Going Tubeless - What Size Tape??

[Witterings]

How do I know what size tape I need to convert to tubeless ... initially I'm probably going to do my gravel bike which kind of falls in between road bike and MTB in terms of size but if that works well and I like it I'll probably do my 29er as well later on.

I've provided 2 links below for Road or MTB kits ... both which have drop down menu's for size but I haven't got a clue which measurement I take from the rim and what it refers to when ordering.
My gravel bike rim spec says it has an inner width of 17mm and a height of 22mm.

Road
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-p ... beless-kit

MTB
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-p ... beless-kit

Any help much appreciated.

[NUKe]

one question are you rims tubeless Specific
? if not then non of the above.

[reohn2]

Another question.
Why do you want to go tubeless?

[Witterings]

one question are you rims tubeless Specific
? if not then non of the above.

No they're not but I thought you could still go tubeless but it was just harder to get a good seal and if the rims were tubeless specific (I guess that's tubeless ready ????? ) then you didn't need any tape / a conversion kit????

Reason for going tubeless .... where we cycle there are a lot of thorns ....

[reohn2]

...Reason for going tubeless .... where we cycle there are a lot of thorns ....

You can put sealant in the existing inner tubes to counter that.

[Witterings]

...Reason for going tubeless .... where we cycle there are a lot of thorns ....

You can put sealant in the existing inner tubes to counter that.

I know you can but the ones with it already in but the reviews are so mixed it's unreal which kind of put me off trying that option and I'm not adverse to trying to do it as it should be.

[mattsccm]

I have had success with tape a bit wider than the rim inner. It spreads up the walls at touch. If you are looking at "proper" tubeless tape you can buy similar stuff from ebay for much less. Look for yellow Tesa tape in 10m rolls.

[Sum]

How do I know what size tape I need to convert to tubeless ...

The rim tape needs to be wide enough to amply cover the spoke holes but not so wide it won't fit inside the rim. The rim tape usually stretches a little and so you can get away with a rim tape a little bit wider than the rim, or you can trim the tape if need be. It sounds like the internal width of your rim is 17mm but it easy enough to measure and check. Here's a diagram so you know what to measure.


According to this road.cc review the 21mm tape was perfect for a 17mm rim.

The other measurement given in the drop down menu on the Halfords website is for the valve length: 35, 44 and 55mm lengths are available. If the length of the valve stem on the inner tubes currently fitted to the bike seem about right then measure that and pick the closest size (or the next size up) for the kit.

[Witterings]

How do I know what size tape I need to convert to tubeless ...

The rim tape needs to be wide enough to amply cover the spoke holes but not so wide it won't fit inside the rim. The rim tape usually stretches a little and so you can get away with a rim tape a little bit wider than the rim, or you can trim the tape if need be. It sounds like the internal width of your rim is 17mm but it easy enough to measure and check. Here's a diagram so you know what to measure.


According to this road.cc review the 21mm tape was perfect for a 17mm rim.

The other measurement given in the drop down menu on the Halfords website is for the valve length: 35, 44 and 55mm lengths are available. If the length of the valve stem on the inner tubes currently fitted to the bike seem about right then measure that and pick the closest size (or the next size up) for the kit.

Brilliant and thank you for that .... much appreciated

[Gattonero]

How do I know what size tape I need to convert to tubeless ...

The rim tape needs to be wide enough to amply cover the spoke holes but not so wide it won't fit inside the rim. The rim tape usually stretches a little and so you can get away with a rim tape a little bit wider than the rim, or you can trim the tape if need be. It sounds like the internal width of your rim is 17mm but it easy enough to measure and check. Here's a diagram so you know what to measure.


According to this road.cc review the 21mm tape was perfect for a 17mm rim.

The other measurement given in the drop down menu on the Halfords website is for the valve length: 35, 44 and 55mm lengths are available. If the length of the valve stem on the inner tubes currently fitted to the bike seem about right then measure that and pick the closest size (or the next size up) for the kit.

On a 17mm internal rim measurement, a 21-22mm size of tubeless tape is often the right choice.
But it's not to be taken for granted: the internal profile of the rim -though may look similar- is different between all brands and models. The central well can be more or less deep, and the "ramps" can be more or less pronounced (or not be there at all). Speaking of the latter, the image above is useful, but does not show a tubeles rim.
This image shows better how the tubeless-tape has to cover the whole bottom inner part of the rim, up to the side but not exceeeding that (in the picture below is shown going way too far)

[hemo]

I have had success with tape a bit wider than the rim inner. It spreads up the walls at touch. If you are looking at "proper" tubeless tape you can buy similar stuff from ebay for much less. Look for yellow Tesa tape in 10m rolls.

Tesa tape worked well for me on my Arkose when converted to TL.

[Brucey]

I agree with gatto's comment about the tape going too far in the lower illustration but I would also comment that, with thin tape, this is the lesser of two evils if the alternative is that the tape leaves any kind of a bare spot on the rim shoulders.

cheers

[colin54]

How about cutting a strip of paper until it fits the internal profile of your rim to fit as per the previous comments then measure it and get that width tape ?

[Gattonero]

How about cutting a strip of paper until it fits the internal profile of your rim to fit as per the previous comments then measure it and get that width tape ?

You need to get the measurement of the tape as if is competely sticking onto the rim, difficult to get with paper only. Maybe can use a piece of those sticky-rollers used for removing hair from the clothes? That is lightly adhesive and easy to remove

[Gattonero]

I agree with gatto's comment about the tape going too far in the lower illustration but I would also comment that, with thin tape, this is the lesser of two evils if the alternative is that the tape leaves any kind of a bare spot on the rim shoulders.

cheers

Not really, tubeless rims are most unlikely to have tall inner sides, if the rim tape is too thin and going past the "ramps" and up towards the bead, if will be pushed away and damaged. A typical example of this happens with normal clincher tyres, when fitted on a shallow rim where someone has used that very thin Schwalbe fabric tape: very often the tape gets pushed off by the tyre bead and become frayed or moved so far to expose the nipple holes.
OTOH, sizing of tubeless tape isn't super-citical and often you can get away by using 21 or 22mm tape on a rim that is 17-18mm of nominal inner width.
Worse comes to worse one could carefully trim the excess with a Stanly knife.