Rim Tape

In my experience those rubber strip things have a tendancy to slip out of position, moving away from the centre of the rim, and leaving spoke nipples exposed with the possibility of puncturing your tube from the inside. Rim tape is actually stuck to the rim and therefor cannot move or slip.
Maybe the rubber strips have their advantages but I personally prefer the tape.

Orange Fish said:

Not sure if this was already discussed, but I was wondering if there's much of a difference in using rim tape or one of those rim strips (the rubbery ones). Are there advantages/disadvantages to each type besides weight? I'm guessing the rubbery strips are heavier, right?
Thanks! 🙂

The rubber/plastic strips are usually a bit lighter, but as Orange Fish said, they slide around. If you really want to save weight, you can use electrical tape. This also makes the tires easier to get on and off because it takes up less volume, but you have to replace it frequently. Cloth tape is a bit heavier, but usually durable enough to outlast the rim.

artmichalek said:

The rubber/plastic strips are usually a bit lighter, but as Orange Fish said, they slide around. If you really want to save weight, you can use electrical tape. This also makes the tires easier to get on and off because it takes up less volume, but you have to replace it frequently. Cloth tape is a bit heavier, but usually durable enough to outlast the rim.

Interesting idea about the electrical tape😉

I'll stick with the cloth tape because I'm not too worried about reducing weight on that part of the bike. Just blew out a tube last night, so that's what got me wondering about the type of rim tape to use.

Thanks for the info!

Orange Fish said:

Interesting idea about the electrical tape😉

I'll stick with the cloth tape because I'm not too worried about reducing weight on that part of the bike. Just blew out a tube last night, so that's what got me wondering about the type of rim tape to use.

Thanks for the info!

Use the cloth electrical tape (friction tape) not the plastic electrical tape. The plastic stuff can't hold up to high pressure, 120 psi road tires.

Its basically the same thing as Velox, it's just that you can do about 16 wheels for the price of 2 Velox wheels with a roll of 3/4 inch friction tape.