New Tires, New Rim Tape
 

Hey.

I purchased a Fuji Newest 2.0 about 4 months ago. I basically used the stock tires, rubber(?) rim tape, and tubes (with only 2 flats) until about yesterday, when I got a new pair of Bontrager race lite hardcase tires. These tires are able to take about 30psi more pressure than the old tires. That's when the trouble started. After putting on the new tires, it popped a flat (without riding) in the back tire after about an hour. Then, the same thing happened with the front tire! Bummer.

I took a look at both tires, and confirmed spoke punctures in both tires. I purchased (cloth) forte rim tape and (knock on wood) it seems to be working.

I guess I figured it out, really, but my question is: does better rim tape really make that much of a difference in preventing flats? I suppose it does for my wheels, but what about for other people? Any experiences?

Thanks everyone.

Yes - better rim-tape can be the difference of riding, or carrying, your bike. Most, myself included, use Velox. It does last a very long time. Make sure it's wide enough to completely cover every spoke. It's available in 3 sizes - 22mm, 17mm, and 11mm.

I'm not familiar with "forte."

"Forte" is the Performance Bike house brand.

it's all in the width. cloth is fine for any size rim you can cut it if it's too long, but if you use a plastic snap fit, those will only fit certain sizes.

The width should be enough to cover, with room to spare, every single spoke. You want, if need be, to have it wider then needed - NOT thinner.

You must have misunderstood the guy at the LBS. Velox works on any wheel regardless of it being 700C or 27-inch. Or 26-inch for that matter. I just trued/rebuilt wheels for my 3-speed 26" wheels. Used 22mm Velox cloth-tape.

FWIW, just because a tire can handle higher psi than your old tires, it doesn't necessarily mean that you should be pumping them up to that max psi. The best psi for you depends on your weight vs. the size of the tire. Harder does not equal faster (though it does equal less comfortable).

thanks. Are you saying it must fit within the spoke nipple groove to be right? i bought some Velox and it was wider than the groove on my 27" wheel. Its still on there as nothing has happened yet.

As long as it covers all the spoke-nipples with good overlap to the sides of the nipples - it's doing it's job. It's okay for it to climb a little up the walls of the rim, but not so much that it interferes with seating the tire-beads.

thanks

i put the cloth on the beater 27" wheel bike to see what happens. So far nothing. Next step is to find a supply of different widths of tape. Mostly just rubber available.

I stopped buying rim tape 25yrs ago. Depending on the type of rim I'd use one or two layers of misc. tape, fiberglass/duct/electricians. Now I'm using one layer of Gorilla tape with no problem for double wall rims. I changed a flat for a friend that had a stiff yellow plastic tape that had splits in the plastic over a few spoke holes.

I suspect it's not 27" vs. 700c that makes the difference as much as single wall vs. double wall rims.

I can't remember seeing a 27" rim that wasn't single wall. The nipple heads would rub the inner tube directly but that cheap little rubber rim strip keeps that from happening.

Most 700c rims are double wall. The nipple heads are hidden in little holes. Cheap rubber rim strips aren't adequate to resist 100 psi air pressure from pushing them down into those holes. It's important that even quality rim tape, like Velox, completely cover every tiny arc of those spoke holes. If it doesn't, your inner tube will be extruded against the sharp aluminum rim and get cut.

Hey Lee...That is cool!!! Duct Tape, the handyman's secret weapon.

+1

A tire that's too hard costs energy - not in rolling resistance, but in bouncing.

gorilla tape is the one, heavier threads closer together than duct tape. Duct tape gets messy. Way back when I think I raced with two layers of duct tape or one layer of fiberglass packing tape with electrical tape over that. I just don't get the big deal about buying specialized rim tape.

Cause it works, its a dollar a roll, cut perfectly for 1 loop which is all you need, easy to adjust remove and replace, and just goes right on. Not like we are talkin big bucks here, and how often are you taping rims?

wholesale maybe but retail it's $3+. You're at home, in the garage and it's 9pm. You change a tube and see the rim tape is suspect, what now, put off changing the tire until you can go to the store? Then after using whatever makeshift tape is available do you immediately finish your ride at the bike shop to remove all that tape and reinstall with the official rim tape?

http://www.bikeman.com/store/merchant.mvc?

ps. when I say "suspect" I mean the official cloth/plastic tape that came with the wheel and it's shifted or applied with one edge not quite covering the spoke hole or in the recent case I fixed a friends flat tire on a double wall rim the plastic was split allowing the tube to squish into the hole.

36'x1.88" roll of gorilla tape is around $6.

My LBS sells Velox tape for a buck a roll. If I were faced with that situation and I HAD to ride somewhere, sure I would find another way (some sort of duct tape combo or whatever to get by). If I did not need to ride it immediately I would leave the bike, go get a new roll the next day and do it right the first time. Duct tape leaves a sticky mess, electrical tape as well. Packing tape comes apart when youre removing it, its a fight. Real rim tape is sticky enough to maintain its place but loose enough to adjust properly, and if you gotta replace it it comes right off no mess. It works right, fits properly, and goes on quickly. I can't believe we are even debating this, its a dollar.

hey, I sold the stuff when I had a shop and used it myself. Maybe it was having kids or something. 15yrs went by, I was in the garage, changed a tire and nothing else was available. Pfft, velox rim tape dissapeared forever from my bike tool box.

Agreed duct tape is a mess and fiberglass packing tape leaves threads everywhere. That's why Gorilla tape is better. It's the internet, we could debate the appropriateness of zip ties or galvanized screws.

For some reason that reminds me of a compltely random story. I was the regional tech inspector for the NY SCCA chapter, we had a guy bring his car through tech with his 5 point racing harness mounted with... you guessed it zip ties!

He swore they held well... he wasn't happy when I cut all of them and advised him seatbelts should not be installed with ZIP TIES.

i stand corrected.

The 700c wheels are different than my 27's and advised me to use cloth in the 700c for the extra support they need.

He says the rubber rim tape was best for when the nipples stick up. (been a long day)

Are you ****ting me!? I would have had so much fun with that! :roflmao2: (Yeah, I was a member of the Screw Crew for a while back in the 80's down in Texas Region. If I recall correctly, the regs are pretty specific about that.)

I was FLOORED... I'm like dude, give me some of the crack you are on cause it must be the BEST stuff on the planet!