Lightest rim tape for carbon clincher

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TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

MikeD wrote:
Fri Sep 07, 2018 3:46 pm
ergott wrote:https://www.thepowdercoatstore.com/prod ... -temp-tape

but I found it on Amazon too
That looks interesting. Can you tear it by hand? If so, I don't think it's strong enough.
You cannot tear it by hand. It is essentially a poly strapping tape just like everything else. I’ve been using it for over a year...it’s not some revelatory new tape, but IMO it has the the best combo of stretch, thickness, adhesive, price of any of the tapes I’ve tried.

Stan’s/4289 = not as flexible/stretch, weak adhesive if you have to pull up and reposition tape.
Velotape/8898 = thinner, stretchier, but splits when you punch out the valve hole.
Kapton tape = way too thin/stretchy, wrinkles/shifts, difficult to apply.

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MikeD
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by MikeD

TobinHatesYou wrote:
MikeD wrote:
Fri Sep 07, 2018 3:46 pm
ergott wrote:https://www.thepowdercoatstore.com/prod ... -temp-tape

but I found it on Amazon too
That looks interesting. Can you tear it by hand? If so, I don't think it's strong enough.
You cannot tear it by hand. It is essentially a poly strapping tape just like everything else. I’ve been using it for over a year...it’s not some revelatory new tape, but IMO it has the the best combo of stretch, thickness, adhesive, price of any of the tapes I’ve tried.

Stan’s/4289 = not as flexible/stretch, weak adhesive if you have to pull up and reposition tape.
Velotape/8898 = thinner, stretchier, but splits when you punch out the valve hole.
Kapton tape = way too thin/stretchy, wrinkles/shifts, difficult to apply.
I like the fact that it can take high temperatures. I melted a plastic rim strip and blew the tube a couple of times.

commendatore
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Location: North Carolina

by commendatore

With Stan’s tape or similar, do you need to wrap one revolution of the wheel or two? For use with tubes.

MikeD
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by MikeD

commendatore wrote:With Stan’s tape or similar, do you need to wrap one revolution of the wheel or two? For use with tubes.
Two for high pressure tires, one for low pressure.

lamphead
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Location: Seattle, WA

by lamphead

I'll 2nd the Powder coating masking tape. I've used it on 3 wheelsets, and its been fantastic. No issues for the last 2 years. Its so thin that I do two rounds around the rim with an 90% overlap on the center. It really weighs like nothing. I bought mine on the bay.

commendatore
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by commendatore

MikeD wrote:
commendatore wrote:With Stan’s tape or similar, do you need to wrap one revolution of the wheel or two? For use with tubes.
Two for high pressure tires, one for low pressure.

Hmm. I was thinking that recommendation from Stan’s was only for tubeless...

I did a single wrap about 300 miles ago, oops.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

Okay, I bought some other powder coating tapes to see if they are suitable as tubeless rim tape...

3M 8991 and generic blue poly tape is probably not a good tape for tubeless specifically. It is extremely thin and has very low tensile strength. The tape elongated/stretched quite easily. The roll weighed 160g, which is heavier than a roll of 3M 8896 strapping tape. If you elect to use this tape, be very careful not to pull too hard...use at least 2 layers.

3M 8992 and generic green poly tape. This is the tape I've been using. It's great. Good enough tensile strength...some elongation to help it conform to rim channels. 190g for the roll.

Generic orange poly tape. This is no better than the green stuff. When I attempted to stretch/elongate the tape, it tore. Basically it has slightly worse elongation, but no better tensile strength. Avoid.

Generic rusty red poly tape. About the same as the green stuff, so just buy the green stuff.

3M 8896/8898. This is one of the more popular tapes and honestly it's pretty good. The strapping tapes have superior tensile strength, but don't conform as well as the poly tapes. Adheres to carbon rims poorly.
Last edited by TobinHatesYou on Thu Oct 25, 2018 6:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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ergott
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by ergott

Great summary!

JerryLook
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by JerryLook

I have some Ideal 9148 polyester tape. Anyone tried that, or know if it is equivalent to one of the tapes mentioned above?

http://www.idealtape.com/productpage.ph ... &tape=9148

I might try it and see how it holds up.

I forgot to mention that I want to use this on alloy clincher rims with tubes and not tubeless
2010 Orbea Opal 54cm
5.97kg

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

JerryLook wrote:
Wed Oct 24, 2018 9:40 pm
I have some Ideal 9148 polyester tape. Anyone tried that, or know if it is equivalent to one of the tapes mentioned above?

http://www.idealtape.com/productpage.ph ... &tape=9148

I might try it and see how it holds up.

I forgot to mention that I want to use this on alloy clincher rims with tubes and not tubeless

Looks like it has similar properties to 3M 8991 and generic transparent blue poly tape. It's pretty thin and not as strong as Kapton/polyamide tape (which is even thinner.) 2 wraps would probably still be fine for tubeless, and definitely should be fine for a tubed clincher setup. Worst case is you just add a 3rd layer.

On another note 3M 8898/8896 adhesive is downright terrible on carbon rims...How is this one of the more popular rim tapes? The last time I unwrapped old 8898 tape, when I got down to the first layer it pretty much just fell off the rim.

JerryLook
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by JerryLook

Ok thanks.

I bet PTFE tape would work well also. I work with some 3M 5480/5481 that is pretty strong stuff. Maybe the adhesion wouldn’t be strong enough though.

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1205 ... d-5481.pdf
2010 Orbea Opal 54cm
5.97kg

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

Yeah the adhesion seems low, but I think silicone adhesives are better rim tapes than the rubber resin found on Stan's/Tesa and 3M 8896/8898. The 5481 tape is particularly thick, one wrap would be as thick as two wraps of the green poly tape.

NLC86
Posts: 109
Joined: Fri Nov 29, 2019 2:37 pm

by NLC86

Which rim tape would you suggest to use with inner tube and clincher on a rim with 21mm of width?

- DT Swiss - 23mm
- Schwalbe - 23 mm
- Stan's NoTubes - 21 mm

Many Thanks

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mvnsnd
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by mvnsnd

JerryLook wrote:
Thu Oct 25, 2018 1:59 pm
Ok thanks.

I bet PTFE tape would work well also. I work with some 3M 5480/5481 that is pretty strong stuff. Maybe the adhesion wouldn’t be strong enough though.

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1205 ... d-5481.pdf
I would recommend against PTFE tape as the material is soft and PTFE is well known to "cold flow" I think you would find that the tape will not hold up well over the spoke holes over time. Polyester and Polyimide are better choices.

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pdlpsher1
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Location: CO

by pdlpsher1

Thanks for the tip on the best tape. I found that there are three different kinds of powercoat tape. I'm leaning towards the thickest one (Polyimide) so I will only use one layer to ease spoke replacements. It appears that these tapes are all made by Argon USA. If anyone can comment on which one is the best please let me know.

DB100 BLUE POWDER COATING TAPE (400 °F 204 °C)
1 mil polyester & 2 mil silicone adhesive.

Image

PC400 GREEN POWDER COATING TAPE (400 °F 204 °C)
2 mil polyester & 1.5 mil silicone adhesive

Image

PC555 ULTRA THICK POLYIMIDE POWDER COATING TAPE (500 °F 260 °C)
5 mil polyimide film & 1.5 mil silicone adhesive

Image

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