# Zefal Pastali tubular glue - decent/crap?



## shapelike (Sep 13, 2009)

Hi all, 

I'm going to glue my tubulars this week hopefully but my LBS only has Zefal Pastali tubular glue in stock. Is that stuff okay for CX use (southern Ontario racing with conditions ranging from dry to wet to snow) or should I go out of my way to track down some Mastik One?

Thanks, 

- Mike

PS. Gluing to aluminum rims, if that matters.


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## the mayor (Jul 8, 2004)

You would be better off getting some Mastik or Conti glue....there are plenty of places that will ship it to you within a day or so

I used the Zefal on road wheels a while back....it was ok....but the tires came off very easily at the end of the season.


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## jroden (Jun 15, 2004)

for cross it's good to buy the big pint cans of glue, conti or mastic seems to work nice, you have to really gack in on thick


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## VeldrijdenAddict (Apr 29, 2008)

I run a little contrarian to many on here. I've been racing with tubulars on the road and in cross for 15+ years. I have used 5 or 6 on the name brands - Wolber, Vittoria, Conti, etc. and find them all to be the same. But the glue I've used most over the years is the car trim adhesive 3M Fast tack. Works well and is cheaper. Glue costs add up when you have something like 8 sets of tubular wheels (my wife races too). We have never rolled a tire.


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## surfamtn (Aug 28, 2006)

VeldrijdenAddict said:


> But the glue I've used most over the years is the car trim adhesive 3M Fast tack. Works well and is cheaper. .



Curious if you alter your process at all when using Fast tack? Still 3 coats with (?) drying time in between. Does it set up any quicker?


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## ZenNMotion (May 28, 2004)

VeldrijdenAddict said:


> I run a little contrarian to many on here. I've been racing with tubulars on the road and in cross for 15+ years. I have used 5 or 6 on the name brands - Wolber, Vittoria, Conti, etc. and find them all to be the same. But the glue I've used most over the years is the car trim adhesive 3M Fast tack. Works well and is cheaper. Glue costs add up when you have something like 8 sets of tubular wheels (my wife races too). We have never rolled a tire.


NO! NOT FOR CYCLOCROSS! If you can't get proper glue in time for your race you're better off using your clinchers. Fast Tack was used back in the day (I' used it in the ancient pre-internet days when tub glue was hard to find) for road and especially track tubs, It does not hold up in wet conditions and unlike tub glue gives little warning before it lets go. If you haven't rolled a tire, you will. Tub glue is not a smart place to save a few dollars, a can of Mastik should last a couple of seasons and isn't that expensive, if you care enough for your wife's safety use it. Flame away, but I'm right, Fast Tack for cross tires is a dumb idea for low pressure cross tires.


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## VeldrijdenAddict (Apr 29, 2008)

No I don't alter my gluing process w/ Fast Tack. 

To Zen. Your opinion and I respect it. But all I can do is go by my experience, which includes lots and lots time on tubulars; RRs, crits, TTs, cross, track. Throw in a couple of seasons when I even trained on tubulars. Never rolled a tire. Never had an issue.


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## jroden (Jun 15, 2004)

VeldrijdenAddict said:


> No I don't alter my gluing process w/ Fast Tack.
> 
> To Zen. Your opinion and I respect it. But all I can do is go by my experience, which includes lots and lots time on tubulars; RRs, crits, TTs, cross, track. Throw in a couple of seasons when I even trained on tubulars. Never rolled a tire. Never had an issue.


Is it dry where you live? I have not had good luck with that stuff in standing water. The tire in this picture was putt on with fast tack and worked off by the 40 mins mark, I could see the glue bond allowed water to work into the base tape.

Lot of guys use it on the road around here without issues.


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## ZenNMotion (May 28, 2004)

Fast Tack solvents dissolve and weaken the glue holding the base tape on to the tubular, which is why you hear the arguments that it's so strong the base tape tears off. Not meaning to be rude with the strong response, but people go to the forum for advice, and Fast Tack is bad advice that can cause injury. I've used it myself without incident on track tires, but I've learned from people who wrench for a living and moved on. Ask a race mechanic, or the USAC mechanic trainers, or most anybody who has glued a lot of tires for cross, even Leonard Zinn has a negative opinion that can be found. I'm all for convenient and cheap substitutes- I buy chainsaw bar oil by the gallon for lube, $5 gloves and $3 safety goggles from Home Depot, home brew sport drink and energy bars cause I'm a tightwad and that stuff is overpriced when labeled as a bike specialty item. But none of those cheap substitutes risk a crash and injury to myself or my fellow competitors, let alone my significant other. Fast Tack isn't even that cheap, so I really don't get the argument in favor other than a night before a race emergency glue. All due respect and all, contrarian is cool and in the cross spirit, just don't be the guy who risks my safety and rolls a tire in front of me maybe wrecks my season and ability to go to work on Monday because so far you've been lucky.


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## VeldrijdenAddict (Apr 29, 2008)

Don't use Fast Tack anybody. 

But I have never had it stick so well it destroyed the base tape. Never. And I've got some pretty old tubulars kicking around as emergency spares. Base tape is fine.


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## OTG (Nov 16, 2001)

http://www.engr.ku.edu/~kuktl/bicycle/bicycle.html

http://www2.bsn.com/cycling/articles/cements.html


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

jroden said:


> for cross it's good to buy the big pint cans of glue, conti or mastic seems to work nice, you have to really gack in on thick


i hope no one takes this to mean 1 or 2 thick layers...you want thin, even layers, and more of them, not a couple of really thick layers.


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