tubeless tape - edges?

[AngryScientist]

I have a love/hate relationship with tubeless.

I love the ride, puncture protection, weight reduction, etc.

My reality though, is that I ride my tubeless bikes a LOT less often than my road bikes, and it could be weeks to months between riding.

I feel like the sealant always creeps under the edge of the rim tape where I ended the wrap, leading to failure.

I was thinking of superglueing the edge down to maybe prevent this. Has anyone tried that idea or similar?

[fa63]

Interesting. All my tubeless wheels have hooked rims, and I use tape wide enough to go up the sides just a mm or two. I have never experienced what you are describing. I have probably set up another 100+ customer wheels in the same way when I was working at the shop and again no issues like you are describing.

That said, the easiest solution in your case could be to set a calendar reminder and just add air to the tires once a week, whether you are riding them or not?

[Nomadmax]

I'd be interested to know if no spoke hole rims like Campy lose less air than taped rims.

[tellyho]

I do generally superglue the edge. It works pretty well.

[Dave]

My Zipp 303s wheels lasted 2 years before the factory applied tape started to come apart at the overlap. I sold them to let the next owner buy the pricey, odd width Zipp tape. The Zipp tape is an exact fit with no gap or tape overlapping the side walls.

All of my wheels are BTLOS that require no rim tape. No they don't lose less air than taped rims, but I never have to wonder if the rim tape is leaking or needs replaced. Orange seal endurance never leaves any hard to remove dried sealant when tires need to be replaced. A previous set of Fulcrum racing 3 aluminum wheels also cleaned up nicely when I sold them.

I ride every other day and add about 3 psi before each ride. I've got fresh chip seal around now and keep my tires at the low end of the pressure recommended by the Zipp pressure calculator.

[p nut]

I’ve had that happen with cheap tape. Quality tape, doesn’t happen. I have tape that’s been on for years. I also try not to touch the end of the tape.

[meyatt]

If it's literally months between rides I'd honestly just choose tubes (maybe latex if you like the weight and rolling resistance) or try to figure out a wheelset I could swap more easily between bikes I want to run tubeless on.

Not all tape and sealant is equal though. When I setup my Farsports (no spoke holes) with Stans sealant + Michelin Power Cup they lose air in about two weeks. Same setup with Silca's sealant loses air in about a month.

[makoti]

Every time I change tires, I change tape. Superglue would make that very difficult

[bigbill]

Edge to edge. I recently had Oldpotatoe build me a set of gravel wheels with Boyd CCC rims. The rims are 25mm ID and I followed Boyd's guidance and used 28mm tape. The tape goes partially up toward the bead, so the seated tire is pushing on the tape.

I've had some experience with the tape end peeling and allowing sealant to get under. My worst experiences were with Stan's tape. I've only used Boyd and Muc-off tape in the last several years. I use alcohol wipes to clean the rim and and wipe the tape before sticking down the end, since I've used my fingers to guide the tape into place.

[p nut]

Lots of confusion here.

He’s talking about the end of the tape, not the edges along the lip of the rim.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by p nut

Lots of confusion here.

He’s talking about the end of the tape, not the edges along the lip of the rim.

Exactly, thanks for the photo.

The problem seems to be that over time the sealant breaks down the adhesive and the end starts peeling up, exposing more adhesive and so on...

[Mikej]

Just wrap it further - 6” minimum.

[slambers3]

I have noticed that sometimes it’s difficult to make a straight cut (90deg) tape end adhere to itself, especially with deeper channel tubeless rims. A diagonal or arrow shaped cut seems to work better in my experience. I also try to tape in the direction the wheel is spinning, so the tape end isn’t working against the sealant sloshing around while the tire is rotating

[Mikej]

Originally Posted by slambers3

I have noticed that sometimes it’s difficult to make a straight cut (90deg) tape end adhere to itself, especially with deeper channel tubeless rims. A diagonal or arrow shaped cut seems to work better in my experience. I also try to tape in the direction the wheel is spinning, so the tape end isn’t working against the sealant sloshing around while the tire is rotating

Make the cut at an angle so there is more sealing length.

[tellyho]

Originally Posted by slambers3

I have noticed that sometimes it’s difficult to make a straight cut (90deg) tape end adhere to itself, especially with deeper channel tubeless rims. A diagonal or arrow shaped cut seems to work better in my experience. I also try to tape in the direction the wheel is spinning, so the tape end isn’t working against the sealant sloshing around while the tire is rotating

Whoa, that is way more thought than I want to put into it . Superglue solves it handily.