dude, I'm with Joshua. The middle strap will fuck the camber in storage. Not to mention the potential for corrosion on edges and letting the bases breathe. I'm guessing the skis in those podium shots were prepared by a minion for easy hoisting and photo ops. Go to Lindsey's basement and I bet you see two straps, contact points.
Beautiful article @frank.
@frank
I've been out in the wet with my Nemeses and the braking is just about as good in the wet as in the dry with stock Campagnolo pads on mine -- I think it's the way they treat the surface of the things. Also being a tubular neophyte I got some glue on the rim and although I wish it wasn't there it isn't causing the least problem.
I'm a huge fan of the look, the purpose, & the style of low profile, strong rims, sturdy hubs, and tubulars on a modern carbon steed.
Such a set-up is in my future.
Good work Frank, enjoy riding those hoops in Belgium!
I've already decided that I'll be racing tubulars for next cross season. Dugast Rhino on the front, Typhoon rear. Probably Chris King hubs. Maybe HED rims (wide)?
@frank
Dude, you glued your eyelids together...
@G'rilla
Thinking about doing the same; tubeless is satisfactory but not awesome. I want to hit some kind of goal prior to pulling the trigger, so I feel like I earnt it, ya know...
Total novice when it comes to tubs - two questions. 1) does the glue negate the need for rim tape or is the rim different from a clincher rim? 2)I did some research and there are a few people who say changing tubs are easy on the road; but if you have to let the glue cure on the tyre for 12hrs do you carry a spare with glue pre-applied or do you just whack the new tyre on and hope it doesn't pop off when you corner?
@brett
Now everyone intone together, some people in low bass tone, everyone else in high falsetto - the theme opera from Sunday in Hell "PaRis RouBAIX, PaRis RouBAIX, RouBAIX!!