Tubular Tires without base tape

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nismosr
Posts: 1317
Joined: Mon May 05, 2008 5:15 pm

by nismosr

Can I mount a Tubular Tire with out its base tape?
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Geoff
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by Geoff

Well, I have done that before, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Back in the 'old days' as Cadets, we were racing on Favorit Specials shod with Barum Kriterium or Warszawa-Berlin-Praha tubulars. Back then, we had to repair our tubulars ourselves if we ever got a flat, but we could never get the basetapes to stick-back on property. Rather than risk having the basetape separate from the rim and roll the tire, we just re-glued them without the basetape. Needless to say, that made repairing a tire a second time much more difficult.

I remember that my biggest concern at the time was whether the glue would be secure enough without the smooth surface of the basetape. Turns out that it worked just fine, at least with the old Clement 'red' glue that we used. That stuff cured as hard as a rock.

Today, we know better. If we have to pull-up a basetape now, we have carpet adhesives, etc. that will do a hell of a job sticking the basetape down properly, together with proper clamps that will allow a strong bond without damaging the tube inside. Too, it is possible that if you remove the tire again later, you could damage the stitching of the casing on other parts of the tire.

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nismosr
Posts: 1317
Joined: Mon May 05, 2008 5:15 pm

by nismosr

Reason I ask is I noticed my rear tire is not centered on the rim and slowly creeping on the right side. upon checking it looks like the basetape is securely glued to the rim but the tire is coming off the base tape. So I pulled the tire off the rim and the base tape just stuck in there glue in the rim. Whats a good rubber cement to re glue the base tape back to the tire ?
2020 Colnago C64 Mapei-SR12 EPS-WTO 60
2021 Basso Diamante SV-SR12 Disc EPS-WTO 60
2023 Colnago G3X-SRAM AXS Force-Levante

Hawkwood
Posts: 336
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:27 pm

by Hawkwood

Geoff wrote:Well, I have done that before, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Back in the 'old days' as Cadets, we were racing on Favorit Specials shod with Barum Kriterium or Warszawa-Berlin-Praha tubulars. Back then, we had to repair our tubulars ourselves if we ever got a flat, but we could never get the basetapes to stick-back on property. Rather than risk having the basetape separate from the rim and roll the tire, we just re-glued them without the basetape. Needless to say, that made repairing a tire a second time much more difficult.

I remember that my biggest concern at the time was whether the glue would be secure enough without the smooth surface of the basetape. Turns out that it worked just fine, at least with the old Clement 'red' glue that we used. That stuff cured as hard as a rock.

Today, we know better. If we have to pull-up a basetape now, we have carpet adhesives, etc. that will do a hell of a job sticking the basetape down properly, together with proper clamps that will allow a strong bond without damaging the tube inside. Too, it is possible that if you remove the tire again later, you could damage the stitching of the casing on other parts of the tire.


`Barum' that's a name from the past, I think the old Holdworth catalogue used to list them in the 1970s. I used to re-glue base-tapes with Evostick contact adhesive.

Edit: I should add I used Evostick over 30 years ago, there should be much better glues now for this job.
Last edited by Hawkwood on Wed Aug 31, 2016 6:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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dj97223
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2005 7:27 pm

by dj97223

nismosr wrote:Reason I ask is I noticed my rear tire is not centered on the rim and slowly creeping on the right side. upon checking it looks like the basetape is securely glued to the rim but the tire is coming off the base tape. So I pulled the tire off the rim and the base tape just stuck in there glue in the rim. Whats a good rubber cement to re glue the base tape back to the tire ?


I've used Barge cement to glue small parts of base tape to tires. I've not tried to glue an entire base tape, but I don't know why it would be any different. I assume tire manufacturers and repair shops like Tire Alert use something similar.
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Geoff
Posts: 5395
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2003 2:25 am
Location: Canada

by Geoff

+1 on Barge cement. Really, any good carpet cement will work. The truth is, that would have worked in the 'old days', too, but when you are a kid, you don't necessarily know about those things. We just did whatever the guys did 'in the old country'.

soonyoung
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 2:43 am

by soonyoung

I think that tape is not a problem if rim's surface is clean. Actually, i do not use tape.

steelbikerider
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat May 07, 2016 11:31 pm

by steelbikerider

The base tape protects the sidewall from the rim. Eddy B. tried this in the jr worlds back in the day. It was ok for a 100 k TTT but eventually the rim will rub a hole in the sidewall.

UpFromOne
Posts: 1182
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:23 am
Location: Olympic Nat'l Park, WA

by UpFromOne

soonyoung wrote:I think that tape is not a problem if rim's surface is clean. Actually, i do not use tape.


When you say you "do not use tape", are you talking about tubular tape instead of glue to attach the tire to the rim?
Or the thread topic, which is the base tape on the tubular itself?

RussellS
Posts: 916
Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:31 am

by RussellS

nismosr wrote:So I pulled the tire off the rim and the base tape just stuck in there glue in the rim. Whats a good rubber cement to re glue the base tape back to the tire ?


Yep. Tubulars. I use GOOP brand Marine glue. Its in a toothpaste size tube sold at the various hardware stores. It has worked to glue the basetape back on the tire after repairing my tubulars. As others have stated, probably any barge cement or carpet contact adhesive will work fine too. Gorilla Glue makes several glues that would also work fine I am sure.

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eurperg
Posts: 936
Joined: Mon May 14, 2007 10:32 am
Location: Finland

by eurperg

I have a pair of Veloflex Arenberg tubulars where the base tape has come off during removal of previous glue job. The base tape is contaminated from riding in rain, so it does not make sense to glue it back on.

I’m thinking of gluing these again without base tape at all on Hyperon rims. I have used Veloflex tubs for a decade without noticing any wear in the base tape from rim edge, so I don’t feel really worried about that.

Does anyone have more recent experiences about using tubs w/o base tape?

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Alexandrumarian
Posts: 795
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:34 pm
Location: Romania

by Alexandrumarian

I too have a number of tubs that have plenty of life left but no tape. I wouldn't be very concerned about sidewall wear either, but more about being too loose on the rim. Arenberg are pretty wide to begin with, without tapethere will be even less tension. It will harder to center them and the glue will be more syressed during use. I guess a more likely candidate for this would be a conti tub... In any case, this would really be a true ww mod. That tape is some 20 grams....

joeyb1000
Posts: 488
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:37 pm

by joeyb1000

steelbikerider wrote:
Tue Jan 31, 2017 3:18 am
eventually the rim will rub a hole in the sidewall.
Correct

alcatraz
Posts: 4064
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:19 am

by alcatraz

What about finding a good basetape replacement alternative?

ghostinthemachine
Posts: 780
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 9:18 pm

by ghostinthemachine

You used to be able to buy the right tape in huge rolls from some of the distributors.

Think i last got some from RJ Chickens...... and prior to that somewhere in Belgium.

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