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Rim Strips: The Cheap Insurance Between Your Tube and the Spoke Nipples
On a spoked wheel, rim strips are the band that sits inside the well of the rim and covers the spoke nipple heads. Their job is simple and important: keep those sharp nipple ends and the edges of the spoke holes from chafing through the inner tube. Fit a tube without one, or with a strip that has slipped or worn, and you get pinch holes and slow leaks that look like a bad tube but are really a bare rim doing the damage. When you break a tire down to fix a flat, you check the strip; when it's cracked or off-center, you replace it. That's the whole trade behind this part.
Match the strip to your rim size and width first: a 16in strip goes on a 16in rim, an 18in strip on an 18in rim, and the width has to sit flat in the well. Note the valve type too, side-valve versus center, so the hole lines up. The strips ship in 10-packs, which suits a shop or a rider who keeps spares on the shelf. If your rim itself is corroded around the nipples or the spoke bed is damaged, no strip will save the next tube, and that's when a new Excel rim earns its keep. Rebuilding a wheel is a bigger job than replacing a strip, so decide which problem you actually have before you buy.
What else you need with it
A strip is only one layer of the tube setup. Order fresh Tubes at the same time so you're not reusing an old one over a new strip, and browse Tires if the tread's due. This page lives under Wheel Accessories, alongside Center Caps. For hardware, see Lug Nuts and Wheel Spacers in the same Wheel Parts section.
Fitment and ordering
Not sure which size or valve type matches your wheel? Call our fitment help line at 813-535-5801 or reach us through Contact Us before you order. Every order ships free, and Affirm and Katapult financing is available at checkout.
Rim Strips: The Cheap Insurance Between Your Tube and the Spoke Nipples
On a spoked wheel, rim strips are the band that sits inside the well of the rim and covers the spoke nipple heads. Their job is simple and important: keep those sharp nipple ends and the edges of the spoke holes from chafing through the inner tube. Fit a tube without one, or with a strip that has slipped or worn, and you get pinch holes and slow leaks that look like a bad tube but are really a bare rim doing the damage. When you break a tire down to fix a flat, you check the strip; when it's cracked or off-center, you replace it. That's the whole trade behind this part.
Match the strip to your rim size and width first: a 16in strip goes on a 16in rim, an 18in strip on an 18in rim, and the width has to sit flat in the well. Note the valve type too, side-valve versus center, so the hole lines up. The strips ship in 10-packs, which suits a shop or a rider who keeps spares on the shelf. If your rim itself is corroded around the nipples or the spoke bed is damaged, no strip will save the next tube, and that's when a new Excel rim earns its keep. Rebuilding a wheel is a bigger job than replacing a strip, so decide which problem you actually have before you buy.
What else you need with it
A strip is only one layer of the tube setup. Order fresh Tubes at the same time so you're not reusing an old one over a new strip, and browse Tires if the tread's due. This page lives under Wheel Accessories, alongside Center Caps. For hardware, see Lug Nuts and Wheel Spacers in the same Wheel Parts section.
Fitment and ordering
Not sure which size or valve type matches your wheel? Call our fitment help line at 813-535-5801 or reach us through Contact Us before you order. Every order ships free, and Affirm and Katapult financing is available at checkout.
