Carbon clincher wheels vs tubular

How much do you know the difference between carbon tubular wheels and clincher wheels? The gap between the two styles is smaller than ever. Tubular tires and clincher wheels are still very different in design. It is important to recognize the advantages of each style so that you can choose the wheel and tire style that best suits your needs.

Clincher wheels

Advantage

Easy to install/emergency maintenance. Standard inner tube and tire settings. Athletes can change the tube on the spot. The cost of participating in triathlons is very high, and athletes do not want to ruin their competition by flattening their bike legs. The open bead design allows athletes to install new inner tubes and continue the competition.

* Train. Athletes can use carbon clincher wheels for training and competition.

Shortcoming

* Heavy weight. Carbon fiber clincher rims are heavier than tubular rims.

* Poor puncture resistance. Pinch flat. Hit a pothole hard and you will pinch it flat.

* The rim is layered. Although the rim technology of the well-known brand is very good, it may still cause the rim to overheat on the braking surface due to excessive downhill braking. Therefore this can cause delamination or permanent rim warping.

Tubular wheels

Advantage

* Light weight. Lighter than carbon jaws. (Less carbon material is needed in the lamination process)

* Puncture resistance. There is no splint.

* It is unlikely to overheat the brake surface and cause warping.

Shortcoming

* Easy to install/emergency maintenance. Let’s face it, sticking to the tire is a pain. If your performance is mediocre in a road race, your race is over (unless you can change the wheel quickly). In a triathlon, you have to remove the tubular tire, install another tire, and hope that the tire remains on the rim.

Match day only: Most athletes only use tubular wheels on match day.

The difference between carbon clincher wheels and tubular

Design

Although tubular tires look almost the same as clinchers on the outside, they are actually very different. The clincher wheels are a more traditional design. The tire and inner tube are separated from each other and fixed on the rim by the steel wire reinforcement edge of the tire on the metal bead on the rim. On the contrary, the tubular tire is a one-piece structure, the ends of which are sewn together at the inner central part, and are connected to the rim by glue placed on the outer surface of the rim.

Features of clincher and tubular

The main advantage of tubular tires is that they allow you to drive at very low pressure, which is very useful in off-road racing. In addition, it is lighter, more efficient and more puncture resistant than a clincher. In addition, they increase the sense of the course and greatly reduce the chance of pinching. On the other hand, split tires are cheaper and easier to repair, and you can easily install and replace tires. In addition, you don’t need to carry multiple wheelsets to deal with changing conditions.

Maintain

Clincher tires are easier to install, and flat tires are relatively easy to fix. They are easier to handle and maintain; you can easily install and replace the tire, and you can replace the inner tube to repair a flat tire. In addition, clincher tires do not require you to carry multiple wheels to cope with changing conditions, but unlike tubular tires, they cannot operate at very low pressure. One of the disadvantages of tubular tires is that the workload of installing and maintaining tires increases, and it is difficult to quickly replace tires according to the situation. Therefore, in terms of maintenance, the clamp clearly has the upper hand.

Why do riders choose carbon tubular wheels?

The carbon tubular wheels roll smoothly and travel very fast. Unlike carbon fiber clincher wheels, it uses a combination of inner tubes and tires. The tubular rim sewed the inner tube into the tire and then glued it to the carbon fiber rim.

Which is suitable to use carbon tubular wheels?

The carbon fiber tubular rim type is very popular among off-road racers. Because they allow much lower tire pressures for maximum comfort and traction.

Recommend

In the 700C series of carbon fiber wheelset, there are 38mm Carbon Tubular Wheels 700C, 45mm Tubular Carbon Wheelset 700C etc.