All about bicycles, electric-assisted bikes, technology and safety in the press

The most common safety risks that we come across in our daily work around bicycle safety, technology and operating instructions are also published by us in articles in the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR (Europe's road bike magazine no. 1), BIKE (Europe's mountain bike magazine no. 1), MYBIKE and EMTB in order to make this information, which is important for the industry, available to a wider public.

For many years now, the Eurobike Show Daily, trade fair magazine of the annual Eurobike Show, has also given us the opportunity to publish our view of major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent expert presentations about all areas of bicycle technology and the bicycle market. In addition, we are quoted by further special-interest magazines of the industry and the trade as well as increasingly by radio and television in their media reports, which shows us that we are spot on with our advice. The section "News" informs you about the latest news from our specialist areas. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to areas of interest.

TOUR 01/2014
Reading time 1:20 minutes

Rim tape

Reader’s question

Again and again, you come up with tips on safety. One of it was in one of your "Workshop" articles. You advised to use rim tapes even on rims without holes, as otherwise the tube could burst due to the braking heat during long downhill rides. I bought Campa Monza rims without holes. In the Campagnolo operating instructions of the tubular tyres it is stated: "Never use a rim tape." What do you advise in this case? I use the wheels with tubes and also intend to use them for long downhill rides. 

Reply by Dirk Zedler, TOUR technology expert and bicycle expert

I don't know anything like a rim type called "Campagnolo Monza". I assume you mean the Campagnolo wheelset "Zonda". These wheels are 2-Way Fit technology, i.e. you can mount tubeless tyres as well as typical clincher and folding tyres on the rim together with a tube. The special thing with such kind of rims is that the rim well is closed. Your write that it is stated in the Campagnolo instructions for the tubular tyres that one should use a rim tape. Tubular tyres are a third type of tyre which cannot be mounted on these rims. If you use a tubeless tyre, you don’t need a rim tape. But if you want to use a standard clincher tyre system, I recommend glueing a thin rim tape made of plastic fabric on the rim well. According to the experiences of TOUR, this insulation has proven valuable for insulating the tube and the aluminium rim. There were for example two TOUR Transalp races with very hot weather, when many tubes burst, and this always on rims without rim tape.

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