Topic Title

could anyone give me some infomation on tubular tyres eg advantages, disadvantages, how are they repaired and what you have to carry with you on rides etc.

cheers

A biased summary

Advantages: none over a top quality clincher (normal tyres) *UNLESS* you are running carbon rims.

Disadvantages: you have to carry an entire spare tub around with you (or two if you expect two punctures) so you can put a new one on when you puncture. Tubs can't be (easily) fixed when punctured so it can get expensive.

Back in the day, tubs were much better than clinchers for racing: lighter, lower rolling resistance, cornered better etc. That isn't true anymore and they were dying out.

The thing that has bought them back is that you can make a very light deep section rim in carbon (and even make it cheap) and run tubs with it. Until very recently running clinchers on a carbon rim meant adding an alloy tyre bed to the rim, thus negating the light weight. You can now get a vrey few carbon clincher rims but they are hard to make and thus expensive.

Summary: I'd be tempted by a pair of deep sections + tubs for racing where I don't have to worry about a spare. Something like these:

http://www.planet-x-bikes.com/triathlon ... on=282:282

Wheels like this can be lighter than standard wheels but more aero as well. Win, win.

Since I nearly always ride out to races however, I can't really justify them. You also need different brake blocks for carbon rims if you want any braking power in the wet.

Ian - have you won the lottery? if so remember who your friends are!

But seriously .....
For those out there living in blissful ignorance a "tub" wheel comprises a box section rim and instead of the sidewalls of the tyre gripping the rim, the tub (which completely encases the inner tube and is stitched together) is stuck with a special glue (which believe me is the worse substance known to man - it gets everyware) or double sided tape to the concave surface of the rim.
Traditionally because a tub rim wasn't as deep as a high pressure rim as there is no beading and because the Tyre (I suppose) wasn't gripped so rigidly, the combination meant the wheel was / is lighter and gave a more supple ride.
Tub wheels are still lighter (but not much) and high pressure tyres are much better quality now and don't punture like they used to 20 years ago.
However the disadvantages of tubs far outweigh the advantages unless you are racing and chasing every second. To repair a tub you have to unstitch the casing, repair the tube and then restitch and the casing which will never run as true again. As mentioned fitting a tub is a messy business & out on a ride you really need to take a couple of spares tubs which pretty much outweighs the weight saving. If you punture you will then either put the spare on the old glue or tape and hope it doesn't roll off or put new tape on. Basically its a lot more expensive than just replacing a tube.
I used to raced on Mavic GP4 rims in the early 90's but unless you use decent quality tubs, the advantage is small, and yes I've ridden out to a race, punctured on the way and then had to ride home not wanting to risk getting another or the replacement rolling off - wasted entry fee and trashed tub.
Almost interestingly the comic was comparing a large selection of tub & tube factory built wheels last week. The best of the tubs was the fastest wheel and a pair averaged about 300g less than a high pressure set. More interestingly Campag Neutrons came out as fastest hp - at £380 a third the price of the most expensive hp wheels on test!