P-X has Racing Ralph tubulars for £20 – they’re not brilliant, but they’ll be better than most clinchers

bought mine because the std wheels weighed more than the bike with me on it alone.

Must be the same ones as mine, front wheel alone is 1000g 😯 My 29er XC wheels are a lot lighter, may run those instead. Despite the weight I don’t think they are particularly strong as, after 3 rides, mine are no longer round. And I am neither a heavyweight nor cack handed on the trails. Maybe I just need to reassess what a crosser is capable of? (Or do I just need fatter rubber for training on rooty trails?)

Maybe I just need to reassess what a crosser is capable of?

It’s more a case of altering your riding style. You can ride a CX bike on a surprising amount of terrain but it involves riding lighter, riding round things instead of through them that you might on an MTB and sometimes just knocking the speed back a bit.
Race courses are generally pretty smooth nowadays anyway!

after 3 rides, mine are no longer round.

Spoke too soon. Not quite sure what happened there but it looks like the bead wasn’t seated properly and had somehow made its way down into the well, hence a lumpy wheel. Bit of manipulation and all good now. Got some nicer latex tubes in there now which help a bit but still can’t get away from the fact that there’s around 2.4kg of wheel there! I’ve ordered some 12mm adapters for my hope/crest 29er wheelset and will get some MXP set up tubeless (when I can find some stock!) I’ll use them while I muse on a wheel purchase.

Realised half way through training this evening my tubeless front tyre was down to 15psi. Felt really really nice and only checked when I saw how wide the contact patch was on tarmac. When I realised wasn’t super confident on fast hairpins till I’d inflated it a bit so I think I’m going to have to wangle a tub set up somehow 😆

Ferrals, tubs sound essential to me 😉

Re tubs, what’s the thinking with rim width? I’ve got some old 50mm ones in the shed that I could cannibalise but they were road ones and are probably quite narrow. Spoke count might be quite low too.

They’ll be fine. I ran 16 spoke 45mm fronts for years without any issues at all (the braking surface wore completely through and they still didn’t need touching with a spoke key), and they were standard road rims of the time so not the new wide ones. It’s the shape rather than the width that matters, they need to be nice and shallow.
Most carbons are, it’s the older alloy v-rims which cause issues as the base tape can’t follow the profile of the rim properly and so doesn’t stick on well without bodging.

Thanks LS, I’ll go dig them out tomorrow. They’re the Planet X 50/50 tubs. May be a cheaper option just to get some hubs and build them up.

Nick Craig won an Elite national title on those wheels so I’m sure that they’re good enough 😀

Hmm front is 20H, can’t seem to get disc hubs for them, probably for good reason. Oh well.

Say I have an aversion to PX, and the Kinesis wheels seem too heavy.. what other options do I have for a tub wheelset (discs 12mm through axles) that are reasonably priced?

Strada seem a pretty good bet here. Depends on what you mean by reasonably priced I guess. Other than that I think it’s likely Chinese direct carbon or ebay.

They look bang on, thanks. It’s not going to be an imminent purhcase but good to have someithng in mind.

I went with these clinchers https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/dt-swiss-r-23-spline-disc-ta-11s-shimano-wheelset-502783/wg_id-12981 for £330 – the come complete with all the adapters, lock rings, tubeless ready, valves etc. Mine are for the odd race and local trail rides.

1655g

Guy on Central league FB selling various unused tubs for about half price

https://m.facebook.com/CentralCXLeague/posts/1481022138646379

Thanks for the link. What’s the thinking on baby limus? Would you have it as your mud tyre or is it more intermediate?

Baby limus is a great all rounder and really works well in all conditions.

As to the tub argument I have to agree that they are significantly better, however I wouldn’t recommend anyone in their first season using them.

Thing is, you’ll be racing most weekends, and in between you’ll be training. cleaning kit and mending stuff. There simply isn’t enough time to be stripping off a punctured tub and gluing up another. It adds another layer of stress on to an already exhausting schedule.

I’d recommend buying a set of Baby Limus open tubulars, use inner tubes and lean not to pinch flat them (ride light) so you can run 20psi both ends.

Tubs will make a difference of a place or two in some races. Fine if you want to get from second to first place but not worth the hassle whilst you learn the craft of getting bike and body to the finish line in one piece a little further down the field.

Baby Limus, excellent tyre. Wide spaced and smaller nobz, grip nicely and corner well. I didn’t go as low as 20psi, normally stay around 28-30psi for all round conditions.

rollindoughnut – Member

Tubs will make a difference of a place or two in some races. Fine if you want to get from second to first place but not worth the hassle whilst you learn the craft of getting bike and body to the finish line in one piece a little further down the field.

Totally agree; you more likely to finish higher by just getting fitter … I know thats not the easy quick fix answer some will want, but unfortunately its the blunt truth.

I run clinchers – usually position in the top 10 of my category … and apart from 1 or 2 courses, I have never felt it is grip that is holding me back from a position or so higher; its always my legs/lungs that are the weakest link.

Thanks chaps. May well do that while dipping my toe in for first season then look to tubs next season if I get on ok.

So open clinchers and latex tubes or tubeless? Expect the former to be better at lower pressures if you can avoid the pinch flats.

