You can take off the rim strip that comes on the RS80s. I wish I would have weighed mine when I had it off, but I didn't ( fwiw-it seemed light). I took my wheels to my LBS because they were making a clicking noise every rotation. They trued them up and lubricated the nipple threads from the tire bed to fix it, but the rim strip went back on misaligned. After I got them back I got a flat almost immediately right where near the valve stem bed meets the tube. I took the rim strip off and stretched it back so that it came flush to the valve stem hole.

Bottom line- I decided that the original rim strip works well and if I'm running lightweight tubes I want something that fits and keeps me from getting flats. Be careful to put the rim strip back on straight because it doesn't stretch much and can get misaligned easy.

Plugs don't fit that great. And as previous poster stated, if you are running a lightweight tube you want some protection.

It's been a couple years so I do not recall the weight but I literally only saved a couple grams over both wheels.

And what about a single strip of yellow Stan's?

Don't know, but until you've seen or held the shimano strips you don't understand that they are very thin plastic that is very strong but light. You can actuall see through it to some extend and it's blue.
I guess my point is there is a misconception it needs to be replaced.
I have two sets of C24 wheels one 7850 and one 7900. The 7850 have velo plugs and one round of electrical tape (grey light duty stuff) and the othe other have the original strips. After removing the original strips on thr 7850s and adding the velo plugs I realized it wasn't worth it for what amounts to IIRC 2 grams in the Front and 3 in the Rear. Think about that, the C24 is a low spoke count wheel so for so little velo plugs it still doesn't save much over the entire rim strip.

Timzcat - thanks for the insight.....I think I will leave the strips as they finish the wheels quite well and I don't want to bring issues on myself for no appreciable gain. Thanks!!

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2012 Fuji Altamira SE - 6.42kg

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