Dugast Strada Silk Tubular Tire

The Strada Silk tubualr tire is Dugast's high-end version of its workhorse Strada Cotton tire. The silk casing provides a more supple ride versus the cotton version. This is important to rolling resistance, feel, and handling of the tire. Other than that, the Strada Silk uses the same all weather tread pattern designed for handling in conditions varying from northern windswept classics to the winding descents of the grand tours.  If you've ever wondered what profesional riders would choose, look no further than this tire.  Dugast is popular for being a staple of the pro peleton, especially in the northern classics where tire performance is all the more important.

This history is goes back decades to when Dugast was a low-production tire company selling handmade tubulars almost exclusively for professional riders and leaving a small amount for purchase at boutique shops. This changed around 2003 when, under new leadership, the brand expanded to provide higher volumes to increasing demand. Still noted for their quality, the brand has not suffered from the growth and a Dugast tire is still where discerning riders choose to spend their money.

Other Dugast Options

If you're looking for a trainer tire to go on your spare wheelset a Strada Cotton tire might fit your requirements at a slightly lower price. If you're looking to tackle a wider range of surfaces and conditions look no further than the Paris Roubaix Cotton Tubular from Dugast. It's where most performance oriented riders end their search when looking to tackle the famed cobbles of the north.

Installation

With all tubular tires we'd recommend having an experienced shop mount your tires for you. If you feel confident, have done this before, or have a friend to help out here's the instructions Dugast recommends for their tire installs. I've edited the original instructions to make a bit more sense to an English reader and added a few notes of my own. As with all install instructions, but especially gluing tubulars, we are not responsible for any injuries or mishaps if you're following these instructions.

1. Inflate the tire to 7-14 PSI (0.5-1 bar) and mount on the rim. We let tire stretch for 24 hours before removing it.
2. Prep rim:
1. If you're using an alloy rim sand the rim with rough sandpaper.
2. For all new rims clean with alcohol to remove any oil or other substances that might interfere with the bonding of the glue.
3. Put a thin even layer of glue on the rim.
4. Let this dry for 24 hours.
5. Put a second, thicker, layer of glue on the rim.
6. Let this dry again for 24 hours.
7. Check if the radius of the tyre is the same as the radius of the rim. To do this mount the tire and make sure the tire is snug on the rim. If there's more than a 1mm gap follow steps 8.1. - 8.4. otherwise skip to step 9. (It's rare to have a tire not fit snugly on a rim, this is more of an oldschool problem when rims varied in diameter more than they do now with modern manufacturing tolerances.)
8. If not: (as in the drawing)
1. Put another layer of glue and push the small rim tape in the glue. Attention: the tape cannot be too large (only between 6 and 9 mm).
2. Let everything dry for 24 hours.
3. Put another layer of glue on the tape.
9. Inflate the tire to 7-14 PSI (0.5-1 bar).
10. Put a thin layer of glue on the base tape of the tire.
11. Put a layer of glue on the rim.
12. Put the tire on the rim. Pay attention: the wheel always has to stay upright position with the hole of the valve at the top. Then put the tyre on the rim: Begin at the top and then push the tyre (always with the same force!) to the bottom. Turn the wheel upside down and pull the last part of the tyre onto the rim.
13. Inflate the tire to 28 PSI (2 bar).
14. Centre the tyre until the tread is in a straight line with the wheel.
15. Remove the glue that you still see between the tire and the rim with a towel. Please be careful and don't use gasoline or similar products.
16. Let everything dry for 24 hours.

Again, we can't stress enough that this is more likely to be done correctly by an experienced mechanic. Rolling a tire is a painful, and potentially costly way to realize you did something wrong. Also, there many methods for gluing tires, opinions on tape versus glue, and the best way to glue; we're just trying to help you make sense of the English translation on the Dugast website.