Cycling UK Forum

Can anyone point me in the direction of those rubber buttons that are fitted in the inner eyelets instead of using rim tape?
Maybe a link?

I know they're not a cheap option, but I like the idea, and I can't think what they are called.

These?

http://www.veloplug.com/index.php?http: ... intro.html

Hi Mick

try the link below

http://www.velocityusa.com/product/acce ... /veloplugs

Malc

just found another in the UK

http://www.justridingalong.com/veloplugs.html

Thanks guys!
They're the ones!
Veloplugs.

I'll be replacing the rear rim in the next month or so as it won't be long before the wear indicator will be showing through.

The rim-tape is looking decidedly tatty and worn in both rims, so thought I'd put new ones on ........... then I thought about the buttons idea.

PS.
For the record, Rigida/Ryde Chrina rims have holes 8mm diameter.
Therefore Red Veloplugs required.

Mick, caveat emptor here;

you will notice that a chrina is a double-eyelet rim but veloplug examples are always shown in no-eyelet or single-eyelet rims.

Basically unless veloplugs are substantially larger than 14mm OD then they won't cover up the double eyelet and you will have endless punctures from the edge of the double eyelet. In addition veloplugs have a little bayonet on the bottom that locates them. There's nothing to engage with on a double-eyelet rim, so they may fall/pop out anytime the tyre goes flat and there is no air pressure to hold them in place.

I might be way off beam here, but it could be that these are both the most expensive and the most useless 'rim protection' going, in double-eyelet rims, anyway.

cheers

Thanks Brucey,
Sounds like good advice. I wonder if the dimensions are published somewhere?

I've been wondering if those Veloplugs aren't the ones I remembered (I think).
Are there not a sort that are rubber plugs?

Maybe just the same problem with double eyelets though!

I'd never heard of them before reading this thread and thought 'what a good idea'....
Then I thought 'well I've never had any problems with Schwalbe/Vittoria/Conti plastic rimtape', so concluded they're a non starter at £10 when rimtape's less than a fiver .

I'm tight aren't I?

I agree R2.
Rim tape is cheap enough.
It just sounded a good idea coz rim tape is a pig to fit and remove ................. not that you do it very often!

The Vittoria rim tape I have on mine is well past its best, so I was going to replace it.
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... itttyrz650
£3.22 plus p+p £1.99 = £5.21

72 Veloplugs from http://www.justridingalong.com/veloplugs.html are £10 + £1 p+p = £11.

£11 Veloplugs minus £5.21 Vittoria tape is £5.79.
Not the end of the world, and it's quite a nifty idea as well.

Several of the Ebay sources specify that they're not for double eyelet rims, so Brucey is right on the money. Shame, I liked the idea, anyone who's put tight tyres on a rim without tape will know what a difference it can make.

Oh well.
Sounded a good idea.

Seems like there's a version needed for double eyelets then.

Mick F wrote:I agree R2.
Rim tape is cheap enough.
It just sounded a good idea coz rim tape is a pig to fit and remove ................. not that you do it very often!

The Vittoria rim tape I have on mine is well past its best, so I was going to replace it.
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... itttyrz650
£3.22 plus p+p £1.99 = £5.21

72 Veloplugs from http://www.justridingalong.com/veloplugs.html are £10 + £1 p+p = £11.

£11 Veloplugs minus £5.21 Vittoria tape is £5.79.
Not the end of the world, and it's quite a nifty idea as well.

I agree a fiver difference won't trouble many,but what surprises me is that you find rimtape 'a pig to fit and remove'.
I can't say it's ever taken me more than a couple of minutes to do either with the plastic stuff,it's just a plastic hoop that needs stretching over the rim edge like a tyre.
I find the best way to remove it is to get small flat s/driver under it via the valve hole,once one edge is lifted slip a pozi head s/driver in one side work it across to lift the other edge,so you have a screwdriver blade bridging over the two rim edges with the tape stretched over it,the first driver can then be removed if it hasn't already fell out.
With the driver across both rim edges slip another one across by the side of the first,then push them apart whilst easing the tape over the rim edge,a bit like getting a tyre off.
It takes longer(for me)to type it,than do it.

PH wrote:Several of the Ebay sources specify that they're not for double eyelet rims, so Brucey is right on the money. Shame, I liked the idea, anyone who's put tight tyres on a rim without tape will know what a difference it can make.

I really can't see how plastic rimtape that can't be any thicker than 0.2mm thick,can make that much difference

reohn2 wrote:

PH wrote:Several of the Ebay sources specify that they're not for double eyelet rims, so Brucey is right on the money. Shame, I liked the idea, anyone who's put tight tyres on a rim without tape will know what a difference it can make.

I really can't see how plastic rimtape that can't be any thicker than 0.2mm thick,can make that much difference

Me neither, but my experience is that it does, though I prefer the cloth tape which is still thin but not as thin as the plastic stuff.

reohn2 wrote: .........what surprises me is that you find rimtape 'a pig to fit and remove'.
I can't say it's ever taken me more than a couple of minutes to do either with the plastic stuff,it's just a plastic hoop that needs stretching over the rim edge like a tyre.
I find the best way to remove it is to get small flat s/driver under it via the valve hole,once one edge is lifted slip a pozi head s/driver in one side work it across to lift the other edge,so you have a screwdriver blade bridging over the two rim edges with the tape stretched over it,the first driver can then be removed if it hasn't already fell out.
With the driver across both rim edges slip another one across by the side of the first,then push them apart whilst easing the tape over the rim edge,a bit like getting a tyre off.
It takes longer(for me)to type it,than do it.

My experience of rim tape is of two sorts.
1. plain cotton and a metal "buckle" that the cotton tape threads through to secure it. The buckle had a hole in it to line up with the valve hole.
2. a very tight continuous plasticated strip with a hole that must line up perfectly with the valve hole.

First sort was fine, but the metal buckle would rust and the cotton would rot. Mind you, the system was easy to use and easy to change or align.

The second sort is a pig because they are tight. Maybe on wider rims there is room to move the tape as you describe, but on narrow rims it's very tight and it's very easy NOT to get it central in the well, and because the rim is narrow, it's very difficult to rotate it accurately enough to align the valve hole. Good job you don't have to disturb them very often.

Oh, and because it's difficult to get it centrally in the well, it upsets the fitting of a tyre.
Maybe on wider rims it's ok, but on narrow rims, the tape is a pig and fitting tyres is a pig too.