Before mounting some new Zipp tubulars to my race wheels, I had to take the old Tufo Jet Specials off. The front tire was glued on with Continental’s Rim Cement and the rear was taped on with Tufo’s Extreme Tire Tape. I spent a half hour prying the glued front tire off in one spot so that I could get a grip and pull the rest of the tire free (some of the tire backing even came off). The taped rear tire came free in 15 seconds and was pulled off in under a minute.
Now I can’t decide how to mount the new tires:
–glue them on and know I have maximum adhesion but be hung out to dry in a race in case of a flat
or
–tape them on and know I have a weaker bond but will be easy to change if flatted
I’ve never used tape, but from the recent discussions on this board, the consensus seems to be that tape is worse than glue in basically every situation.
How did the rim look after you removed the old tire/tape? Did most of the tape come off? I will be doing this soon and was wondering…
If you use tape - how will you change a flat. Thats my biggest issue - do you glue the rim and then glue the spare and then use tape? Need to figure out your flat plan as it may change your decision. I’m not sure what Tufo says of applying tape over glue - I’d e-mail them and ask prior to doing it…
Before mounting some new Zipp tubulars to my race wheels, I had to take the old Tufo Jet Specials off. The front tire was glued on with Continental’s Rim Cement and the rear was taped on with Tufo’s Extreme Tire Tape. I spent a half hour prying the glued front tire off in one spot so that I could get a grip and pull the rest of the tire free (some of the tire backing even came off). The taped rear tire came free in 15 seconds and was pulled off in under a minute.
Now I can’t decide how to mount the new tires:
–glue them on and know I have maximum adhesion but be hung out to dry in a race in case of a flat
or
–tape them on and know I have a weaker bond but will be easy to change if flatted
Advice?
There’s a good article in Velonews this week about glues and carbon rims. After reading it I am going to stick with the Conti Rim Cement (clear, not red). The other good glue on carbon rims is Vittoria Mastik’One. If you need to; leave an inch on either side of the valve stem so you have a place to get started or bring along a small razor to help you.
It’s your life you’re talking about. I would go with the strongest glue possible.
