Effetto Mariposa Carogna Tape

Tubulars are dead.

At least, that’s what most of the cycling industry seems to think. Tubeless/clincher type tires test faster in the wind tunnel and have lower rolling resistance. In general, there isn’t much development money going into tubulars; in fact, key industry players such as Specialized with their new Rapide/Alpinist wheels have abandoned tubulars altogether. So why bother?

Like any legacy technology, tubulars are an incredibly well optimized system. There is one rim size. Rim width doesn’t have an effect on the tire size. The tire width printed on the sidewall is generally the width you get. There’s a reason almost every professional team still uses them! Tubular rims can be both lighter and stronger than clincher rims, and tires won’t come off the rim if there’s a flat. In fact, a World Championship was once won on a flat tubular. Rim brake bikes with tubular wheels are an excellent choice for almost any type of road or light gravel riding outside of steep wet descents, and they are selling for rock bottom prices as the market shifts towards newer tubeless and disc brake technology.

Into this market opportunity steps Effetto Mariposa to address the only real downside to tubulars: the onerous gluing process. For over a hundred years, the process of attaching a tubular tire to a rim has involved painstaking hours applying layers of adhesive and days of downtime waiting for glue to dry. No more. With the Carogna tape, attaching a tubular tire is as easy as applying the tape to a clean rim, placing and centering a tire onto the rim, and then pulling out the tape backing from between the two. Pump the tire to maximum pressure and by the next day your tire is ready to go.

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There have been several attempts over the years to replace tubular glue with tape solutions, and typically they fail to hold the tire securely on the rim while increasing rolling resistance. Carogna is claimed to be stronger than glue, and having used this product extensively, I have no reason to doubt their claims. However, they are mum as to the rolling resistance change, which I believe is essential in order to make an informed decision. In fact, not including the rolling resistance gives me the impression that they are hiding something; indeed, what performance oriented rider (i.e. all tubular users) would want to buy a product that might make them slower? Let’s put it to the test!

Test protocol

I’m borrowing testing protocols from Tom Anhalt’s excellent blog in order to convert power on rollers into rolling resistance values. The general idea is to use physics, a speed or cadence sensor, and a power meter to determine the rolling resistance of a given tire. I glued up a Vittoria Corsa G+ tire to one Dura Ace C50 tubular rear wheel, and on a second C50 I set up an identical tire with Carogna tape. Testing the rear wheel only both minimized the variables associated with the rollers themselves and represented the worst case scenario for rolling resistance.

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Setting up my bike on the rollers, I did 8 tests of 2 minutes per wheel, with a 3 minute warmup period for each wheel (5 minute sets total). I kept a steady cadence of 100rpm (my metronome helped me keep in time) in a 53×12 gear to maintain test repeatability.

The results

From power and cadence data, measurements of the rollers, and the weight of the bike plus myself (yikes!), I was able to generate rolling resistance values and convert them to what a rider would expect to see on the road:

The result? Carogna tape adds somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.7 watts of additional rolling resistance to a tire. To put that into perspective, the rolling resistance increase from the tape is significantly less than that of a dirty chain, a loose jersey, or unshaved legs. However, for a real marginal gains weenie, leaving upwards of 3 watts on the table for a set of wheels is unconscionable. For an amateur road or cyclocross racer doing their own maintenance, the tradeoff may be worth it, especially for someone who might otherwise not use tubular wheels.

It’s worth noting too that since the main cause of increased rolling resistance is shear in the glue layer, a front wheel may have have significantly less to no additional drag as there is nearly no shear between the tire and rim, even at high speed.

Carogna tape retails for approximately $15 (USD) per wheel. While that’s not expensive, the benchmark glue, Vittoria’s Mastik One, retails for $5 per wheel. Given the added convenience, that’s an extra $20 well spent for a wheelset.

Effetto Mariposa’s Carogna tape is a fantastic solution for home mechanics, racers on a budget, or anyone who wants to avoid the hassle of gluing. Die hard performance weenies should look elsewhere, but the ease of use, peace of mind, and marginal performance difference from glue mean that riders should be willing to give tubulars another try.