Tubeless - Whats required?

[SwissDH]

3 times? I think this might be overkill, though I am not an expert. If you cover your beads then 3 times might make it nearly impossible to seat your tyre due to the extra thickness. I used DT-Swill rim tape that was too wide for my rim, so I cut it down to the correct width. I went 1 time around. My error was I didn't overlap over my valve. Somewhere I read that wasn't good. But I had problems with my valve sealing at one stage. I guess it is very difficult to get sealant around the valve.

I agree, and have never done 3 myself, I was just repeating what I have read online by some 'specialists'.

However the rule of starting a few inches before the valve, and ending a few inches after it is good practise.

 

[Frankieboy]

3 times? I think this might be overkill, though I am not an expert. If you cover your beads then 3 times might make it nearly impossible to seat your tyre due to the extra thickness. I used DT-Swill rim tape that was too wide for my rim, so I cut it down to the correct width. I went 1 time around. My error was I didn't overlap over my valve. Somewhere I read that wasn't good. But I had problems with my valve sealing at one stage. I guess it is very difficult to get sealant around the valve.

I used gorilla tape once round with about a 50mm overlap at the valve, worked perfectly. Small cross cut to get the valve through, smaller than the valve, so when pushing the valve through it opened the hole to the correct diameter. Worked perfectly. Just followed the instructions with the kit by the way.

 

[mzr7758]

Personal experience I don't recommend using Gorilla tape. Get a real rim tape, they are not expensive.

 

[steve_sordy]

Ref the once, twice or thrice around the rim with Gorilla tape.

I first started using once around because Gorilla tape is robust stuff. But when I came to refit a tyre it just would not inflate at all, despite my use of an Airshot inflator. I am experienced enough to know that if it doesn't go straight up with an Airshot, it is because something is wrong, and that it's not my technique.

A closer look showed that the tape had been pushed into the spoke holes by air pressure. The tape was still airtight, but the tyre beads were bridging the 32 spoke holes and the depressed tape was allowing the air to pass. Two layers stopped the problem. I believe that three layers would be overkill, unnecessarily expensive, and may cause problems with tyre fitment.

Any problems with Gorilla tape may come from when you want to remove it. I have removed it easily after a few months (above example), but it may be stuck considerably more after a year or so.

 

[Frankieboy]

Personal experience I don't recommend using Gorilla tape. Get a real rim tape, they are not expensive.

I was a tubeless virgin, so I only used Gorilla tape because it came with a kit and a number of folk on here recommended it. I guess you’ve had a bad experience, can you tell us about that?

 

[mzr7758]

I was a tubeless virgin, so I only used Gorilla tape because it came with a kit and a number of folk on here recommended it. I guess you’ve had a bad experience, can you tell us about that?

I made a mistake last year when I removed my rear tire by jam the tire lever too deep and broke the original rim tape. I was in a rush so I clean the rim, grabbed the Gorilla tape and applied one layer with about a feet overlay.
It was holding air fine until I removed the tire again early this month. The stan's sealant I use penetrated the tape (the oily stuff) and mojority of the tape lost its stickiness and got pushed into the middle of the rim, and I got sealant in almost all my spoke holes.

 

[steve_sordy]

I made a mistake last year when I removed my rear tire by jam the tire lever too deep and broke the original rim tape. I was in a rush so I clean the rim, grabbed the Gorilla tape and applied one layer with about a feet overlay.
It was holding air fine until I removed the tire again early this month. The stan's sealant I use penetrated the tape (the oily stuff) and mojority of the tape lost its stickiness and got pushed into the middle of the rim, and I got sealant in almost all my spoke holes.

Gorilla tape is sticky stuff! (Hence the concerns about getting it off long term). For it to come off like that sounds like it wasn't stuck to the rim properly. When you cleaned up the rim in a rush did you wipe it down with any solvent before applying the Gorilla tape? By solvent, I'm thinking iso-propyl alcohol, brake cleaner, meths etc.
I have used different sealants with the Gorilla tape, Bontrager, Continental, and Slime. The first two are latex based, but the Slime isn't (no idea what it is). I've had zero problems of the tape coming unstuck with any of them.

 

[mzr7758]

Gorilla tape is sticky stuff! (Hence the concerns about getting it off long term). For it to come off like that sounds like it wasn't stuck to the rim properly. When you cleaned up the rim in a rush did you wipe it down with any solvent before applying the Gorilla tape? By solvent, I'm thinking iso-propyl alcohol, brake cleaner, meths etc.
I have used different sealants with the Gorilla tape, Bontrager, Continental, and Slime. The first two are latex based, but the Slime isn't (no idea what it is). I've had zero problems of the tape coming unstuck with any of them.

Maybe “rush” isn’t a good word to use. I had plenty of time to work on the rim that night, and I by “rush” I mean I want to ride the next day so no time to buy online or go to LBS.
I scraped dried sealant off the rim and wiped with degreaser. I measured the tape width against old tape and applied quite bit pressure when wrapping and press it firmly around when finished to make sure it stick to all the surface and crannies. When mounting the tire I also make sure the bead not pulling off the tape. Here is that it was looks like before, I didn’t take a picture to show after.

 

[steve_sordy]

I think the Gorilla tape in black looks really attractive.

 

[Frankieboy]

The tape I used wasn’t as wide as that, 1 1/4” I believe. The tyre bead seats on the rims rather than the tape. Hopefully that will make it easier to get the tyre off without damaging the tape, hopefully.

 

[steve_sordy]

The tape I used wasn’t as wide as that, 1 1/4” I believe. The tyre bead seats on the rims rather than the tape. Hopefully that will make it easier to get the tyre off without damaging the tape, hopefully.

I prefer to use the narrower 25mm tape, even on the wider rims. I put the first layer to the left and the second layer to the right. The spoke holes get two layers of tape and because I overlap each layer, the valve hole gets 4 layers! I pierce a hole and force in the tubeless valve (tapping with a soft hammer if I have to! That is pretty much guaranteed to seal!

 

[Mcharza]

Nope, duct tape is different. I would not trust it to be airtight. I would only use it if I had no alternative (as in, not even a tube to use temporarily).

Be aware, because some tire sealants are not suitable for Gorilla tape.
There was a problem with one, that almost melted the tape. It was hard to remove the old tape from the rim

 

[steve_sordy]

Be aware, because some tire sealants are not suitable for Gorilla tape.
There was a problem with one, that almost melted the tape. It was hard to remove the old tape from the rim

What! You can't leave it at that. Does anyone know which sealant it was?

 

[Frankieboy]

I prefer to use the narrower 25mm tape, even on the wider rims. I put the first layer to the left and the second layer to the right. The spoke holes get two layers of tape and because I overlap each layer, the valve hole gets 4 layers! I pierce a hole and force in the tubeless valve (tapping with a soft hammer if I have to! That is pretty much guaranteed to seal!

I did pretty much the same but with only 1 turn of tape with 50mm overlap, nice tight fit round valve.