Veloflex has launched a new range of clincher open tubular tyres with beefed up sidewalls designed to ensure they are safe to use on carbon fibre rims.
The company has developed SPS (Sidewall Protection System) which ensures there will be no issues when used with carbon rims as there could with its previous range of clincher tyres.
Veloflex lays the blame at carbon wheel manufacturers not following ETRTO guidelines and sloppy manufacturing as causing compatibility issues with some carbon fibre rims. The concern are sharp edges around the rim bead hook on some carbon rims that could lead to tyre damage.
“Carbon rims are produced in a different way, unlike those in aluminium, and usually have a rough surface that is polished by some high level producers in order to avoid problems with the tires. However, when this process of polishing is skipped the constant rubbing of the tire on the rim tends to rip apart the thin threads that make up the clincher tire case.
Also, as pressure at 6/7 atmospheres originally tended to make the sides of the carbon rim give, because of the pressure and the temperature, some producers of carbon rims started to reduce the measure of the shoulder of the rim and to develop (to satisfy their customers’ needs to use higher pressures) bead seats with sharp edges to tackle the problem of holding the tire into its seat. As a consequence, the ETRTO regulations, which set the standard to fit the rim and the tire and ensure they work correctly and smoothly, have been disregarded,” explains the company.
The company doesn’t provide any details about what is involved in the beefed-up sidewalls. SPS tyres will be easily identifiable and will gradually replace all current non-SPS tyres.
Maser, Corsa and Record tyres will be available with the new SPS technology and costs from €44. More info at www.veloflex.it/en/
5 thoughts on “Veloflex’s new clincher tyres are safe to use with carbon wheels”
Anyone buying carbon
Anyone buying carbon clinchers has made a terrible mistake
Nick T wrote:
Go on…
Because they should’ve bought
Because they should’ve bought carbon tubs instead
Why?
Why?
So Veloflex have had to
So Veloflex have had to produce a worse tyre (more reinforcement equals lower performance) to counter the problem of cheap carbon clinchers/manufacturers who make them on the cheap and thus end up with punters having tyre issues because of the wheel rather than the tyre.
This is what happens everywhere in life, designing and playing to the rules of the lowest common denominator and making things worse in many regards, instead of bringing the standard up to be safer and more efficient!
And as they are stopping making the older/better tyres that means folk who didn’t have a problem now have to put up with these lower performing tyres, looks like I was right in buying up loads of clinchers before they started messing about making them tubeless/tubeless ready and as here other countering designs which all add weight and robustness in the sidewalls!