Tubeless Tape

I loathe Stan's. I swear I clean the rim 60 times, stretch it till my fingers almost bleed, and the shit still leaks half the time. No way it should be this hard. 

I used gorilla tape once and it absolutely does not leak, but it's thick enough to affect the rim bed and it leaves quite a bit of residue. 

Broke a spoke and two reapplications of stans later I'm ready to stab myself. 

They are 35i rims so I think maybe the width of the tape is an issue, I also think I should be using narrower tape, like 25, whatever covers the holes...

Specialized Rim Strips as per ReductiMats recommendation. 

I don’t Specialized but wow 😯 those strips. Get them in the correct width. Reusable. No glue. Thickness somewhere between rim tape and Gorilla Tape.

PS fuck gorilla tape. 

PPS Orange seal tape is what I was using before. 

Stans Tape is just a rebranded Tessa Tape. Big thread on mtbr about it. I used to have the product saved in an amazon wish list.

I have no issues with gorilla tape. I tear it off the roll at whatever width I want, and use aggressive solvents if I need to remove it. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I like it because it’s cheap, and I always have it on hand. If I didn’t, I’d probably go for the Specialized rim strip, Stans is too fragile for my liking.

Frattelie tape. Best tape I have used. 3 yrs old and still holds air. I use Stan race sealant. SPANK is the same tape. Works well on bead blasted surfaces as well.

As per my favourite vert-bag from the sunshine coast, 2bliss is the shit.

Zero flats after 132 days of the bike park last year *.

* keep your tires somewhat fresh

I used the orange stuff last year.  Stan's always did me wrong for some reason.

Posted by: Kenny

I loathe Stan's. I swear I clean the rim 60 times, stretch it till my fingers almost bleed, and the shit still leaks half the time. No way it should be this hard. 

I used gorilla tape once and it absolutely does not leak, but it's thick enough to affect the rim bed and it leaves quite a bit of residue. 

Broke a spoke and two reapplications of stans later I'm ready to stab myself. 

They are 35i rims so I think maybe the width of the tape is an issue, I also think I should be using narrower tape, like 25, whatever covers the holes...

The tape should be covering bead to bead. If you can hold the roll of tape on the rim, and it falls inside the flanges, the tape isnt wide enough. You want the roll it JUST wider than the flanges in my experience. I use Stan's and Schwalbe in the past with no issues from either.

Are your rims carbon or alloy? I am new to carbon rims and have found that any tape I have used has stuck more poorly than to alloy.

Posted by: tashi

I have no issues with gorilla tape. I tear it off the roll at whatever width I want, and use aggressive solvents if I need to remove it. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I like it because it’s cheap, and I always have it on hand. If I didn’t, I’d probably go for the Specialized rim strip, Stans is too fragile for my liking.

You don't need to use aggressive solvents. Spray WD40 on the residue and let it sit for 10 mins, will come off like butter. Still toxic but not as toxic as Goof Off or acetone or any of that crap.

Or warm it up with a heat gun and it comes off almost residue free.

Mostly I don’t bother, I just tape right over the residue on the rare occasions I have to re-tape. 

I generally work from methyl hydrate to varsol to gasoline if necessary ‘cause that’s what I have on hand.

Gorilla Tape lifts up early IME, plus mess. Better longevity and no mess with the various plastic tapes I've used. Lighter too. 

Last few I used were Stan's, DTSwiss and Orange. If I remember correctly Stan's was most difficult.

Carbon rims. Brillo pad, rubbing alcohol and dry thoroughly with a hair dryer.

https://nsmb.com/articles/compendium-best-tubeless-tips/

There's this new invention called tubes that saves you having to deal with all this rim tape and sealant bs. I've had good luck with them so far.

Posted by: syncro

There's this new invention called tubes that saves you having to deal with all this rim tape and sealant bs. I've had good luck with them so far.

I had 130+ days in the bike park last year and didn't blow anything.  Combined with 2bliss, there is zero reason to deal with that...