The Allure of Tubulars: The end of an era?

The first tubular I mounted was a Vittoria onto an old Wolber rim. There is something immensely special about this process that borders on sacred. We all remember the first time we glued a single but the same nostalgia is not held for its more humble clincher cousin. It is the simple beauty of anxiously waiting while your tyre is sitting inflated dry on a rim before you can even think about applying the first layer of glue.

There used to be a 'Tubular Voodoo' subculture where you would hear of people buying tyres months in advance and stashing them in some unsuspecting nook and crannies under the pretence of allowing them to 'cure'. Now I do not doubt for a second that such a subculture still exists but cycling has moved on from an age of superstitions and has been replaced with cool, hard Science. People trying to extract that extra tenth of a second per kilometer to gain an edge on the competition has flooded the market. In recent times the clincher tyre has been trying to stage a revolution, with arguably more practicality, and new sophisticated supercomputer analysis, it is poised to saturate the traditionally tubular orientated world of professional racing. Manufacturers are now claiming that their new generation of clinchers are actually faster than the sew-ups we so love. Boasting a more aerodynamic profile and lower rolling resistance, it seems the tubular might have finally met its match.

A certain German individual time trial specialist who shall remain nameless due to the unforgivable sin of taking the rainbow stripes in the Individual time trial off the legendary Fabian Cancellara, began using clinchers in his TT stages and has since claimed several high profile wins against the clock. As the technology invested into the research making the clincher a tyre one that can outperform a tubular has increased, it has become the nameless German's tyre of choice for bouts in his favoured discipline. Yet, with flats in both the prologue and the first TT in the 2012 Tour De France, it reminds us that they are still in early development and it seems like it will be a long while before we see the reign of tubulars to be surpassed and become the tyre of choice in the pro peleton.

So do these recent revelations signal the end of an era? I think not, there will always be that nostalgia held in cyclists hearts for the tubular tyre and for the childlike excitement we get when we mount a tyre on a rim that no science can take away. When we are all looking for incremental enhancements, we fail to see the bigger picture, we seem to forget that this is a sport steeped in history and in our quest for ultimate glory, we need to remember the likes of Eddy Merckx who contested most of his races on a set of box style aluminium rims mated to a set of singles. This wheel-tyre combination may well have been 4 seconds per kilometer slower than another set out there that his closest rivals may have posessed. But he still annihilated the competition regardless. Races are won by sheer class. But for me, I know the set of tubulars I keep in my wardrobe when they are not in use to protect them against the harsh ultraviolet radiation, will be my wheel of choice, because that's what they do, exude pure class that cannot possibly be matched by clinchers.