My experience…
Anything can fail, and you can have good luck with anything.
I’ve run butyl tubes, latex tubes, and tubeless, each for years. I’ve definitely had the best luck with tubeless flat wise, and there are other significant benefits (faster, able to run lower pressure).
This could be a geographic thing; my flats have historically been bits of glass poking small holes in tubes - sealant IMO just negates these with tubeless tires.
Same here for road my nemesis had been tiny bits of wire. Those are a non issue with tubeless. The double plug moment I had was a cut in the middle of the tread in the rain, which is the only two times I’ve ever had sealant fail because it doesn’t “dry” well when the tire surface is constantly wet.
Can’t you just get it out through the valve hole? Requires removing the stem but should leave your tape intact.
Check its not just the valve nut/lock ring that is rattling. Or a spoke etc.
I’ve also had good success with Muc Off tape. It also holds up to Silca Sealant, which I was using for a while and has been reported to break down some brands of rim tape.
Before taping, really cleaning the rim bed well with isopropyl alcohol can make a big difference.
I had this happen last year where I heard something rattling with the rim but didn’t initially realize what it was. Turned out it was a broken spoken on an Enve wheel which has internal nipples. The spoke ended up coming out completely during a gravel race. Still finished the race minus one spoke but lesson learnt.
No personal experience with it but over at MTBR the stuff is pretty much hated by almost everyone that’s used it due to the residue it leaves being very difficult to remove.
mtbr is not a good source lmao.
also, new tape sticks very very very well to old sticky tape residue :)…
I have used Muc Off tubeless tape on road wheels without major issues. I have applied it as per instructions one turn overlapping the valve hole.
I think i have only replaced one of the tape once in last 2 years or so. This is on bar or better than factory inserted tape from Roval and Reynolds. Reynolds have lasted around two year (with multiple tire changes). Roval tape lasted around one season with maybe one tire change or so.
Some residue is left behind but so from other (factory inserted) tapes and from sealant. If anyone knows better tape for high pressure use i am all ears.
As someone else said above, I’ve also had good experience with WTB and similar tape. I’ve never had it fail in 5 or 6 years. The only times I’ve re-taped a rim is because the tyre got so stuck that when taking it off, it lifted the edge of the tape off. It would have likely been fine to use and I just changed it out of precaution. No residue either, in case that is a concern.
New Canyon Endurace on the way and debating whether to go tubeless on it and have a couple of questions.
It comes with GP5000 S TR 30mm on the stock wheelset. I was thinking of swapping these over to some Hunt Aero Light wheels I have.
I’ve been running 28mm tubed GP5000 on these for the last 18 months with Conti tubes. Didn’t go tubeless initially when getting these wheels as the tyres were pretty new and not compatible.
First question is, the Hunts came tubeless ready all taped up, but is running them with tubes for 18 months likely to have caused any issues that I need to be aware of? Is it just a case of making sure the rim tape is still good, or should I start from scratch?
Second question, I’ve also picked up some TPU tubes of AliExpress. I’d be interested in people’s thoughts/experience on TPU tubes versus tubeless?
TPU is not quite as nice as latex tubes, but not having to pump your tyres before every ride is worth something. Not sure how much you paid, but the prices even on aliexpress were a bit prohibitive last I checked, and lacking niceties like removable valves means that it’s a hassle to use valve extenders - which I need.
Re your hunt wheels, how wide are they internal & external? You may be about to wreck any aero credentials by putting 30c (wider on wide rims) tyres on rims with <<30mm external width.
In my experience of running a tube in a Hunt aero wide for several months after repeated tubeless failures before giving tubeless one more go. The rim tape was fine. Just give it an inspection before you put the sealant in but a decent sealant will solve any slight imperfections in the tape. I say decent sealant because when I almost gave up on tubeless I realised it was the Finishline sealant that was duff. I had ran stans/Joes on my tubeless disc for a few years, no problem, and the hunt wheels initially were no problem either. But at some point I replaced the original sealant with FinishLine (promoted as never dries out, it never dries to seal the tiniest of holes either, the gradual loss of air causes the tyre to unseat on a minor bump like a cateye). When I realised it was the sealant that was the problem I went back to Stans/Joes and have no problem (touch wood) since; the wheels were transferred to my new bike which has now done 21,000miles no problem. I’ve also put a tube in my gravel bike wheels a couple of times but that has been short term before re-adding sealant but a tube has never done any damage there either.
I couldn’t compare to TPU tubes but for a mate who runs Tubolito’s they seem to work.
Tesa 4289. Also less than half the price!
The width on the Hunts is narrower than the stock DT Swiss wheelset on the new bike. Neither are particularly aero but the Hunts are 0.5kg lighter.
Hunt 17/22/28mm vs DT Swiss 22.5/25/23mm (inner/outer/depth).
Biggest problem is likely the valve hole in the tape, which is probably wider than a tubeless valve will plug easily. If you have tubeless tape lying around, I’d put a strip over it. You could also try electrical tape, but IMO that is too flexible to work there.
I have this issue with about 90% of tubeless setups whether there’s been a tube installed or not. The solution that works every time is to cut a little square of an old inner tube, poke a hole through the middle, then stretch it over the tubeless valve before installing. The softer rubber works like a gasket to make a good seal with the rim/tape interface.
Thanks for highlighting the potential issue with the valve holes and also a possible fix. I’ll take this into account.
I’m not understanding the issues people are having with the tape valve hole being too big…
I’ve never had to use a supplemental gasket/piece of inner tube etc with good tubeless valves in any of my setups.
Even on wheels that were taped, then run with a tube, then set up tubeless.
The size of the valve hole in the tape is limited by the size of the actual drilled hole in the rim bed, and a tubeless valve once properly tightened down seals that.
Not all tape or tape jobs are created equal. I have had Stans tape split down the middle after making the hole for the valve stem.
