Rim tape on 2004 Lemond Buenos Aires

[boudreaux]

However, the rim tape that I have on the rear wheel seems to be of inferior quality. The good stuff is on the front, and I don't know what that is on the rear. It's red, has no lettering, and it's kinda silky. I don't think it's plastic, and it's not rubber. But it's certainly thinner then the Velox. And, while the spoke holes are covered (barely), there's some concave dimpling in the spoke holes.

Soooooo, Why don't you just ditch that '****'? You know Velox is proven stuff front and rear,so go with it and move on.You really can't be that dumb(can you) or this is a well crafted troll.

 

[supergrill]

I wonder why wheelsets have different rim tape for the front .vs the back when shipped from the factory. I also wonder if Bontrager installed the rim tape or if Lemond did it...

umm...Since Bontrager and Lemond are just labels from the same company why would that be an issue?

 

[wilmar13]

umm...Since Bontrager and Lemond are just labels from the same company why would that be an issue?

My guess is your bike came off the assembly line on a Friday afternoon and the quality control was ****. They got the rim tape for your front on the back and vice-versa.

 

[JN8]

My guess is your bike came off the assembly line on a Friday afternoon and the quality control was ****. They got the rim tape for your front on the back and vice-versa.

I'm a total new-bie on bikes but an engineering type of the old school, none of this computer programers being called engineers. If you haven't beaten some steel into submission with a hammer don't call yourself and engineer.

Swap the tape as indicated by the curmudgeon. I've had nothing but bad from the light weight polymer tapes and I hate when a wheel goes flat. Haven't crashed for that reason. Hey, that'd be a darn good reason to have the cloth up front and the polymer behind, less chance of fatality on a flat.

Several friends and I have had some of the plastic from Michelin go bad. If you grind up tires fast enough to be taking them on and off on a regular basis to monitor the tape that's one thing. Most of us find out after the walk home, I carry a spare tube not a rim strip or duct tape.

While the cloth tape dimples I've not seen it split like the polymer. LBS only had the ruddy polymer ones, a strip of old inner tube would have been better.

After your out riding, find the time to determine what the heck the **** is and why it got there and tell the rest of us. Near as I can tell the plastic goes on faster and may be easier for a machine to install.

There is a reason for everthing, just do not expect everyone to care. There does not always have to be a good reason. The reasons occasionally get lost. I know, I've lost a few. I like to know the reasons.

Don't know if the rest of you have done any work in China, but you'll find they tend to do what ever is cheaper, installing rim tape or even building the wheels. If they can crank out front wheels by hand at a reasonable rate and tie up the machines with the rears that might make some sense. It's a lot trickier to build a rear, that I do have experience on, and my wheels run just fine, thank you. Lots better than the cheesy chinese one I had.(200 lb rider) If I had a wheel building machine and had enough orders to run it continuously I'd probably look to farm out the easy stuff. While waiting for a shift bus to go home the workers pull out their side jobs, assembling this and that. We think this stuff would go togehter with a machine but it might be cheaper to hand a bag of parts to a guy and he'll drop it off the next day after assembling them over night.

Write an e-mail to somone in China if you want to know why they do what. It is likely to be as entertaining as the replys you get here. Cheap rules there!

The wheels on my friend's low end K2 were built poorly, had to be redone after only a few hundred miles. I could and have done better. I hear they build good wheels in Boulder.

I look forward to being flamed by the curmudgeon, next time I find a decent question to post about my silly riding practices.

 

[Mansmind]

That makes sense. However, the rim tape that I have on the rear wheel seems to be of inferior quality. The good stuff is on the front, and I don't know what that is on the rear. It's red, has no lettering, and it's kinda silky. I don't think it's plastic, and it's not rubber. But it's certainly thinner then the Velox. And, while the spoke holes are covered (barely), there's some concave dimpling in the spoke holes.

It doesn't matter what it is, but since you asked.... it sounds like you're describing nylon, or thermoplastic polyester. The easiest way to find out, if you really need to know... is take it off and light it.. then sniff it. Do you know what nylon smells like when it's burned? It's pretty distinctive.

If nylon, it probably is inferior, since nylon is hygroscopic and degrades (to some extent) with the absorption of water.

As everyone else has already pointed out however, it's no big deal.

 

[capwater]

Don't forget that the direction you apply your rim tape makes a huge difference in your sprinting ability. I read on www.sheldonbrownparktool.com that it has to be applied counterclockwise on the rear and clockwise on the front. Something about harmonic balancing due to the edge overlap and the rotational gravity drag on the cloth surface. Course when you ride south of the equator you have to reverse them....

Cheers, mates!

 

[wilmar13]

Course when you ride south of the equator you have to reverse them....

This is very true. I had all kinds of flats when I moved to Brazil, until I realized I had my rim tape on backwards (DUH). I felt like such a moron.

 

[wilmar13]

Don't know if the rest of you have done any work in China, but you'll find they tend to do what ever is cheaper, installing rim tape or even building the wheels. If they can crank out front wheels by hand at a reasonable rate and tie up the machines with the rears that might make some sense. It's a lot trickier to build a rear, that I do have experience on, and my wheels run just fine, thank you. Lots better than the cheesy chinese one I had.(200 lb rider) If I had a wheel building machine and had enough orders to run it continuously I'd probably look to farm out the easy stuff. While waiting for a shift bus to go home the workers pull out their side jobs, assembling this and that. We think this stuff would go togehter with a machine but it might be cheaper to hand a bag of parts to a guy and he'll drop it off the next day after assembling them over night.

I thought I had the BS volume pegged with the post about front and rear specific rim strips, I guess it still wasn't loud enough. In all honesty, this (above, JN8 is totally correct about this) is the reason your wheels came with different strips if that is what has been keeping you awake at night.

I will say that I have had problems with the red satin material that came on the only built bike I ever bought. After it had a few thousand miles, I switched to what I thought at the time was a faster tire in a 700x20 size and pumped them up to 160PSI. This of course split the fabric. Never had problems with cloth, but when I kept breaking spokes I tried plain old electrical tape. It worked fine and gives a little more room to mount the tire so now that is all I use. Never have any problems with it. Just change it and get riding.

 

[seawarrior]

Thanks to everyone for all the responses (especially those who didn't go out of their way to try to make me feel stupid ), I learned a couple of things, but I still don't have the answer to my original questions. If I ever get the answer I'll post it.

I do believe I will replace what's there, as everyone believes that the Velox is going to be an improvement over whatever is there currently. Maybe I'll burn it and inhale the fumes! I have a pipe I haven't used in years... (ah, just kidding, that was actually a useful suggestion).

For those that are interested, here's a machine that installs rim tape (there's even a movie): http://www.hollandmechanics.com/f3/newdevelopments/rimtaper/rimtaper2.htm

I think it's interesting that there are two spools of rim tape loaded; one is white and one is red...

 

[capwater]

I've got the one piece plastic band on my Rolf's and cloth velox on most everything else (except for my Ksyriums that need no tape) and even done the electrical tape in a pinch. Lots of miles on them all and no flats due to rim tape failure. No worries, just go out and ride.