Tubs advice - Do's and Dont's

General Help
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Hey all, I just got my first tubular wheelset to use for CX racing. I have no experience riding with tubs nor mounting them. I did a bit of a search on here and there’s some info but not much. That wheelset is second hand but in good nic, and has road tires glued on it. A nice set of challenge Grifo tubs also came in the deal. They’re basically new and have been glued on different rims, but not ridden.

My plan is to take off the roadie tires, glue the set of Grifo tubs on the same WS, and learn something about tubs in the process. I guess if I really stuff it up I’ll go see someone competent, but in the meantime I want to give it a go.

I’ve got a few questions:

  • Should I clean the rims and with what? At the moment the glue seems old and it looks like I can just pull out the tires easily. I read somewhere that it can be good to leave the old glue on and that it’ll be reactivated with new glue. Others say you shouldn’t bother with old glue. However a) I don’t really know how old the glue is and b) the rims look good (Ambrosio Montreal) and I want to give them a bit of a polish so they’re nice and shiny. So I thought I’d start afresh with glueing too.

  • Anyone might be able to share hints on the whole process of gluing/installing/pumping up tire? There’s quite a few vids on youtube but not sure what’s best.

  • Rims are narrow with respect to current CX standards (17 mm, CX clinchers are typically 21mm +), but they are tubs and comparisons with clinchers width might be irrelevant. Do you think 17mm tub rims are a good combination with Grifo tubs? Challenge gives a rim width of 15-19 mm for these tires so it should be good.

Thanks, Seb

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Yeh i learnt from that link smuggy provided. Is good.

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Just had a quick look at this link, it looks great. Thanks Blakey.

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also give the thumbs up to that link.

i’ve learnt to pay someone very competent and more patient than me to do my gluing. but thats just me.

narrow rims wont be as good as wider rims, but you should still get the benefit of low pressures, suppleness.

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Cool. Yeah it’s gonna be a bit of a holiday project, no rush and trying to enjoy it.

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Don’t know where else to post this.

Anyone know a reasonably priced LBS in Melbourne to fit tubs? What is the going rate? I can do it myself but am time poor and they’ve been sitting around for ages as a result. Was quoted “atleast $100, probably more” from my local brunswick lbs.

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I think Saint Cloud did mine (track) for $40 or $45