I’ve been having some problems with the HED Jet 6 clinchers I bought this year. For one thing the carbon is coming off from the aluminum rim on the rear wheel, but since I probably need to pay for shipping the wheel to the US (I’m in Denmark) I’m planning on fixing this myself.
The other thing that bugs me is the rim tape. The image below shows how it looked after about 3 months and ~3000 km using a Michelin latex tube and Continental GP4000s tire. It looked the same on both front and back. The tube had pushed the rim tape several millimeters down in the spoke holes. Suffice to say I didn’t trust it to hold much longer so I bought some Veloplugs and have also put strapping tape over those.
My friend, who has also bought a pair of Jet 6’s and has the same problem, has asked HED if it can be true that the rim tape can’t be used with latex tubes. The response was that what the picture below shows is perfectly normal. Seriously?! Am I the only one who find it risky to race on a wheel with a latex tube and rim tape that looks like that after only ~3000 km?
You can run a layer of electrical tape before the rim tape if you want, or use stans no-tubes liners as rim tape, though it does that a bit too. You could use two layers of it.
Looks normal to me. Those indentations are pretty standard, even with Velox tape with either latex or butyl tubes.
They’re pretty deep, not just a little indentation, we’re talking several millimeters, perhaps 3-4 mm. I know it’s normal to get a little indentation, but this seems like too much after only 3 months. Under hard braking with elevated rim temperature I didn’t feel very secure that the elastic rim tape would be able to hold the latex tube from tearing it apart at the edges of the holes.
You can run a layer of electrical tape before the rim tape if you want, or use stans no-tubes liners as rim tape, though it does that a bit too. You could use two layers of it.
Welcome back
Are your ‘holes’ also quite deep? How long have you ridden your wheels with those holes?
I have Veloplugs in the nipple holes now and think I have strapping tape on top of that and then the rim tape, too (it’s winter here so it’s been some time since I actually used these wheels).
I didnt read your entire thread…Obviously…but yeah I had the same issue, no problems since using the plugs in both HED C2’s and FLO rims.
Do you only use the Veloplugs and nothing else? I got the yellow ones (small ones I think), but they seem to have some sharp edges since they don’t sit completely flat with the bottom of the rim, so I’m reluctant to place the latex tube right on top of them.
X2 on the Stan’s liners. Two layers works great. I find that they are thinner too which has made getting my Conti GP 4000s tires on my Flo 60/90s easier.
yes. also deep.
used for a year and a half or so like that.
I switched to stans no tubes tape lately though, since I had a different problem with the rim tape shifting and exposing the edge of the holes.
OK. I know my friend has had two punctures which seem to have been caused by the rim tape somehow or else some tube failure (the holes in the tubes was on the inside). We have been suspecting the edges at the nipple holes, but exposing of the holes by shifting of the rim tape could perhaps also have been a reason.
Have not tried to get one out, but I also wont be surprised if it’s destroyed in the process. I’ve been using them for a little less than a year. I flatted the first time I put latex tubes in the week before a race last winter/spring, I realized right away what the problem was, and ordered some, and put them in all my wheels.
I’ll take a look and see if I can get them to be completely flush with the rim. It does seem like a pretty neat solution if I can get it to work flawlessly.
I’m pretty sure both tubes were quite new, not more than a couple of months old tops. But I have experienced the sticking with latex tubes in the past. I was riding right behind my friend when he had one of the punctures, it was more or less a blowout, but nothing could be seen in the tire and the hole in the tube was on the inside - and as far as I remember the tube didn’t stick to the tire nor the rim tape.
