Tufo S3 Lite

Price Paid:  $0.00

Favorite Ride:
Rollyview

Bike Setup:
Lemond Tourmalet w/ Reynolds DV46UL wheels

Summary:
These are the first tubulars I've used, and love 'em compared to the Bontrager Rate Lites I was using. Glued on, they are very responsive, and corner wonderfully. Smooth, smooth, smooth, on rough chip seal, but that might be the new Reynolds rims they are on, too.

Strengths:
Lightweight, compliant, responsive.

Weaknesses:
Delicate. Two flats in the span of 2 weeks on pretty clean roads is not good. I've put Slime in them just for added confidence and so far so good. My cheap Bontragers are still flat free after 6000km. In every other respect, except durability, these surpass the Race Lite clinchers.

Price Paid:  $85.00 at Nimble / Speedy Reed

Favorite Ride:
Seattle To Portland

Bike Setup:
Planet-X Stealth Pro Carbon, Nimble Crosswinds, SRAM Red gruppo, Xentis X1 bars and aero bars.

Summary:
Sleek and fast tires with great gripping power. Properly inflated, all sorts of rocks and crud just pop out from under the tire and they hardly break stride. I haven't been able to break tire traction even on some pretty hard stops. Unfortunately, I flatted one of them in the first mile or riding, then flatted the other within the next 300 miles. I'm paying something like $0.66 per mile here on tires, at which rate I should just keep driving my car. Glass was the culprit in both cases (small, small, small pieces... like grains of sand) so the puncture resistant layer can't be counted on to deter that stuff. Tire sealant from Tufo is in a separate review, but it didn't do anything except spray latex everywhere and gum up the valve core.

Strengths:
Fast, smooth, crazy-high PSI limits, guaranteed weight (until the sealant goes in). Removable valve core is a plus.

Weaknesses:
Crazy-high psi limits (who needs to go to 220?). Valve is a bit short for deeper wheel sections. Glass = Achilles heel. Expensive, especially when you have to buy them again. And again. Sealant doesn't bond to inner tube too well.

Similar Products Used:
Vittoria tubular of some sort.

Price Paid:  $59.00 at biketiresdirect.com

Favorite Ride:
American River Bike Trail - Sacramento, California

Bike Setup:
Kestrel KM40 AirFoil Pro with Dura-Ace Set up.

Summary:
I got two Tufo 650c S3 Lite < 200g tires for my Zipp Wheels. I tried to put the tires on myself and ended up have the bike shop put on for me. The initial impression is that it is fast, light and very responsive. I was able to gain about 10% speed on the sets. The reason I gave it 4 out of 5 is cause my tire got puntured with less than 100 miles on it. I was expecting to get at least 3000 + miles out of these tires.

Strengths:
Light, fast, responsive

Weaknesses:
Expensive and hard to mount. My rear tire got puntured after 60+ miles ride on it. I must hit on some sharp object on the road.

Similar Products Used:
Spinergy Spox R1 with Michelin Pro Race tire.

Price Paid:  $75.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
Cemetary Hill

Bike Setup:
Raleigh Prestige with full Dura-Ace, ITM Millenium bits, and Hed. Stinger 50's.

Summary:
This was my first experiment in the world of tubulars, and I have to say I wasn't incredibly pleased. The tires were nice enough, but I got my first blowout at 160 miles. The shop ordered the wrong size (19mm), but they still rode pretty well and gave them a shot. I got most of a road race (broken chain) and a crit (scary on 19's) out of them, then the rear blew out in sight of my house on a ride the next day. The front will be coming off as soon as I get better tires. That was an expensive mistake.

Strengths:
Extremely light and fast.

Weaknesses:
Durability, price.

Similar Products Used:
Michelin, Kenda, Vredestein, Hutchinson, Continental and Specialized clinchers.

Price Paid:  $150.00 at Downtown Carrollton

Favorite Ride:
1973 Motobecane LeChampion

Bike Setup:
1973 Motobecane LeChampion
All circa '83 Campy Super Record
Cinelli stem (old school)
Cinelli handlebars (old school)
1983 Mavic Rims (not sure what kind, but shiny)
1988 Campy areo water bottle
1983 Campy toe clips (switched from Keywin titanium)

Summary:
These tires are great. I got the S3 Lite in blue to match the new paint job on my bike and it's wicked cool. These are the first tubulars I've had since the early 90's and they're great. I love the use of the rim tape so I don't have to deal with the messy glue in a tube. These tires are fast. I'm almost as fast on this bike as I am on my MUCH lighter 2003 Motobecane LeChampion(Clinchers and heavier). They are puncture VERY resistant. I didn't know former communists could do anything well, but they succeeded. Yeah Czech's.

Strengths:
Punture resistence
Glue tape
Sealant
Tubeless
Wicked cool colors to match all my bikes
Cheap(Inexpensive)

Weaknesses:
No light purple to match my Centurion Master

Similar Products Used:
Vittoria
Michelin(late 80's)
Continental(late 80's)