Also being a Bill, I’ll volunteer my answer to Ted’s question. I have two sets of the Vlaanderen tires, each set with about 1800 miles times 4 gives me about 7200 tire miles? I have had one puncture too large for sealant -glass cut. The tire was at about the rated mileage limit and well worn but, unlike Bill L, I had no previous experience repairing tubulars so doing the repair was my opportunity for a learning experience. REMA patch and glue worked and the tire is still in service. All other punctures (not sure how many but not a lot) have been fixed with sealant. I’ve opted to ride with 2 spares and save sealant injections for home. I’ve changed exactly one tire on the road, the aforementioned flat. All other punctures were slow enough that I got home or they sealed from previously administered sealant. So far, I’ve come to the conclusion that latex tubes are more puncture resistant than butyl and leak more slowly when punctured. I’ve also pulled 3 goat heads out of tires with no sealant without any resulting loss of pressure. I don’t think I can ever remember doing that with a clincher.
I also did a complete tube replacement on a used FMB tire that I acquired with a leak. That involved cutting a new $15 tube in half, pulling it through and gluing it back together. Probably got the instructions on that from Sheldon Brown. It took a long time but, again, this was a learning experience. That tire has about 90 of my miles on it. Not the greatest repair job - a little lumpy - but definitely worth it. I am also puzzled by a couple comments I’ve seen regarding these tires being for “roadies.” I don’t consider myself a roadie - never raced - always been a commuter, tourer and now recreational rider too. I’ve ridden my tubulars on and off road and will ride them under any conditions I would ride a clincher. Besides that, I believe many cyclocross racers use tubulars and I shouldn’t think they are roadies. Just saying. I apologize as I know I have a tendency to get carried away with my enthusiasm but reading the positive experiences of others who debunked the notion that tubulars are something exotic not worth the trouble finally pushed me to give them a try. I mean, there are similar discussions regarding tubeless? Besides, the more people who will give them a shot, the better chance we will get or keep more choices. I highly recommend them for anyone who enjoys working on their bicycles. If somebody else does all your work, maybe not the right choice. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/ecc0bf8e-08fd-4cac-98e0-a59d3c923841%40googlegroups.com.
