Necessity of Rim Tape

[alpe d'issaquah]

Pardon my ignorance, but I thought I would post this here since I have just recently started racing and would like to get some fellow racer's opinions. I just picked myself up a new pair of clincher wheels and got them in the mal today and began to wonder why I really need rim strips. The rims aren't that deep bu there is probably 2-2.5 cm between the nipple and where the rim strip would go. So do I really need strips?

Thanks,
Jonny

[nitropowered]

Yes or you will get flats.

You could use fiber reinforced packing tape if you are a real weight weenie.

[DrWJODonnell]

Clinchers use tubes. Tubes are thin rubber. Thin rubber under lots of pressure squeezes into spoke holes and stretches against sharp edges. The next logical step results in a compromised tube.

[alpe d'issaquah]

Thanks

[Wil Davis]

Tip: Try to use a quality rim-tape (such as Velox) which is tacky on one side. This will hold the tape in position and prevent it moving across the rim as the non-tacky tapes tend to do when fitting the tyre & tube. I've been caught out a couple of times by just such an occurence, so nowadays it's Velox all the way.

- Wil

[zzzwillzzz]

unless... you have rims like ksyriums or fulcrums which don't have spoke holes... then you won't need the rim strips.