Re: [CR]rim tape

(Example: Books:Ron Kitching)

To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Simon Richardson" <quad@blueyonder.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [CR]rim tape
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 22:37:25 +0000


Hi,

A while back I was getting 2 or 3 punctures a week. Neat little snake bites on the outside of the tubes. Turned out that my tyre pressure was far too low, about 80psi when it should have been at least 100psi. So I pumped up the tyres really hard and that fixed the snake bites.

But then I began to get occasional punctures on the inside of the tube. Weird. So I had a look at the rims. There were neat little holes punched into the rim tape, just where the spoke holes are. Turned out that the high pressure was too much for the rather thin orange tape I had used (from Continental I think). So I got some heavy canvas looking stuff (called 'Velox') and put that on. I couldn't get the old tape off, so I left it on - two layers of tape have got to be better than one I figured - and I have no more puncture problems.

Of course, your mileage may vary. With fatter tyres and lower pressure it may not be an issue.

Simon