ADAM31

How long should rim tape last on road bike?

10 Wheels

25 years.

smd4

Theoretically, it could last forever.

Barry2 

Rim tape on tubeless only lasts til it leaks.

Buddy just took a nail, it scratched the tape narrowly missing a spoke hole.
I haven’t considered this previously. It’s another great reason to carry a tube.
I already have some gorilla tape (duct tape) around my patch kit.

Barry

KerryIrons

How long is a piece of string? Wouldn't the answer depend on a whole bunch of variables? Like the brand of rim tape, the brand of rim, the pressure of the tires, etc. etc.? This spring I had a series of flats every 300-400 miles and they all looked like a scuffed tube. Tried several things and finally replaced the rim tape as it appeared to have just not quite fully overlapped the spoke hole in one spot. Tape had 67,000 miles on it. Does that help you?

79pmooney

I've had Velox rim tape go for the duration of the rim and have enough stick to do the replacement rim just fine. So maybe 10 years and 10,000 miles plus however long it last on the next. I would fully expect a 30 yo rim that have been neglected for decades to be ready to ride as soon as I pumped the tires.

Now those are all traditional clincher rims. I haven't done tubeless yet, so no comment there. There are things that can cause rim tape issues: spokes protruding beyond the nipple on single wall rims. Anything that causes the rim tape to slide and abrade on the spoke holes (modern double wall rims). Tire or tube sliding around when inflated. Too narrow and it will be a constant battle to keep both sides if the spoke holes covered and too many lifts and adjustments degrades the adhesive. Good thing is that the condition of the rim tape is usually pretty obvious once the tire is off.

No comments on rim tapes other than Velox. I've had issues with perhaps two or three rolls in 30?, 40? 50? years and seen no reason to look further.

Moe Zhoost

I've had the same tape on some of my vintage rims for close to 40 years.

icemilkcoffee 

It lasts a long time on the rim with an inflated tire. But when you take the tire off and hang the wheel up in your garage, you can expect the tape to come off on its own in short order.

ADAM31

rim tape I have has just under 8000 miles on it…not sure if it’s just bad luck but have had 3 flats, really slow leaks over the last 2 weeks compared to no flats in the previous 4-5 months. Just wondering if it might be the rim tape wearing out.

JohnDThompson 

Same here.

pdlamb

If it's some sort of plastic stuff, there might be a problem with the "tape." Cloth tape, you don't need to worry about the edge hardening or cracking. I've only had to replace one Velox rim tape (bent derailer hanger shifted into spokes, and I replaced about 10-12 spokes (one at a time)). I've bought more new tapes for new bike wheels than I have for tape that the sticky wore off.

KerryIrons

The key is to diagnose the cause of the flats. You match the tube with the rim to see if there is something due to location on the rim. You look at the tube to see if the leak is on the rim side or on the tire side. If you find the flats occurring on the rim side and in specific locations, then you study the rim carefully. That's how I came to the conclusion that my rim tape was the likely source of the flats and when I replaced it, the random flats stopped.

cxwrench

The smart thing to do would be to figure out exactly what's causing the flats, right? Better to know for sure than wonder about it and get more flats. Inflate one of your punctured tubes til you can find a hold. Reference that to the tire. Done.

ADAM31

Sorry if this is late but it ended up being the tire causing the flats, it usually took a couple rides and then it was an extremely slow leak.

veganbikes

Rubber rim tape I would replace when you replace a tire but that stuff is cheap . Cloth tape could potentially last and last and last and last, the more plastic rim liners potentially same sort of deal but I guess over long periods you could get some issues with the plastic getting hard or maybe some deformation after a long long period.

Basically rim tape lasts as long as it lasts but the good stuff can last a really long time.

Iride01 

I had some rim tape start coming off inside the rim once. I did get a few flats as it let the spoke nipples get exposed. I felt that it might have been the solvents, soaps and other cleaners I'd recently used on the bike to make it look good. Any wet getting on the spokes and nipples on the outside of the rim will travel to the inside. And on these particular rims the nipples were touching the tape instead of being down in a double wall.

The tape had been on there for 35 or more years I'd estimate, so probably about time to re-do it any how.

sweeks

Tires shouldn't *cause* flats... unless you didn't find the object that caused the last flat. As noted earlier, it's very helpful to remove the inner tube keeping it referenced to the tire, so when you find the hole in the tube you can go back to the tire and home in on the puncture.

jsdavis

The rim tape that orginally came on my bike is this stiff plastic sort of textile like material. It reminded me of the strapping for shipping boxes

After about ayear or two it would move around and the tube would go into the spoke holes. I cut it of and then replaced with Velox or Zefal tape and that lasted 10 years and 40 or 50 thousand miles and still fine. Can't really tell you about the future because I broke the frame.

ADAM31

it must be microscopic because as not only did I check the tire but the bike mechanics also checked the whole inside of the tire. As soon as I switched tires the flats have stopped so it’s the only explanation I have