Totally agree; you more likely to finish higher by just getting fitter … I know thats not the easy quick fix answer some will want, but unfortunately its the blunt truth.

Uh, in that case- get the Tubs MrBlobby 😆 😀

I use butyl tubes on clinchers (cheaper and maybe tougher?). I’ve not found tread patterns I like as much as the Challenge open tubular range in other manufacturers tubeless designs plus the tubeless I did try either suffered from unsealable sidewall nicks or burped air. The only ones that worked were the Bontrager range but these tread patterns are far behind Challenge tyres.

So to surmise, If you are buying two tread patterns then make one a limus and the other a griffo, if just one (which I recommend; less to worry about) then I think the baby limus is the best all rounder. I use this tyre from road/dust/gravel trough to thick mud as it stays on my training bike all year. Current set, rubber lasted 9 months although it’s very worn now and I got 3 punctures in total (2 pinch flats and a thorn).
I vary the pressures between 20-35psi depending on what I expect to come across on my ride.

On a ‘cross race course, you can identify any feature that can cause a pinch flat during your pre-ride laps. There will often only be one or two hazards a lap and you can choose whether to hop, ride around, slow down or dismount for them. Therefore on race day you can drop to silly low pressures and really enjoy the feeling of floating around on a set of cushions. Beware though, when you stand up and sprint or corner hard you may cause the tyres to fold over which is a whole new thing to learn to deal with. It’s such a cool game!

Thanks rollindoughut, loads of good stuff there.

Got some MXP on the way. Shall try them tubes and tubeless and see how it goes.

Did you get the tubeless version of the mxp or the normal? Tubeless much less supple but very easy to run tubeless, I wouldn’t bother with tubes if you have the dedicated tubeless ones.

Had ordered them thinking I’d run the MXP tubeless. Then get something softer to run with latex tubes for when it’s muddy.

In light of above I’m wondering if I should have gone for a griffo with a latex tube instead.

Probably overthinking this seeing as I’ve not even raced yet 😉

Probably overthinking this seeing as I’ve not even raced yet

Nobody on here has ever done that before 😉

Bikebuoy is that the SDW where it meets the railway line just north of Meonstoke?

I really like Baby Limus. Very versatile.
Ideal set up for me, with the little finesse and skill I have, is Limus front and Baby Limus rear. I have Cole 38mm section wheels and some Ambrosio alloy rims on Hope hubs. I prefer the Ambrosios. Stiff and light. Not run tubeless but latex tubes in open tubs which worked well for training and spares.
If you don’t want spangly Carbon you can probably find alloy wheels for Tubs for a good price.
I used the Chinese Carbon wheels with Novatec hubs for a couple of years with no issues.

I run clinchers – usually position in the top 10 of my category … and apart from 1 or 2 courses, I have never felt it is grip that is holding me back from a position or so higher; its always my legs/lungs that are the weakest link.

I agree – Munqe Chick won the Central womens league overall ’15-’16 season, and came second ’16-’17 season on clinchers 8) I bought the tubs last year half way through my second season; I had my highest placing riding them but I also got physically stronger as the season went on so couldn’t attribute that to them, but they are a genuine performance improvement. I wouldn’t buy tubs until I knew I actually enjoyed racing, but as Munqe Chick and I are mad for it (doing as many races as my shift work allows) they were a worthwhile outlay.

Thanks for the link. What’s the thinking on baby limus?

well, we ended up buying the unused Baby Limus off the link on the basis Munqe Chick will be going tubs next year 😉

Well one of the MXP arrived this morning. I shall get some of those Novatec wheelsets, pop them on, and go racing 🙂

Quick one for you lot. If I do go for a clincher mud tyre do I go tubeless (like a PDX maybe) or open tub (like a Limus) with a latex tube? Thinking the latter might work better at lower pressures.

Unsure of tubeless option but i’ve run some pretty low pressures with a latex tube and PDX clinchers. Weirdly the pdx clinchers came up wider than the tubular version for me.

Weirdly the pdx clinchers came up wider than the tubular version for me.

I read that was because the clinchers are ‘generous’ whereas Clement were aware those using tubs might get their tyres measured and so made sure they were bang on the UCI reg. 33

well, we ended up buying the unused Baby Limus off the link on the basis Munqe Chick will be going tubs next year

I was the one who bought the used Limus and Baby Limus… sorry!

Anyone know where cx latex tubes can be purchased?

Anyone know where cx latex tubes can be purchased?

chain reaction had stock briefly this weekend. you need to set up stock noification and be quick!

Anyone know where cx latex tubes can be purchased?

My LBS has loads of the challenge ones 🙂

chain reaction had stock briefly this weekend. you need to set up stock noification and be quick!

Done

Also…

https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/Challenge/Superlite-Cross-Latex-Inner-Tube-29-38mm/BXZP

I read that was because the clinchers are ‘generous’ whereas Clement were aware those using tubs might get their tyres measured and so made sure they were bang on the UCI reg. 33

Munqe-Chick raced the UK nationals in 2015/16 with PDX clinchers, they technically failed the UCI caliper test on the start line but as she posed little threat to Wyman, Harris etc they let her race 😉