Tubeless rim tape

[Mr Celine]

My first mountain bike, which I bought a year ago, came with tubeless ready tyres on tubeless ready rims. Due to riding it on thorn encrusted tracks I've decided to convert to tubeless so bought some sealant and tubeless valves. I naively assumed that tubeless ready rims would have been fitted with tubeless ready rim tape but this turned out not to be the case. I was passing an Evans branch on Saturday so popped in and bought the only stuff they had in stock, Stans no tubes.

I watched the Stans video and cleaned the rim accordingly. The tape I bought looks the same but is neither sticky nor stretchy. The only thing it seems to stick to is itself and I managed to cover the rim by wrapping two layers on it. It doesn't stay stuck to the rim in the centre channel where the spoke holes are. Am I doing something wrong or is this tape rubbish? Will it seal if I add sealant?

 

[Dogtrousers]

My experience of Stan's rim tape is that no, it's not stretchy. But it sticks to a cleaned rim well enough to wrap round under tension (carefully squashing out air bubbles). And then once you've gone round once it sticks to itself on the second lap well enough. So I do two laps of the rim and it seals fine.

In fact Stan's is the only tubeless rim tape that I have any experience of.

 

[Lookrider]

That's good timing post for me as I will watch the numerous replies to this as I'm in similar process
I'm renewing tape in my wheels
A mechanic said electrician tape is adequate..I didn't want to risk that cheaper version but got some "black gorilla tape" ...
It's not plastic like routine tapes so it will go
in the channel easier
I have mailed gorrila tech dept asking if it's non porous and suitable for use as rim tape
If they say no ...then nothing lost as it's a good DIY tape or for repairs elsewhere
Stans have a you tube video saying to avoid gorilla tape as it's pourous and will allow sealant through the nipple holes and clog your rims
I guess the alternative is the recommended branded tape at approx £15

Thanks all

 

[Sea of vapours]

Stans NoTubes tape works very well, in my experience of using it for just under ten years with no failures. As you say, it's not desperately sticky, but it's more than adequate on a clean(ed) rim and, as @Dogtrousers says, it sticks very well to itself on its second loop. Not being stretchy is a very good thing as it doesn't sink into the valve holes with pressure.

As an aside, if you intend to use Silca's excellent, recycled carbon fibre sealant, or any sealant with scratchy particles in, it's advisable to not use any of the rim tapes with graphics / writing on as the surface of these can be abraded by the particles, weakening the tape over time. See Silca's video here:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4FUkNhRO4Y
, 5'40" into the video.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Re-reading, this bit is worrying.

It doesn't stay stuck to the rim in the centre channel where the spoke holes are.

Do you mean it's sliding around? If so, it shouldn't. In my experience once you've got 10cm or so pressed down it sticks well enough to keep the tension up as you apply it.

Is it possible you've still got some solvent/residue on the rim from cleaning or something?

 

[Jody]

These should be a reasonable level of stickiness but not as much as you would have thought.

Keep the tape as taught as you can manage and flatten it down onto the rim by hand using a bit of cloth.

I find the tape doesnt want to drop in the centre chanel which often aids inflation.

 

[Velochris]

I found it hit and miss a few years back when I experimented with tubeless. Sometimes it would stick better than others, but if I recall heating it up helped.

Pretty sure Tesa 4289 tape is the same, but you get a lot lot more for your money, so mistakes are not as costly.

 

[Jody]

^ tesa 4289 or a tenner for some of the spurious tape from ebay

Used some of the blue ebay tape last week and it performed aswell as the tesa/stans

 

[Mr Celine]

Re-reading, this bit is worrying.



Do you mean it's sliding around? If so, it shouldn't. In my experience once you've got 10cm or so pressed down it sticks well enough to keep the tension up as you apply it.

Is it possible you've still got some solvent/residue on the rim from cleaning or something?

I had to hold the end in place until I was about a third of the way round. The rim had been thoroughly cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and was dry.

Perhaps it's a temperature thing, it was only about 5c in my garage yesterday.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I had to hold the end in place until I was about a third of the way round. The rim had been thoroughly cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and was dry.

Perhaps it's a temperature thing, it was only about 5c in my garage yesterday.

A third of the way round? That really doesn't sound right to me. But the last time I taped a rim was last summer. It was definitely not 5C at the time!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I use this tape

https://www.vikingtapes.co.uk/products/3m-8992-polyester-tape-50mm-x-66m?variant=40112887431231

 

[Mr Celine]

I did the second rim today but this time used a heat gun on the rim first. This seemed to make the tape a lot stickier and a bit more flexible.

On inflation the first wheel sealed no problem, but the second one was leaking at the valve. All fine now though and been for a successful test ride.