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Repair or replace rim tape?

Old 05-20-22, 05:03 PM
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Willy604
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Repair or replace rim tape?

On inspecting a flat I recently had, on my hybrid bike, I saw that my tube had a tiny cut. Looking at the rim, I see that one of the spoke holes had a sharp piece sticking out, cutting through the rim tape and the tube, I’ve removed the sharp metal piece and lightly filed the area smooth. My question is if I need to totally replace the rim tape or can I get away with just sticking a short piece of rim tape to that area? If the latter, could I get away with using common household tape such as Gorilla tape or even electrical tape? The tires are inflated to around 50-55 psi.
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Old 05-20-22, 06:21 PM
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Bill Kapaun
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I wouldn't be adverse to using a small square/rectangle of duct tape or similar to reinforce a small area.
Your first attempt at wheel truing?
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Old 05-20-22, 10:38 PM
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Thanks. I’ll try the duct tape route. I only asked as I didn’t want to run out to buy some rim tape if I only need an inch or two to cover the hole created by the metal shard.

I never tried truing the wheel yet as it’s been pretty straight as far as I can tell. Really odd though how the metal poked out from the hole. From what it appeared, it looked like a small part of the edge of the hole where you access a spoke “tore” upwards almost like the spoke or something else pushed it up. I bought this bike a while ago from another guy so have no service history of the wheel.

I will give the duct tape method a shot. I just didn’t want it to possibly shift around later, which is why I asked.
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Old 05-21-22, 05:05 AM
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I'm certainly not above repairing rim tape. Once, when funds were very low, I even shifted shifted the tape by half a hole distance and punched a new valve stem hole to get another year out of it.
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Old 05-21-22, 06:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Willy604
Thanks. I’ll try the duct tape route. I only asked as I didn’t want to run out to buy some rim tape if I only need an inch or two to cover the hole created by the metal shard.

I never tried truing the wheel yet as it’s been pretty straight as far as I can tell. Really odd though how the metal poked out from the hole. From what it appeared, it looked like a small part of the edge of the hole where you access a spoke “tore” upwards almost like the spoke or something else pushed it up. I bought this bike a while ago from another guy so have no service history of the wheel.

I will give the duct tape method a shot. I just didn’t want it to possibly shift around later, which is why I asked.
I wouldn't use duct tape because of the gooey residue it leaves and it wouldn't resist the pressure of the inner tube. Something like fiberglass reinforced packing tape would get my vote.
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Old 05-21-22, 11:40 PM
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I haven't, but I believe using Gorilla tape is sometimes used for tubeless rims/tires. I don't know why Gorilla specifically - why not any heavy duty duct tape? Given that, I can't see why that sort of tape couldn't be used for any normal tubed rim tape application.
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Old 05-22-22, 01:47 AM
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Originally Posted by Camilo
I haven't, but I believe using Gorilla tape is sometimes used for tubeless rims/tires. I don't know why Gorilla specifically - why not any heavy duty duct tape? Given that, I can't see why that sort of tape couldn't be used for any normal tubed rim tape application.
Because it leaves a gooey mess and a real pain to remove if you need to access the spoke nipples
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Old 05-22-22, 07:37 PM
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Originally Posted by KerryIrons
I wouldn't use duct tape because of the gooey residue it leaves and it wouldn't resist the pressure of the inner tube. Something like fiberglass reinforced packing tape would get my vote.
I used 3 wraps in an emergency on some old 27" steel wheels.
After 5-6 years it really wasn't that gooey..
It just helped stick the new rim strip in place when I got around to getting one.
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Old 05-23-22, 02:00 AM
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Originally Posted by Bill Kapaun
I used 3 wraps in an emergency on some old 27" steel wheels.
After 5-6 years it really wasn't that gooey..
It just helped stick the new rim strip in place when I got around to getting one.
Location has a lot to do with it, we are in Florida, even hand grips turn gooey in time.
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Old 05-23-22, 07:35 AM
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Maybe I'm just the suspicious type, but...

If you've got one spoke that's a bit too long and poked through the rim tape of unknown provenance, how do you know you don't have multiple spokes that are too long and getting ready to poke through the rim tape? I'd rather put a roll of new Velox tape on and then I could ride secure in the knowledge that I had good tape on and I wasn't going to have any more flats from that source.
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Old 05-24-22, 03:44 PM
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Originally Posted by JoeTBM
Because it leaves a gooey mess and a real pain to remove if you need to access the spoke nipples
That's what I've always thought and why I've never used any sort of adhesive tape instead of real rim tape. I was just mentioning that using Gorilla tape for tubeless tires seems to be fairly common, not endorsing it.
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Old 05-24-22, 04:31 PM
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Velox. Accept no substitutes.
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