A customer left me two Continental Competition 19C tubulars to work on,
but I just couldn't get one of them to seat temporarily on the rim.
There's definitely variation between individual tires.
Competition tubulars have a naturally very small inner diameter to begin with,
and the 19C is noticeably smaller than the 22C,
plus this particular one had quite a bit of size variation.
It's not impossible to mount them without stretching,
but since the customer wants rim cement for wheel installation (rather than tape),
if the tire doesn't seat smoothly, the rim sidewall across from the valve hole
ends up covered in cement.
I had both tires on the Stretcher Y Double to stretch them,
but I was so busy I left them for four days instead of just overnight, which would've been plenty.
Today I'm mounting a Michelin Pro 4 tubular on a Cosmic Carbon Ultimatum without using the Stretcher Y, just rim cement,
but the Competition 19 that stretched for four days still has a noticeably smaller inner diameter.
but I just couldn't get one of them to seat temporarily on the rim.
There's definitely variation between individual tires.
Competition tubulars have a naturally very small inner diameter to begin with,
and the 19C is noticeably smaller than the 22C,
plus this particular one had quite a bit of size variation.
It's not impossible to mount them without stretching,
but since the customer wants rim cement for wheel installation (rather than tape),
if the tire doesn't seat smoothly, the rim sidewall across from the valve hole
ends up covered in cement.
I had both tires on the Stretcher Y Double to stretch them,
but I was so busy I left them for four days instead of just overnight, which would've been plenty.
Today I'm mounting a Michelin Pro 4 tubular on a Cosmic Carbon Ultimatum without using the Stretcher Y, just rim cement,
but the Competition 19 that stretched for four days still has a noticeably smaller inner diameter.