[CR] Odd request for tubulars

(Example: Production Builders:Cinelli)

From: "Steven Maasland" <themaaslands@comcast.net>
To: CR <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 23:31:28 -0500
Subject: [CR] Odd request for tubulars


Like many of you, I have encountered stubborn tubulars in the past, you know, the ones that no amount of pre-stretching will help you fit them on the rims. I will even admit to having thrown out more than one in frustration.

Well I need some tubulars just like that.

I have a bike that I am assembling right now for my wife that has slightly undersized rims. These are not defective rims but rather are the result of the builders' conviction that slightly smaller wheels were the way to go. This has been confirmed in press articles in the past, as well as by his contemporaries. The bike is not a customer bike either, but rather belonged to the wife of the builder. The rims are a set of 1960's Fiamme yellow labels and I have compared them to 4 other Fiamme rims that I have and they are about 6 mm less in diameter. I can fit some "normal" tubulars on and I am 100% convinced that they would be OK for the type of riding my wife would use the bike for. At anything but full inflation, however, they don't inspire enough confidence for me to personally dare ride the tires hard.

So before you throw out some otherwise good tubulars out of frustration about not being able to fit them to your rims, please let me know.

Where are those super tight Barum tubulars of old when you need them?

Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ
USA