Training Articles
March 24th, 2009 Tubular Gluing – My Technique Gluing tubular tires is one of those things in cycling that is feared my many riders and techniques vary quite a bit.I for one would only ride tires that I have glued myself so that I can be 100% confident they will stay on the wheel and that the tires are nice and true.
Here is the technique that I use. I’m not saying it is the best way to glue up a tire and I’m not saying your tires will stay put if you use this technique – just saying this is what I do. Follow at your own risk.
- Start with new tubular tires and stretch them on clean rims for a week. Inflate them to max PSI every day. Old unused tubular rims are great for this and can be had on ebay cheap.
- Start with a new pair of wheels or clean off 100% of the old glue using acetone and a ton of elbow grease. I won’t glue tires over lumpy old glue. Start fresh.
- I put three VERY thin layers of glue on the rim – with 24 to 48hrs drying time between each layer. Thin as in one tube of glue for both rims, or at least close too it. Make sure to get the glue on the edge of the rim. I use acid brushes for this, they are cheap and work well.
- I also put 2 layers of glue on the basetape of the tires. They tend to soak up the glue a lot, so you will end up using more glue on the tires than the wheels. Same trying time, 24 to 48 hrs.
- Install whatever valve stem extension you prefer, make sure to use Teflon tape to get a good seal. You don’t want to remove the tire later to mess with the valve stem.
- Now is also a good time to install pit stop sealant or similar if you are so inclined.
- After all this drying, apply another layer of glue to the rim and immediately mount the tire. Now this is the tricky part, the part that takes a lot of practice. You have to get the tire on the rim true and evenly or the tire will wobble all over the place. Starting at the valve stem use both hands to evenly pull the tire onto the rim with an even amount of base tape showing on both sides. The really hard part is the last bit of tire where the tendency is to barely get it on the rim and then the tire is not centered. If the tire is not centered you have about 6 seconds to get it right by pulling and moving it around before the glue sets.
- Double check the valve stem area, you may have to brush in a little extra glue in this area to ensure a good bond.
- Inflate a bit, roll the wheel with some pressure on it to seat the tire well, then inflate to full riding PSI, 100 to 120, whatever you use. Wait 24hrs and ride.
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