Clinchers or Tubulars?

[aicabsolut]

Actually, for tris, I'd go with clincher. In a tri, you get to fix a flat if you need. In other races, there's usually a wheel pit / wheel car where you could put a spare, but not so much in a tri. So, if you blow a tubular, you're out. If you'd just resign anyway, then that doesn't matter so much I guess, but if you'd like to take your chances with a spare tube and CO2 cartridge, then clinchers are the way to go. Plus, you will really benefit from a deep rim if not a rear disc too. So you're already looking at some weight there, but the aerodynamics will make up for it most of the time. What I mean is that they aren't really going to be much of a climbing wheelset anyway. So with that, I don't know how much you'd notice the added weight of a clincher, particularly when you're not going to be doing many accelerations along the way but rather trying to maintain a constant effort (like Andrea said).

[SheFly]

As a bigger racer (I am 5'10" and 150 lbs), I race on clinchers and do NOT have an issue with the wheel weight. And FWIW, I race road races and crits on these wheels (they are carbon Zipps, however). As others have said, for the PITA work with a tubular - stretching, gluing, etc., I wouldn't worry about it.

I have a teammate who is significantly smaller than I (108 lbs, and probably about 5'3") who I just talked out of tubulars for the same reason. The weight difference wasn't going to make that much of a difference to her, even at an elite level of racing.

If you are primarily doing tris, I would look at a clincher before a tubular.

SheFly