Tufo Tape on Carbon Rims

[znfdl]

What are people's experiences with Tufo Tape for securing tubulars to Carbon Rims?

How hard is it to change a flat?

How hard is it to remove the tape from the rim?

Thanks.

[Jack Brunk]

I only use Tufo tape on my carbon wheels. Usually I can change a flat quicker than most people can on their clinchers. The base tape is usually very easy to get off. The most difficult thing is if you want to completely clean the rim. It takes some time to clean the rim I'm told. I always leave the residue on because it's still really sticky and will give a stronger bond with the new tape.

[jimcav]

been riding tubular since early august in socal, and before that rode tubular on one of my bikes from about MAy on. no issues. i've not pulled a tire roadside (use pitstop), but at home i take it off with a hairdryer, and it is easy. that is not necessary, but most of the tape releases that way. i have also just done it without the dryer, once you get it started it comes off easily.

[paczki]

This is interesting. I would have thought that the heat storage of carbon rims would make them too hot for Tufo tape.

[StephenCL]

Both my 202, and 303's. I use the extreme tape. Never had an issue. As stated, I have NOT tried to clean the rim all of the way to the carbon. I just leave the base layer that always seems to stick to the rim.

Very happy with the results. Fast, clean and have not had any adhesion issues.

Stephen

[11.4]

The rims don't conduct heat well, so they don't allow heat to travel from the braking surfaces to the tape.

If you have a tire that you can remove easily, it means that same tire can come off easily on its own if deflated or wrenched in a turn, a crash, or any other kind of extreme steering event. Is that really what you want? It comes back to a point I made above -- if you're just riding in straight lines at moderate speeds and not turning aggressively (i.e., by racing standards) you can usually get away with a light gluing job (or tape). I've walked up to track tires mounted with Tufo tape and inflated to 140 psi and just rolled them with one hand off the rim. That's not good.

Also, Tufo tape only has so much adhesive in it so it demands a pretty good match between profile of tire and profile of rim -- if the tire is only sitting on the outer edges of the rim tire bed, or is only sitting on the centerline, then there isn't enough glue in the tape to bond much of the tire to the rim (and if the tire is sitting on the outer edges of the rim, with the Tufo tape centered on the rim, there may not be enough pressure on the tape proper by the tire to actually activate it and release the adhesive).

Sometimes Tufo tape works fine, sometimes it doesn't. I just don't like that level of (un)reliability. With rim cement properly applied, I know it'll always work.

[Charles M]

I've used it in Arizona for a couple years. Some earlier tapes were not as good as Tufo Extreme.


Zero problems, no roll offs (though I have lost two to glue jobs and have seen others roll off using glue).

Tape is easier in just about every way than glue, from initial installation to changing tires. Clean up pretty much takes care of it's self.



The arguement of rolling resistance might get played, but after watching a test trying to accurately measure RR difs between a proper glue job and a tape job, the difs were virtually unmeasurable. I've not had anyone show me any repeatable and substantial power loss measures for glue.

I'm a geek, but I can't find a good arguement for glue any longer.

[jimcav]

and i pulled the tires prior to shipping them. none of them was "easy" to pull off. took tire levers to get it started. once you can get a hand in there and work it, it is not difficult, but in no way would i say it is easy to remove. I've also purchased 2 sets of wheels with glued tires, and had one set glued by a shop. 2 were far easier to pull off than the tape, one was just as difficult (not the one my shop did).

i don't know about the rim/tire profile match--that makes sense, but also for glue--you'd have to build up the glue to fill any profile mis-match, so i think it all works out

i also wondered if the tape would work with all base tapes, rather than tufo, but i've now had it on a few different brands. of course, i am now riding mostly flat and not cornering hard really, so it likely is not much of an endorsement--i'm only commenting on how hard it is to remove the tire--which gives me confidence it is not going anywhere.

[zap]

I've had great success with both regular and extreme tufo tape but of the two, prefer the extreme.

Removal is easy.

I only use tufo tires with tape, on 303 rims, and never had a problem with roll offs.

[superunleaded]

I'm about to use a Tufo tape on one of my tires that has been glued with Conti cement. Is there any incompatibility issues between tape and glue if I prefer not to clean the rim all the way to the bare rim?


Too lazy to clean the rim? Yes

[James_London]

I've used Tufo Extreme tape successfully with Mavic CCUs and Conti 4000 SR tubulars with good results.

The base tape on Vittoria tubulars doesn't tend to adhere as well as the Continentals at the edges which slightly worried me initially but I've had no issues and others who've ridden this combination a lot longer report none either so I'm happy...

[djg]

I used it (extreme version) once on some Al rims and will not use it again.

It seemed dandy at first -- easy on and nice and solid for the try-to-break-your-thumbs test. It became squishy and a mess way before I should have had to re-glue tires. I guess it works fine for some folks, especially if their rims match up well with the width of the tape and with their choice of tires, but I don't think I'll be anxious to go back and try the tape again. It's really just not that hard to glue tires -- get the wheel up on a truing stand, brush on a thin even coat of glue, and put the wheel out of the way until it's ready for another pass with the glue or the (prepped) tire.

[Jack Brunk]

I've used Tufo Extreme tape successfully with Mavic CCUs and Conti 4000 SR tubulars with good results.

The base tape on Vittoria tubulars doesn't tend to adhere as well as the Continentals at the edges which slightly worried me initially but I've had no issues and others who've ridden this combination a lot longer report none either so I'm happy...
James,

Take a flat file and file off most of the latex on the base layer. It doesn't take much and the tire will end being much more secured to the rim.