I picked up a long nail last weekend, straight through the tire + tube of my stock Bontrager AW3’s. In the spirit of, “whelp the lightbulb burned out, time to remodel the bathroom” I am thinking of switching to tubeless tires (looking at Continental GP5000 TR’s). My Domane came with Paradigm Comp wheels from TrekTravel, which have the “tubeless ready” sticker, and there is some fabric-like tape already installed in the rims. The nail last weekend put a small scratch in this tape, so as a tubeless-curious n00b I am trying to figure out:
1) Is/was this tubeless rim tape? The bike came with tubes, and most of what I have seen online about Paradigm Comps don’t show this tape installed, so I’m tempted to think it is cosmetic / serving some other function (covering/reinforcing the spokes maybe?).
2) If this IS tubeless tape, is it still ok with the small tear or do I need to patch it / rip it off and redo?
3) Can I grab a pair of the Bontrager tubeless rim strips and install on top of whatever this tape is? Those look pretty slick for a first-timer.
by Glazier1273