These Super Champion rims came on my ‘74 Le Champion. One still had a rope rim strip and I may put that back on. The other rim had a rubber strip. I may ride this bike far from home and want dependable rim strips. What will stay put over the nipples?

Schwalb makes 15mm tape that works well for me, 50m for $27 or so, don't know if it comes in shorter rolls. When it's as narrow as yours it laps the sides of the trough but so far no issues with that. Ymmv of course...

I use rubber, but also 10 mm Velox or other cotton strips. The other problem you may already be aware of is flats from tubes stretching into that deep channel. They get thin when expanding into the void and chaffing eventually cause flats along the inside. As per recommended by others here, a wide tube like for 43-47mm tires is the cure.

I like rubber rim strips. As far as protection they seem to be pretty good. Velox tape was always good, but I recently had an experience with it where it didn't stick and that made mounting the tire a challenge. I don't like electric tape or Kapton tape. That is just my opinion.

I will have to look at that Schwalbe tape. Generally, products from them seem to be pretty good.

I would ise a layer of Velox covered with a layer of 17mm Kapton, which will keep the cloth tape from shifting.
Agree that next tube size up is a good idea.

Narrow Velox with fiber-reinforced strapping tape over it.

I’ve been using *filament tape* cut to width… Two layers thick… Works great…

I've tried many things with varying degrees of success. My pathological frugality led me to use filament tape, Gorilla tape, etc. I've come back around to Velox tape, Rubber strips tend to slide sideways and to rot. Filament tape doesn't last long and can fail by letting the spoke nipple puncture the tube.

I have always used Velox tape. I never tried "layering" things since I never had an issue with Velox and, I think the less room you have in the rim "channel" the more difficult it might be to mount very tight tires. It was a chore getting my 18c Vittoria tires with Kevlar bead on my Mavic rims even with just one layer of Velox, but a normal chore.

That channel is DEEP and the nipple head is tall. I have a similar pair of Saturae MTB rims where a narrow rubber strip seems to stay put where Velox would slip off the side and expose the edge of the nipple. Because the rubber will flex between nipples maybe it has less tendency to be pushed off the nipple under tire pressure. But, rubber rim strips on my LC!? And I don’t think I can bring myself to use two layers of tape.

OG

Maybe a silly mm wide?


Tires and tubes are next.

I would use two wraps of Cloth Electrical Tape and also reinforce the area around the valve stem. I tried using it about 10 years ago and it remains proven. You can get it in various sizes to suit your rim too. The 1" wide tape can also be used as Bar Wrap!



Amazon, but also at many Hardware and Auto Parts stores...