Hey guys. Last night I wanted to rotate my tires front to back. (rear tire was starting to get a flat spot on the top of the tire) I had just gotten done putting the front tire back togeather and was working on the rear.

All the suddon. PPPPPPSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHTTTTTTT! I watch the front tire I had leaned up against my box blow all its air over. I was kind mad. I layed the rear tire that I was working on aside and grabed the front and took the wheel off. The tube had blown a small hole down into one of the spoke holes. Uppon further inspection. the rim tape has been pushed down into the spoke holes in a concave divot. WTF? so I put a patch on the tube cand called it a night.

So here I am today wondering what to do. I dont want to try and put another tube (or the same patched up tube) into the wheel with it being like that. So I have a few questions. I could stop by the lbs, there happens to be one less than 5min from my hose. Or I could wait and order velo plugs. But we are supposed to have a short window of nice weather sun-wed that I wanted to use for riding.

What do you guys think?
Thanks
Sean Scott

Velox tape. https://shop.sunrisecyclery.com/item...FR9ggwodUVZmzg

This is normally a fantastic recommendation (and it's still my default), but Velox tape is thick enough to be semi-notorious when tight rim-tire combinations are being considered. In those cases, something like Velo plugs and thin rim tape (such as Rox) will do wonders in mitigating cursing and bruised fingers.

That does remind me. I have mavic cxp22 with vitoria zaffiro pros and I sure have a hell of a time removing them. Granted the only thing I have dont until this point is mtb and bmx tires. So maybe its just going to take some getting used to. But damn they just feel tight and I had a hell of a time getting them off and putting them on.

But I kinda want to do velo plugs but unfortunately I doubt any local bike shops cary them. so Ill see what i can get my hands on but im curious how well velo plugs work. Can they be used alone or do you need to cover them with a rim strip?

Thanks
Sean Scott

hAVE you considered velo plugs?

For a short term fix, if it is a plastic rim liner, you can get by with just rotating the liner on the wheel so that the old dimples are halfway between the spoke holes and just poke a new hole for the valve stem. This will buy you a few days until a new strip come in. If it is a tape like Velox, you can apply a tube patch over the hole to get you by for a short time.

I like the Velox tape and you can get it pretty much anywhere. The 16mm should fit a typical road wheel.
https://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...+Rim+Tape.aspx

I've been using strapping tape for years. Still on the same $3 roll and never had an issue.

how many layers do you normally use? ive been doing a few layers, but im wondering if one layer will be good for my 80 psi.

I've been running one layer, I keep the tires between 90 and 110psi, and I weigh 200lbs. When I change tires I can see that the tape dimples in a bit, but it smooths out the edges around the spoke holes just fine. I've considered running 2 layers a few times but never get around to it, and consequently haven't had any issues.

This makes no sense (unless the tires are stored a very low pressure for a long time, maybe).

Don't do that. Freshest rubber belongs up front.

Huh ? You mean from skidding to a stop ?

If it's just normal wear, leave it where it is until it's worn out (cords starting to show) then throw it away. At that point, you could put the used front on the back, and put the new one on the front, but I don't bother.

thanks, sir!

Bingo!! I put some Velox on my Ksyrium Elites with a new set of gatorskins and the damn things wont hardly come off. Tight as a tick!!

yes I have considered velo plugs. I went to the lbs and got some velox right before they closed. (had a united way cookout hat to finish up fast to make it ontime)

What I ment by flat spot was if you look at the profile of the tire the rear is starting to become flatter where the tire wears. Not that I left it and it developed a low spot from memory.

Also the rear isnt that much more worn than the front. but I am curious as to why put the fresher up front. why cant you put a slightly more worn tire in the front and put the slightly newer tire in the back to help even out the wear? Just curious. the difference in wear isn really small currently and thats why I wanted to do it. I think I have about 5000 miles on this set of tires. And wanted to milk em a little more till I can get some bills payed off and get maybe a new wheelset too.

Thanks
Sean Scott

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-rotation.html

I understood what you meant. Freshest rubber still belongs up front.

Reason? That's the tire that you steer with. Flat spots don't lend themselves to handling well. Worn tires are also more likely to flat.... since all of your handling is done up front, if that tire suddenly flats, you could be in trouble. Especially if you're descending or in the middle of a turn or bend.

Bike tires ≠ car tires. The only rotation you should ever do (aside from the rotating the tires naturally do when you're riding) is when you put on one new tire. That new tire goes on the front, and the previous front moves to the back. Some will even debate the usefulness of doing that, but that's what seems to get me the most miles from my rubber.