It’s too late for me, but never too late to share knowledge for future people who search on this thread.
What do you class as a “real-deal descent”? If you’re going to ride one why would you prefer tubular over clincher (or tubeless)?
In cases of extreme continuous braking rim brake clinchers can over-heat and pop the tube - this is somewhat a concern with tubular as you can melt the glue, and less of a concern with tubeless
Sorry to hear about your trip wishing your mother a speedy return to enjoying the bike.
For future readers I can weigh in with some experience having ridden regularly in the Pyrenees the last few years, if you’re doing a tour I think reliability (fixing wheels, tubes popping from heat) and weather (braking in the wet) are bigger factors than crosswinds as I’ve ridden disc 303’s in bad winds/weather with no problems (so long as hands on the bars…).
Personally I recommend disc brakes to anyone, including experienced cyclists, on their first trip to serious/ day after day mountainous rides. My personal view is you have to be much more mentally ‘on’ to successfully navigate steep and technical descents with rim brakes. If you haven’t yet ridden the mountains it’s tough to practice for going downhill 25 minutes at a time managing your bike at high speeds. I’d highly recommend renting a bike with discs.
Regarding rim/clincher/carbon all I can say is the vast majority of european riders I ride with opt for typical aluminum training wheels when riding in the mountains.
1 Like
Anything over 5 or 6 miles and 6% is a “real deal descent.”
Most Category 2 climbs, clinchers will do just fine because if you modulate well, you won’t build up too much rim heat and risk blowing a tire. I’ve seen a few brake-heavy riders over the years blow clinchers on long+steep descents.
Cat 1 and HC climbs, my preference would be alloy tubulars. Dependable braking even in the wet.
Oh, I forgot to mention that despite all the tragedy I did end up in an elevator with Sagan in Toulouse. That was pretty cool. I didn’t mention to him that I have a photograph of him on my wall, I thought that would be weird.
3 Likes
Sorry to hear your cycling was cut short, and best wishes to your mom for a speedy recovery! Thanks for sharing 