General: If anyone here is a tubular tire fan...

I just saw a heads-up on the Classic Rendezvous mailing list: Excel Sports in Colorado is blowing out a lot of the Challenge handmade cotton tubular line for pretty cheap (basically, cheaper than Vittoria Open Corsas, but more expensive than Vittoria Rallys).

Challenge is a group of employees from the old Clement tire company.

Challenge tires usually retail at over $100 each, so seeing them for under $40 caught my attention.

I don't know how common tubs are these days, except among racers and a subset of retro-grouches. I'm sort of a retro-Fred/BOB-in-training, but I don't ride tubs as a rule. I own one set of Campy wheels with old D'Allesandro Speciales, and I have a little collection of unmounted Dugast and FMB cyclocross tubs that I should really build a set of wheels for (or admit I'm not cool enough to ride them, and sell them on). But I haven't ridden the D'Allesandros since I put clinchers on my Bianchi. That may change for awhile; I broke the rear axle on my C-Record clinchers last week, and I have to rebuild the hub; I may swap the freewheel back to the tubular to get the Bianchi rolling again.

The tubs do feel different, though: Smoother and WAY lighter. It's sort of a floating sensation.

Posted By: GoneI agree cotton tubs are much smoother and more comfortable then clinchers but you should try a pair of "seta's" silk. A whole new experience and you won't look back. Thanks for the lead.

Hey, I can't even justify the seven tubular tires I already own. A set of silk tires is an almost-inconceivable extravagance.

I promise, if I ever own a steel '50s-'70s Colnago or Cinelli, I'll put setas on it.