Tubular vs Clincher

This is a question that I have pondered for some time, and I would like to open this up for some discussion. I have always heard that tubulars were cooler and better than clinchers with a single caveat - you have to glue them onto the rim. Seeing as how I did not know how to do that and I only knew one other guy during my formative years as a triathlete that raced on them, I have avoided them. Even that guy rode clinchers for training rides, bringing out the clinchers only for race day.

Being lazy, intimidated, scared, take your pick, I just kept riding clinchers and only buying rims that supported clinchers. Until that fateful day last fall when I was picking out my new race wheels, Bontrager Aeolus 6.5, I decided to give the tubular route a shot. Perhaps it was just the thrill of riding rims deeper than any I have ever been on before, my other race wheels are Zipp 404s, but the wheels were very fast, light and smooth. After many more rides on the wheels (plug for Bontrager: they can be used as every day wheels!), I can definitely tell that the tubulars are very fast and smooth on the road. There's something about putting 160psi into your tires and rolling along smooth pavement. Bumps can be a little rough though.

Now I know what you're thinking: "Ben, you're only listing positives about the tubulars over clinchers. What are the negatives?" The biggest negative I have currently encountered is flatting on the road. With a clincher, you can take the tire off, swap tubes, put tire back on, inflate with CO2 or hand pump and you're on your way like nothing happened. With a tubular, you rip off the tire, hope to God that you have either previously removed the valve stem from the spare or have pliers nearby to remove said valve stem in cases of when it's jammed on there, place the new tire on the rim, inflate with CO2 and hope you remember to take turns slow so the tire doesn't roll off the rim. So far this season, I have had two flats on my tubulars while riding, both due to punctures from messed up roads. One of those said flats was on my ride earlier today, about 20 minutes into my ride. Thankfully, I found a guy at the house whose front yard I was changing my tire in to lend me some needle nose pliers to be able to get back to my ride. Despite trying to remember to stay conservative in the turns, I could feel a skip in my tire about 10 miles after my change. Looking down at the tire, it appeared that the tire around the valve stem was bulging over the rim slightly. Granted this did not really affect my performance too much, it was a little unnerving, since my only way home was my bike. The unfortunate thing is that I only had a handful of rides on this tire, quite expensive replacement considering a new tube for my clincher wheels costs about $6 and a new tubular runs closer to $60. Both flats were my fault, since I could have been more vigilant about not hitting potholes or avoiding the shoulders of roads.

Anyway, so back to the question at hand, tubular or clincher. I open it to your comments in this discussion. Here is the data from my ride earlier on the Jesus Route. Come join any time! We are always looking for new people to join our posse!