Thin Rim Tape?
 

In the process of rebuild my our touring bike wheels. Old rims,wore out the brake track,are Velocity Atlas. New rims Velocity Cliffhanger. As they are a bit shallower the Velox Rim tape might be too thick. As it is making mounting a tire quite a bit more difficult. So wondering about a thin rim tape.
Suggestions?
Thanks!

Any tubeless tape will probably do the trick.

Tubeless tape or for the Continental high pressure rim strips work really really well. That is what I am running in my touring bike and no issues for the past 12 years or so.

ebay search: Bicycle Tubeless Tape Rim Seal Tape 50 Meter 10-13-15-19-21-23-25-27-29-31-33mm
10 bucks and some change.

FSA makes pre-cut, looped, pre-holed, remove/replace thin plastic nipple strips... about 12 bucks for two. tight going on, tight coming off, seem to hold up ok.
they're also on Ebay.
they tend to be kinda wide, but sharp scissors and a steady hand can remedy that.
The LBS may have access to a wider range of widths... ask.
there are lower budget pre-loops too.. ;)

i like the pre-loops on my bikes simply because they make a spoke or nipple replacement somewhat easier.

each wheel uses about 2 meters, so the tape will do about 25 rims.... about 43 cents a rim? definitely the more economic choice.

Ditto on the tubeless tape. Use two layers if your tire pressure is going to exceed 50 psi or so. There's a Kapton tape available as well, again two layers. Be sure the tape spans the rim from wall to wall.

I concur with Kapton tape. I’ve been using it for several years. Works well. It’s very thin, strong, and heat resistant. Initially intended for use in electronics. I bought a small variety pack of various sized rolls on Amazon and probably will never have to buy any ever again. Not expensive.

Dan

I use Rox UltraLight. :thumb:

2 layers of kapton tape is super thin and super cheap (or at least it was when I last bought a roll (enough for probably a dozen wheels) a decade or so ago.

I tried some nylon filament strapping tape on a wheel, I can't recal the mil., but it was decent 3M brand. It works fine, and it's thin enough to go around twice if you like. The best part is it's readily available i nvarious widths.

While at the shop last Saturday I removed the Velox rim tape and replaced it with some tubeless rim tape. Bingo! Much easier to mount and dismount a tire. Now I have eliminated that major hassle of wrestling with it while on tour while it's raining!

Glad I stumbled onto this thread this morning. I just replaced tape (Velox) on my trainer's rim. Used Velox out of habit, wondering all the while whether tubeless tape'd be more tire fit friendly. As I run tubes also, should make getting them installed free of pinch defects more likely as well.

As for 3M strapping tape? Be super easy to keep straight during install but I have to believe it'd leave a mess from left-behind adhesive when next it needs renewal. Wonder too if its adhesive might bleed under heat & pressure if used with tubes?

what brand / type rim tape did you use ?

Stan's

It sure does leave a mess behind. That shouldn't stop someone from using it in an emergency or something, but if you plan on keeping the bike it's best to stay away from the stuff.

Like others have said, tubless tape works well.

Nobody's offered up vinyl electrical tape yet... I have a hunch it's for much the same reason.

Emergencies demand what'll work for the short term, like stuffing dollar bills between a blown tire carcass and a freshly patched tube. If it get's you off the ride safe and sound, more power to you for the effort.

It also doesn't like heat. I've been using Kapton-type tape on lower pressure rims when I don't have the right size actual rim tape, it's good up to 250°C and briefly up to 400°C - PVC tape is typically only good to 85°C, apparently rim brakes can excede 250°C.

3M strapping tape works but I had it split between the filaments, allowing the tube to “blow in” to the spoke socket. Frustrating and very hard to repair on the road.

I used it on a 17” Moulton tire mounted on a very narrow Sun M13 rim. This was a downright evil combination.

Also…vinyl tape stretches. Won’t stop pressurized tube from blistering. Kapton tape doesn’t stretch.

Dan

When I didn't know any better, 20-30 years ago, I tried to fix a torn rubber rim strip that came on a low end wheel by tape it together with vinyl electrical tape. It kept stretching, the rim strip slide, the spoke holes were exposed and inner tubes kept popping. Got good at changing inner tubes, but I wasted a lot of money and time and when I found out how inexpensive a replacement rim strip was (much less than 1 inner tube and I'd gone through many), I wanted to kick my own ass.

Vinyl electrical tape (two wraps) might be just okay for single wall rims, but never to cover spoke holes. It's way too soft, even when cold. You can easily tear it with your hands.

I tried spoke hole plugs on a set of wheels last year and so far I like them. Just another option for some.

Kapton tape gets another vote. I think I paid about $7 the first time from a US seller, and $3 the second time from an abroad seller, on ebay. 10mm wide X 33m/100ft long.

I dabble a little bit in small parts powder coating and have a variety of sizes of heat resistant masking tape. Works so well as rim tape it's all I use on customer's wheels.

Tubeless tapes are rebranded strapping tapes. Other people have mentioned 3M but they are also made by Tesa. The rebranded tapes are around 5 to 10 times the price as the original industrial brand.

The Tesa tape comes in multiple widths in 3mm increments so you will not have the problem that the other person mentioned where they had to split the width of the rim with multiple wraps.

I used two wraps on my rim and it is still in good condition after 2 years. Since the tape adheres to the rim surface, I don't have any more problems with the old loose rim bands moving around and getting in the way of the tire beads seating. I've also stuck identifying labels under the top layer of tape.

Another consideration is the actual material the tape is made from. The two common types are PU vs PVC and Tesa and the other manufactured tubeless tapes often provide both variants.

PU (polyurethane) and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) are both popular materials, but PU is generally more flexible, durable, and resistant to chemicals and abrasion than PVC, while PVC is cheaper and more resistant to water and some chemicals