£18?! **** a duck!

Just bought some for £10 from the Wigglers.

Or 66 metres of Tesa stuff off eBay for a tenner?

I know. Cheaper on line etc, lbs purchase cos I needed some. Ah well at least I know the bike shop owner will eat tonight. (Beluga caviar served on unicorn steak) 😈

I used gorilla tape 1 inch wide £2.30

Gorilla tape on all my wheels, wasn’t really impressed with Stans nd way over priced.

Gorilla tape really works?

Gorilla tape really works?

Yep, the 25mm wide roll is perfect (for my unfashionably narrow rims anyway).

Gorilla tape does work, I got one of the wide rolls to do my 650b+ rims with; my fat bike rims were done with it when I bought the bike (second hand) and I replaced the Stans tape on one of my Hope wheels with it. Measure the outside rim width, make a short cut to that width and then it tears at that width for as long as you want. Apply, press in firmly and the tape just fits the inside of the rim as the depression in the middle takes up the difference between internal and external rim widths.

Gorilla tape really works?

Joe’s No Flats system provides a roll with their tubeless conversion kit..

ENVE used to recommend it for their rims!

Works really well, harder to put a hole in it with a tyre lever (unlike Stans…) but leaves a mess behind if you ever take if off

TESA tape is exactly the same as Stan’s tape. The same price (£10 for 25mm wide). But… you get this much:

It’ll do about 30 rims, not the four that Stans does.

PSA ebay link: Ebay Link for TESA Tape

Gorilla tape really works?

Yep, works really well and so much cheaper.

but leaves a mess behind if you ever take if off

I’m not sure why i’d take it off, does it lift when it gets old like Stans seems to, requiring replacement?

While changing tyres, I’ve had a bead peel gaffer at the edge such that it leaks. A bit of isopropyl on a rag will take the residue off fairly quick, still a pain in the arse though.

Kryton57 – Member

I’m not sure why i’d take it off, does it lift when it gets old like Stans seems to, requiring replacement?

Mine went orrible after maybe 9 months or so and started to come off the rim and fray in places. Also, if you need to fix a spoke it has to come off. And when it does, urrrrrgh. So I went back to Tesa. But apparently the clear gorilla doesn’t gum up the same?

Tried the black gorilla after seeing it recommended on here, then had to remove it…never again. Great duct tape but that’s it.

Tried the Tesa stuff and is it meant to be that stiff? I ended up using a heat gun to soften it and get down on the rim with a minimum amount of bubbles but ended up with giant blisters on both thumbs from the heat of softening it and the friction of rubbing it down.

The clear gorilla does look much better and potentially lighter as the Tesa stuff is quite thick. Maybe I was sold the wrong stuff?

I got some from Superstar Components for about a fiver a roll if I remember.

Electricians tape works perfect , stans is just a rip-off .
Its for sealing the nipple holes and nothing else ‘theres nothing magical about stans tape’, but im sure some guru will disagree on here .

2 wraps of electric tape always worked well for me too (I had a single wrap bust at a spoke hole one time though). But it seemed to lose its stick over time.

andyl – Member

Tried the Tesa stuff and is it meant to be that stiff? I ended up using a heat gun to soften it and get down on the rim with a minimum amount of bubbles but ended up with giant blisters on both thumbs from the heat of softening it and the friction of rubbing it down.

Not my experience anyway- Tesa make loads of differet tapes so maybe it’s the wrong one? I think I got 4289.

the problem with electrical tape on its own, is it cannot handle the internal air pressure and starts to depress into the spoke holes, often causing leaks or split in the tape.

I’ve seen this numerous times on customers bikes where they have used it, with failure to seal a puncture, loss of sealant and finding dried up sealant in the rim bed. You have to wrap many times to make the tape stiff enough, and it often starts coming unglued after sealant exposure

when I worked at freeborn (the original stan’s distributor) we sold 100’s of tubeless wheel setups every year – degrease rim with Iso alcohol, couple of wraps of electrical tape to seal the spoke drillings, then quick wipe with Iso again, and wrap some Stans/Roval whatever tubeless tape around to completely seal the rim area. the electrical tape acts as a last defense if the main tape failed/split or leaked

works great. much easier to reapply new stan’s tape if needed.

the problem with electrical tape on its own, is it cannot handle the internal air pressure and starts to depress into the spoke holes, often causing leaks or split in the tape

It’s the same with the clear Gorilla tape (Waterproof repair tape) – it needs a normal rim strip underneath (IMHO).

Waterproof duct tape works for me – not as thick as Gorilla tape, and is easy enough to take off if you have to. I do make sure that it’s wide enough to completely fill the rim width, with a little tail sticking up the vertical part of the rim so that the edges are well and truly clamped by the tyre bead – it make it easier to avoid disturbing the tape when changing tyres. (I bought a 100mm wide roll on ebay for about a tenner and slit it to width as required.)

esher shore – Member
couple of wraps of electrical tape to seal the spoke drillings, then quick wipe with Iso again, and wrap some Stans/Roval whatever tubeless tape around to completely seal the rim area. the electrical tape acts as a last defense if the main tape failed/split or leaked

That’s what I’ve settled on too. I’ve tried it with just electrical tape before, and it sealed, but seemed like a long walk waiting to happen.

