Holey Spokes, Batman!

And now a few words about rim tape.

When last we left our heroine, she had safely completed her ride and traced the source of her flat tire to a gash in the side of the tube that faces the rim.

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Where the tape should have safely covered a spoke hole, there was instead a jagged tear. The tube, regularly inflated to a high pressure, had evidently pushed the tape into the hole and eventually ripped it open.

I must admit, I have never given rim tape a second thought. Or a first thought, honestly. Its job is to protect the tube by covering the holes in the rim through which the spokes are inserted; once it's in place, it never occurred to me that it could fail. But, fail it did.

Here's a view from the flip side. We can see a slight dimple from the pressure of the tube having pushed the tape into the hole. The tape was similarly dimpled at every spoke hole, though only one had given way.

The wheel in question is a stock Mavic wheel, fitted with their stiff, woven plastic-y tape. (Or I should say, had been fitted.)

A little research and a couple of helpful YouTube videos later, I picked up two rolls of classic Velox tape at a local bike shop, removed the original tape, wiped the rims with rubbing alcohol, and applied the new tape.

Two rolls, you say? Yessiree, two rolls. One for each wheel. You didn't think I was going to risk a repeat performance on the rear wheel, did you?

And, um, if you haven't inspected the tape on your rims lately (or, ever), you might want to have a look-see.