The very first time I ever pulled a tire and tube off of a rim it made an impression on me and it still does. I’m not sure I expected to find anything other than the tube between the rim and tire but there it was, some sort of tape. The French words, “Fond de Jante” and latin “Velox”, written in blue, lightly stamped upon woven adhesive-backed cotton-canvas. It had at once both a timelessness and a retro look. Running my forefinger over it as it covered the eyelets of my rims I imagined a French bicycle mechanic of old masterfully building wheels that pro teams from the 60’s and 70’s might use.
We can still look at our machines and see flares of tradition that remain from technology which has trudged on. Round drop-bars and gleaming bits are remaining vestiges of the classic machines of our sport. These throwbacks are often obscured by contemporary things like modern materials, ergo shapes and compact geometry. But hidden between layers of rubber and aluminum, like a business suit belies fine lingerie, adheres Le Fond de Jante, literally the “base of the rim”. The true story of Fond de Jante can be found here.
You might say all this pradling on about rim tape may be much ado about nothing. However, no detail is too small nor can it be overlooked by the Velominatus. I’ve heard other companies manufacture and sell rim tape but when you’re given Rochefort 8 for your first beer there’s no use in even considering anything else. So chapeau to our friends at Velox for making the finest rim tape that’s ever protected a tube from puncture.
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I always wondered about this white and blue tape...and even at low levels of wheel technology on my early mountain bikes 20 years ago, my LBS used this Velox tape. Now I know from this post that this is apparently the gold standard- I think the founders name is classic- and very fitting: "Vercingetorix Velox"...
Does anyone else make rim tape?
Great topic. Velox is the tits. I love that it has just the right amount of stretch to bend a bit and lay right down on over the eyelets.
@michael
I think so but they are wasting their time.
In '76 my buddy Mike had a series of mysterious flatz, about every few meters toward the end of our ride. We exhausted all of our patches and patience after about the 10th flat. Later in the bike shop I read something about "fond de jante" on the rim and began to think maybe we had a rim strip problem. Sure enough, after Mike removed the rubber rim strips, and put on the Velox fabric tape, voilá, no more flatz! Velox is THE STUFF!
"” Tim Krabbé, The Rider
@G'rilla
Jante = llanta in Spanish.
There are some products that you don't even think about when it comes to a purchase. Velox rim tape heads the list, closely followed by Michellin tyre levers.
amerckx marko!
how many, count them, how many products do we have that technology has not been able to master, nor other products that have not shown superiority...none that I can think of. In other words, how many product got it spot on the first go around...nada.
Chapeau
And, there are others that have tried, and shown inferior products IMHO. Mavic makes a plastic piece of crap that moves around and opens the nipple holes up allowing for flats, and others have stolen the idea of a fabric based tape and hacked it, but Velox is original
A friend and mechanic, journeyman master wheelbuilder that showed me how to build a wheelset, finished all of them with none other, Velox.
I had the same pleasant first time experience myself. 'Tis the simple things in a Velominatus' life that may reveal itself unexpectantly. Serendipity under a piece of rubber, who would have thought?
You know what really kicks ass? When you have occasion to remove that tape and you find the builder has signed and dated the wheel on the rim cavity along with the racer who specified the build and will/did race on them.