Tubeless tape -- I've had enough

Ah I’ve mentioned it on a few threads but I’ve used ‘Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex Tubeless Plus 20-25 mm Strip 2 Units With Valve’

Might give this a whirl, £25 a pair including valves isn't bad

All power to you tubeless riders, but this is another in a long line of threads that made me think “don’t go tubeless”.

I do it for the ride quality.

All power to you tubeless riders, but this is another in a long line of threads that made me think “don’t go tubeless”.

I'm kinda the same, then I get another stupid puncture that ruins a ride/run and I remember why tubeless is better.

It’s the comfort and the puncture faff removal that I like. It was after I spent 30 mins in freezing conditions repairing a puncture only to get another one literally 5 mins later that convinced me to try it. I was a full convert after I got home one day to find that I had had two punctures and not even noticed. That was on the MTB courtesy of thorns. I have since had glass in my road bike and although it pissed sealant out all over the chap behind, when he pointed this out and I stopped, it did seal up enough to get me home. I’m not even going to carry a tube around with me from now on.

Herein lieth the answer:

I’ve actually used the same tape on a 30mm internal rim, so it just covers the spoke holes. That wheel is holding air perfectly, even after a couple of tyre changes

Caveat: I haven't read the thread and I'm a bit of an idiot-mechanic.

Best install I ever did was when I didn't have any proper rim tape and used electrical tape instead.

I've found my issues with tubeless have always stemmed from either the tape or the valve.

One tape job I did was holding air fine until I tightened the lock nut on the valve too tight and it caused the tape to pull away from the rim on the inside. I'm using 30mm peatys tape on 29mm rims.
I use those peaty's chris king valves but have also found that the seal around the valve and tape always sucks despite no matter the method i use to create the hole to stick the valve through, best fix I've found for that is to dribble a good blob of sealant around the valve and into the rim.

I lose probably up to 10psi per week depending how hot or cold the shed is so always check tyre pressures and pump up before heading out for a ride but to be fair I used to always do that when I ran tubes as I only ever used to find out I had a slow puncture 10 miles away from home when it started to become noticeable.

Also it seems the running theme around where I am to prevent mtbing by disgruntled walkers and horse riders is to throw scatterings of brambles and thorny branches across the paths, I take great delight in the fact I can just ride over them without a care in the world whilst those that have put them there are also taking great delight in thinking they're causing loads of punctures ruining our day, so hopefully don't have a repeat of booby traps on trails, enough uninformed menacing on their side to satiate their hateful appetite.

I feel similar to a lot of the recent comments

I've considered sacking off tubeless, then I remember the days of tubed punctures -- pretty sure I once got 4 or 5 snakebike punctures on a single descent down Helvellyn as a young teen

I've considered Tannus Armour with a Tubolito inner tube and a light XC tyre, but even then it's hard to get the weight reasonable

what is the best tubeless tape these days? ive used muc off recently and cant wait till its run out as it doesnt stay stuck down at the cut point, and lots of horrid build up of sealant works its way in etc, there must be something better out there?

@oscillatewildly I hope it doesn't leave such a mess of residue on your rims as it did on mine...

lol ive got access to tar and glue remover so wont be a problem as that stuff has cleared gorilla tape residue before no problems, but then needs a good dousing in rubbing alcohol and left for a day or 2 to dry fully

i might try the new reserve tape or just get some dt swiss im sure either of those will work well

 made me think “don’t go tubeless”.

Yeah, but I've not had a puncture in I've no idea how long; 5-6 years at least. Last one was on Holiday in Switzerland so that would been 2017 maybe, certainly pre-covid

I tried the yellow Tesa tape once, as recommended on here and found it to be utterly useless, it wasn't remotely sticky.

So I went back to what I'd used previously... Gorilla tape - I've never had an issue with sealing, and I've never had to remove it to have to clean up the residue off the rim bed.

I find Specialized tyres can bleed air/sealant through the sidewalls on  lighter casings, particularly if they've had a scrape, but I really don't understand all the issues. All that said, best tubeless setup I ever had was on Mavic rims with Stans rimstrips and sealant, no hassle, just worked.

Breaking news... The tubed tyres/wheels that i used 3 weeks ago, that were at about 4.5/5 bar were at ~2 this morning...

And they do not have a puncture, slow or otherwise. Just ultralight innertubes.

