How was your weekend?

Did you do a little running?

Belgian Tape fail?

This rolled tubular was spotted at this past weekends CCC race. The tire looked to be belgian taped The tape could have stopped the whole tire from rolling off the rim, so perhaps it was worth it.

The Belgian tape method has become very popular in the past few years. "Belg tape" is basically a cloth tape that is encased in a strange white glue, please do not confuse it with .tufo tape . The process for using belg tape is one additional step to the normal gluing procedure, it is easy enough, but should you use it? DO you need to use it?? I feel like going over some "pros" and "cons"

First the pros.

1) Sounds PRO, "I just belg-taped my dugasts to my zipps, I am ready for mid-pack of the cat 4's!

2) There is a better chance the tire will not "pop" off the rim. The worst that will happen is a small section will detach from the rim (see picture above)

3) Better gluing surface for the tire. The tape will cover the spoke holes and smooth out any imperfections you may have in the glue on the rim. It will provide a 100% smooth surface for the tires base tape to bond to the wheel.

4) The white "glue" that the tape is made from will mix with the mastik creating a "soft" glue and keeping the glue from drying to the point of becoming brittle and cracking, causing a tire to roll off, see #2 above.

5) Not a huge investment, a roll to tape 2 wheels can be purchased for $6 online.

6) It can help match the radius of narrow tubular rims that were designed for road tubulars to the larger cyclocross tubulars by "filling" the gap at the lowest part of the rim.




Now the cons.


1) Adds $3 per wheel and an extra step, also one more thing to "run-out-of"

2) The tires base tape is unusable after removing the tire, the belg tape/glue mixture bonds so strongly it can not be removed without damaging the base tape or tire. Once you belg them on they are on for good, even if you need to remove a tire to repair a puncture/replace a spoke/ reseal a valve extender, the base tape will need to be replaced.

3) Cleaning the rims is harder than a cyclocross race. You will scrape, cuss, add a caustic mix of strange chemicals and after hours you will see your rim surface again. A local wheel builder says it is cheaper to rebuild wheels with new rims than pay him to scrape the mess off of a rim.

To Belg or not to belg, that is the question............