Tire pop quandary + rim tape recommendation?
 

While on a short ride yesterday afternoon, I got a flat that's left me confused and even worse, shaken in the confidence of my wheels - Reynolds DV46 clinchers.

At the very end of a 300 foot, 1 mile, twisty descent, I heard a loud pop and immediately lost pressure in the rear tire. Thankfully, the road was starting to flatten out and straighten so I was able to ride it out without issue.

What I found after stopping was that the tire (brand new Vittoria Corsa G+ run at 90 psi) had partially come off of the rim and upon inspection of the tube, I found the hole to be on inside diameter. The rim was also pretty dang warm. Lastly, I did see that the rim tape was off center in some sections but no spoke holes were visible.

Could the flat have been the cause of an overheated rim? I've put thousands of miles on these wheels over countless rides with MUCH longer descents and have never had this happen. Any ideas?

As a precaution, I pulled the rim tape off only to realize that I don't have any to replace it with. Any recommendations?

Thanks all!

One time, I mounted a brand new Bon Jon Pass on Stans rims. I got it seated correct. Or so I thought. Part of the tube must have been pinched under the bead, poking out a little. Several hours later, about 2AM, I heard what sounded like a gun shot in the garage. The tire unseated and tube shredded.

I'm guessing same thing happened to you. Rim was warm because I'm sure you were squeezing the brake levers while not trying to squeeze one out yourself.


Tape: I just use Stans or the Scotch varient. Two wraps for high-pressure road rims.

It is more likely you did not get the tire seated and I am a fan of Velox rim tape

I've found cotton cloth rim tapes like Velox to work poorly. They get chewed up faster than other solutions, they get in the way of tire mounting on double-wall rims, and although the adhesive makes for easy application, it's ineffective against shear forces under pressure; it's better to use a tape with high static friction or that's mechanically well-seated in place.

For single-wall rims I'd generally recommend the cheap "rubber bands", and for double-wall rims, a tubeless tape that's as wide as the rim bed.

Sounds like overheating but could have been anything..I use Scotch brand, blue, tubeless tape on all my wheel builds when they ask for rim tape. 2 layers..works really well, even with tubes.

Sooo whattaya use for non-tubeless builds? Ive kind of settled on the best being the widest cloth tape that your rim can handle. As long as you dont remove it and re-use it a bunch, i find it stays better than the harder plastic strips and wayyyy better than the rubber old school ones.

As oldpotatoe said above, 3M Scotch 8898 tape is the way to go for both tubeless and non-tubeless. Two wraps of the rim works perfectly for non-tubeless applications. It's thinner than traditional cloth tape, sticks better, wears better, and doesn't absorb water. It's available in multiple widths for traditional narrow rims and wider rims. It's also very inexpensive in large rolls. A 60yd roll can be purchased for $12. Pro application tip: use the tip of a small soldering iron to open up the valve stem hole in the tape.

Greg

Ah gotcha.. do you buy it direct from 3m for that price? What width fits "most" road rims? Not necessarily wide gravel rims. Most of my wheels are still the more traditional width road spec.

It's available from many vendors. A quick Google search found it for as little as $3.47 (plus $9.95 for shipping). Here's one on ebay with free shipping for $11.99. I use the 18mm width for traditional road rims.

Greg

Same thing, works for non tubeless..2 layers of tubeless tape. I use 18mm and 22mm...

sorry guys. ive been up since 3am in a hotel room, so going kinda crazy :rolleyes:

Overheating situation is possible, as is the scenario described where the tire was always pinching the tube.

Old Potatoe's suggestion of using some 3M tape is great. You can pick up rolls pretty cheaply on Amazon or eBay - most everybody who sells rim tape is sourcing it from a tape manufacturer anyway. So may as well go straight to the source.

However, of the bicycle branded rim tape, I really like Silca's. It's a bit thinner than everybody else's and has bonded really well to stuff. You can use only a single roll on lower pressure stuff up to road plus/gravel pressures. However, it's absurdly expensive, especially when you compare to just getting 3M tape.