Veloflex’s new clincher tyres are safe to use with carbon wheels

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/