One thing I like about gaffer is that you can do a bit of testing then cut a roll down to the exact right width for a given rim. The adhesive degrades fairly fast on the shelf though, so it’ll become useless in a year or two. If I have Stan’s/Tesa in a near enough width, that’s what I’ll reach for first nowadays.

About to do my first set of tubeless rims…. Would a 25mm roll of tape work for a 27mm ID rim? One wrap or will it need a wrap to each side to completely cover the inner surface, or better to get wider tape and cut to fit?

I’ve TESA tape’d at least 3 rims, really pleased with it

I tend to just make sure that the tape covers the spoke holes mark90 – it’s often better if it sits flat in the well of the rim rather than climbs too far up the sides – it only tends to get pulled off when you change tyres otherwise.

I use the clear reinforced parcel tape for the first wrap over the spoke holes – a la Stan’s kit, but bought off Ebay, and then any tape to seal. Electrical tape does tend to migrate into the rim bed a bit and doesn’t always like the sealant. I got a massive roll of blue Mavic or some other wheel manufacturer tape from Tredz I think and it’s lasted years.

I found electrical tape fine at MTB pressures, it didn’t like >35psi though as mentioned by others.

Gorilla tape (the duct/gaffa tape variety) just soaked up sealant and eventually peeled off. The waterproof stuff might work better (there’s currently some sealing a hole on my boat so I know it’s waterproof!

Thanks wwaswas

Not my experience anyway- Tesa make loads of differet tapes so maybe it’s the wrong one? I think I got 4289.

yeah that is what I ordered.

As an aside, has anyone ever tried ’rICKERS’ or similar.

Individual “Helicopter tape” spoke hole stickers, I sort of like the idea, despite the obvious opportunities for faff.

I’ve had the same issues with gorilla tape soaking up sealant so needed to add more, But the tape started peeling off and it was a right faff to clean up and reapply.

Stans is overpriced, WTB do a tape that used to be cheaper but the price seems to have nudged up alongside gradual acceptance of stans prices.

Thanks to rikon – never knew what the tape type was to look for non branded alternatives. Now purchased!

As an aside, has anyone ever tried ‘rICKERS’ or similar.

I can think of one design enhancement: If there were some kind of connecting material between them, like some sort of strip made of exactly the same material, then you could apply them under tension and reduce the potential points of failure. You could also then keep it on a roll and it would be much quicker to apply. I reckon it’d only add about ten grams per wheel.

Does Stans tape go off? Just tried to tape up a pair of arch ex rims with a roll that’s at least a few years old and there wasn’t any flex in it so it was a bugger to get nicely pushed into the rim bed.

My Stan’s question for today.

After an almighty fight getting a tyre onto, off, then onto the above mentioned arches just now, the casualty list includes four tyre levers, my sanity, knuckles, rim decals and some nicks in the stans tape.

Do I have to retape the whole damn thing or will it be OK as long as all the spoke holes are well covered?

as long as the holes are covered you’ll be ok.

I’d consider what you;d do in the dark if the fluid can’t plug the hole in the tyre if you’re having that much trouble with a tyre/rim combo…

Gorilla Clear Repair tape – been using it for 2+ years on my fatbike and still fine despite multiple tyre changes. Peels-off clean too. Cloth reinforced tape like Duck / Gorilla/gaffer soaks up sealant, comes unstuck and leaves a sticky residue – PITA. The Ebay Tesa stuff is fine, but a bit thicker than normal Stans so best left to warm-up on a radiator to soften before applying.

I’d consider what you;d do in the dark if the fluid can’t plug the hole in the tyre if you’re having that much trouble with a tyre/rim combo…

The thought had crossed my mind. 😥

I’m hoping they’ll loosen up a bit once they’re on and inflated/ridden around a bit.

I’m using the gorilla tape stuff too

yes it is that strong that it attaches to the bead and pulls off as you change a tyre

however at £2.30 a roll and easily accessible at Halfords, I don’t mind at all

so far ive swapped the tyres about 1 time in 3 months, and its stayed up and perfect with the tape, if it pulls off next time with the bead, then ill just re-apply, it takes about 5 mins to clean with IPA and reinstall, and it always sticks down first time every time

so to me the gorilla tape is worth it

Sorry to hijack the thread but I put some gorilla tape on last night and I’m not sure if I stretched it enough, it is currently sitting on the ‘hooks’ on the rim (Stan’s 355 rims). Is that going to be ok or should I take it off and start again? Or at least trim a little off the sides of the inside?