Specifically with full carbon 38 or 50mm rims.

I’ve had some Farsports 50mm with alloy brake track but they wind up relatively heavy so tubular full carbon appeal somewhat. I’m really into road tubeless so tubular is my next logical box to consider ticking.

Only “…curious” at this stage, anyone got any experience? Ta.

ps – no I don’t race, and no I doubt they’ll make me any quicker 😉

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

😀

I’ve got a set of 50mm carbon wheels with tubular tyres on my roadie and I wouldn’t switch back to tubes. My Vittoria Corsa Evo CXs are comfy, fast and shrug off some pretty nasty roads without complaint or the dreaded p-word. I pop a bit of revosealant in them when they’re new, but other than that it’s just fit and forget. Taping is nice and easy and if you use the decent stuff it’s not too hard to remove (although it takes some time).

I did it for the cheap, light wheels without fear of overheating, but they’re good for much more than that.

I almost always carry a spare track tub and 15ml of sealant, but I’ve never used them

i havent used those rims, or even anything similar, but i did use tubs ‘back in the day’ (90s).
they didnt make me any faster either. they did make the bike ride better though, no doubt about that.

Yep. I have MTB full carbon tubs which have Nextie rims and 27.5 Dugast Fast Birds, some full carbon 50mm Planet X road tubs with Conti Comps and some Ambrosio Nemesis on BHS hubs with Vittoria Paves.

What do you want to know? They ride much better than tubeless or clinchers, even with latex tubes, are lighter and stiffer. Bit of a faff to glue on properly (don’t get me started on tape – unless you’re TTing, do it properly!) but as quick to sort a puncture as clinchers.

What do you want to know?

Well, good question, maybe I wasn’t clear. As per the thread title I’m interested if anyone has built any and which rims they used basically. As I say I’ve built some Farsports (clinchers) carbon rims, so have a bit of experience there. I seem to recall people talking of stupidly light tubular builds (1250-1300g?), how have they achieved this if so? I prefer to build them myself hence interest in rims specifically, I know what hubs I’d use 🙂

You’d manage that with their 38mm clichers with no drama. Indeed they do a 1250g build.

Sub-1000g is very doable with tubs. FarSports 20mm rims are 250g each. Use whatever hubs you want and some Revolution spokes. Extralite hubs and Sapim Superspokes will put you sub-850g.

OK, have only built my Nextie carbons, which were relatively straightforward. A build on 20 or 38mm if built with Superspokes or Pillar Ti and alu nipples should be pretty light depending on hub weight.

so what’s the downside to tubs then? seems like they’re stupid light – there must be some reason we’re not all using them all the time (not trolling, I’m genuinely ignorant)

so what’s the downside to tubs then? seems like they’re stupid light – there must be some reason we’re not all using them all the time (not trolling, I’m genuinely ignorant)

PITA to repair a puncture, bit of a pain to fit.

That’s about it.

I keep flirting with the idea but keep getting cold feet! Had some nice Bontrager XXX Lites years ago which were good.

hmmmm…. sounds interesting. I’ve not had a puncture on a road bike in a very long time. Will consider it when I upgrade wheels on the summer bike. The winter bike can stay on burly clinchers since low maintenance is the order of the day (year).

downsides… scraping old glue off rims. Carrying two spares on a long ride much less convenient than a couple of tubes. Repairs (plus on a posh tub they never feel right again). Fast descents after changing a tub at the roadside.
I won’t disagree with anyone who says road tubeless or nice clinchers are almost as good.

That said, I use them all year round, even for communting. Some tufo sealant in each one to hold off punctures. Glue not tape. Most of our chaingang are on them which helps when there’s a mishap.

An acquaintance was tub-curious, went out and bought a set of Corimas and Veloflex tubs. Rich but dim. After riding several thousand km’s, I asked him if he’d used tape or glue. Turns out he didn’t know you had to use either 😯

Tufo tape is pretty good if you can’t face the ballache that is gluing (I’ve seen a new tape somewhere).
If you have someone who can pick you up in the middle of nowhere and guaranteed mobile signal than you don’t need to fear punctures.
If you are’nt racing I’m not sure the faff is worth a couple of hundred grams (most tub tyre are heavier than a clincher and light weight tube).
(CX is different….tubs are nearly mandatory afaic)
I’ve got some px50’s on Halo 6D 11sp hubs with sapim races for sale 🙄

If you aren’t racing I’m not sure the faff is worth a couple of hundred grams (most tub tyre are heavier than a clincher and light weight tube).

However the rims are substantially lighter – meaning a lower overall weight.

If you aren’t racing I’m not sure the faff is worth a couple of hundred grams.

FarSports clinchers are about 90-100g lighter for an equivalent tub vs clincher. You’ll give back 30g or so per end for a heavier tyre, potentially a bit of sealant too. So 150g saved or so. Then you have to carry a spare tub really, which means the total weight is more. This is how I keep talking myself out of it!

They ride phenomenally though, so in my mind, that’s worth it!

I have three pairs of CF tub wheels. Only used for TT’s and special occasions because they a pita to fix when punctured.

Pros
Llight
Comfy (even with 140+ psi)
Quick

Cons
Pita to replace (I glue my tubs and if racing, you can pretty much guarantee it’ll be a 10 min job to replace so it’s effectively game over
Expensive
Expensive / more complicated to repair
Spare tubs take up more space when riding.

Braking on CF wheels in the wet is err, interesting.