I reckon just the process of pressing the tyre gauge in place drops the psi by between 3/4 and 1psi.

My road tyres lost 3psi in 36hrs which included a 4 hr ride but assuming the gauge contributes to some of that and I used it twice (once at the beginning and again at the end of that 36hr period) it might be more like 1.5 - 2 psi loss.

The other issue is, with tubeless, I always tap the valve to expel any sealant in it before using the gauge, so that also contributes to any losses. It’s surprising how little air needs to escape for each psi loss..

My tubeless tyres always lose air so need pumping before every ride but then so did my tubed tyres. The tubeless ones lose more air but they would need pumping up regardless. I've only had two tubeless punctures in about 10 years so I'll take the issues that come with tubeless.

put some new tubeless tyres on the wife's tourer on tuesday.

schwalbe one allround, onto halo vapour rims.

used cheap valve and 21mm tape kit from merlin.

1 wrap of tape and tyres inflated with joe blow pump, no sealant needed

deflated em and put in 1 big syringe joes in each tyre, reinflated.     perfect.

No loss of pressure at all @ton? Nice one 👌

@oceanskipper

non at all mate, the tyres roll too quick now, i cant keep up with her

gonna sneak the schwalbe marathon pluses back on................  ;o)

What psi have you got them at? Oh,  and how did you pierce the tape for the valve?

Rims can leak air at the joint, focus on applying tape up the sides at the joint. Another common issue is the valves, they can leak if not done up tight enough or if you cut a slit instead of piercing a hole when installing. Also the valves can leak if they get clogged up with sealant, use a valve removal tool to clear any dried sealant off.

New tyres can also leak air through their sidewalls until the sealant gets to work.

Lastly, try adding an extra couple of layers of tape to the centre of the rim, you can use insulation tape as it's cheap and readily available. You're only doing it to make a tighter seal, the tubeless tape that you already fitred will stop the air leaking through the rim itself.

As always though with tubeless, it works flawlessnesly right uptil it doesn't, then you end up being covered in sealant and turning the air blue. I'm a huge tubeless fan but am not a fan of latex stains on my expensive cycle kit.

oceanskipper
Full Member
What psi have you got them at? Oh, and how did you pierce the tape for the valve?

60 psi to seat tyres, dropped to 45 to ride because the wife aint heavy. tyres are 650b x 1.5
used a small screwdriver to pierce tape.

Fyi, Bontrager tubeless rim strips say they are only to be used with Bontrager rims.

I found out the hard way that this is correct -- I had one on a DT Swiss rim, which looked to be fitting perfectly, but it cracked yesterday when I deflated my tyre to make sure the bead would stay seated (before the wheel had even been ridden)

Changed it for a Specialized rim strip (31mm width on a 25mm rim) and it works perfectly

So my first foray into tubeless went so:

Damaged the rear valve on my Scott Scale (my stupidity) and had slow leak which took the shine off a recent outing. . Muc Off valve kit and Giant control tank ordered..

Rear Continental Race King removed, how much latex attached! No wet latex evident - these tyres have seeped through the sidewalls since I've had the bike...

2 hours of various scraping, scratching and washing methods later, clean(ish) tyre achieved.. Clean rim (Syncros XR-RC 20mm internal width. Inspect tape (original 2017 fitment by the look of it as branded Syncros - it is 23mm wide..) all looks good.

Dry everything, fit valve, marvel at the anodised bling, re-fit tyre (check its on the right way and valves and logos are close enough...) pressurise the tank... 120psi is about the limit of my cheap track pump.

Attach tank to valve (with core removed), initial blast fires the connection off, try again, really pushing it on and to my amazement a short hiss is followed by the satisfying pops of the bead seating.

Remove tank and replace valve core and inflate to 50psi - I can hear hissing from a spoke nipple opposite side of the wheel to the valve.. I'm assuming that the tape has failed and am perhaps incorrectly also assuming sealant won't fix it, so to avoid a load of mess, I decide to remove the tape and will start again with fresh tape now I know the tyre is simple to pop on.

So to get the question - what rim tape for my 27.5" 20mm wide rim? Specialized Rim strip doesn't appear to be available in this size.

Anyone any experience of the Prime Tape on Wiggle as this appears to be the correct width for the rim?

TIA