Glue-on tires?

I was at a friends house the other day, and she showed me a racing bike in her basement. (I did not know she ever raced or even rode). I can't remember the brand of the bike, but she told me that the tires are actually glued to the wheels somehow? Is this still done?

She would love to replace those wheels with more usual tires for riding, but every few years she takes it to a bike store to talk with them about it and they tell her that those are the only wheels that will fit in the fork. That bike cost her almost $3k years ago - it is truly a pity she can't re-fit it like she would like because she refuses to buy another bike.

I am curious about this whole "glue the tire to the wheel" thing - what would be the purpose of this? Are they airless tires perhaps?

Tubular tires are near-perfectly round, and they can run much higher pressure than clinchers.

In the past, the tubular wheel/tire combo was also much lighter than clinchers, although I'm not sure that that's true any more.

It seems odd to me that her race wheels would have non-standard hubs. Even so, I don't know why she couldn't build up new wheels with clincher rims using the same type of hubs (or even using the very same hubs, if she wanted to dismantle her tubie wheels).

On my race bike (which cost me about the same, years ago) I had tubies for racing and clinchers for training. Both sets of wheels were built on the same model hubs. (My issue with re-fitting the frame has to do with reluctance to spread the dropouts to accommodate a modern rear wheel... I'm afraid it would give me a bizarre chainline...)

but as far as your friend's bike, honestly if her bike is as old as mine, she can have a new one for the same money it would cost her to re-build it with modern components. Which is what I did, and why my race bike is now storage room jewelry :(

She probably still can get tires that will work with it.

Tubular tires used to be the norm, before clinchers were developed (around 1911, though before 1887 tires were solid rubber). Racers still use them (as you don't have to be so concerned about flats - there's someone following you around with spare wheels) because they are usually significantly lighter than clinchers - less material on the rims and on the tires.

I have a set of tubulars on my TT bike and I will be getting a pair for my race bike soon (they are on order!). I won't use them for just general riding around, as it is a pain in the butt to fix them when they do flat. You can actually repair them- there's a tube in there, but you need to pick out the seam, repair the tube and sew them back up. (they are actually hand sewn together, which is why they are also sometimes called sew ups)

Thanks for the information. I don't know how many places she has checked with, or if she really wants to do this or not but it did not seem right to me that there wasn't anything that she could do to ride the bike. It is dust-covered right now but still beautiful!