Pirelli introduces new lightweight tubular cycle tyre

A little more than three years after returning to professional cycling, Pirelli is preparing to launch an innovation that will redefine the bicycle tubular tyre; the P Zero Race Tub SL. The new rubber, equipped with a special inner tube, guarantees a reduction in overall tyre weight of more than 10 per cent, while maintaining the same grip, smoothness and reliability characteristics.
Pirelli says that the tubular tyre has seen very little innovation in its history, as the benefits of one feature have usually been at the expense of others that are equally important for performance. Very few tyre manufacturers have recently taken an interest in improving the tubular, as this is a niche product, almost exclusively intended for professional cycling.
Pirelli recognises that most Pro teams still use tubular tyres and the company is raising the bar even higher for a product which, in the course of its history, has rarely seen major technical innovations.

Developed for and with professional cyclists

P Zero Race Tub SL is a project that has seen two years of planned, meticulous and constant development. Working on the first tubular, launched in 2018 together with the Mitchelton-SCOTT team (now BikeExchange), Pirelli engineers took on board requests and suggestions for changes from the pros including, first and foremost, the one on weight reduction.
The focal point of this Pirelli innovation is the weight, which is over 10 per cent less than the already competitive P Zero Velo Tub. A result that translates into just under 100g eliminated from the complete bike and, in particular, from a crucial component such as the wheels. Pirelli’s search for a lighter tubular was carried out without penalising the already excellent performance of the tyre: top-notch rolling, high grip even on wet roads, and great resistance to punctures.
At the heart of the P Zero Race Tub SL is a special inner tube made of a lightweight, completely airtight material and optimised specifically for use inside the handmade tubular. Instead of the traditional latex, which has been used in almost all Pro tubulars up to now, Pirelli has used TPU, or thermoplastic polyurethane, a cutting-edge material which is being applied to a tubular’s inner tube for the first time and which required a great deal of development before it gave the expected results. It offers the same speed performance and puncture protection typical of latex tubes, but with a significant weight reduction and complete airtightness, thus eliminating the chronic pressure loss of traditional tubulars.
All of Pirelli’s World Tour team partners were given the opportunity to choose this version of tubular ahead of the big Tours. Esteban Chaves of the BikeExchange team said: “I was excited to see the large drop in weight per set of tyres with the new tubulars. The main thing is the tyres feel faster and handle well, like always – but now they are lighter as well. You feel that in the climbs. I’m already using them, but of course the Grand Tours’ will be a big target.”