[Ranger Pride]

I have a set of Bontrager Race Lite wheels tubeless. I run them with with tubes for each tire set up. I don't have an issue with tubeless it is just a preference.

My question is can I pull off the plastic rim strips and replace them with cloth since I have no intention of going tubeless? Would it save weight?

 

[Squash]

Doubt if it would save that much....

weight, maybe 5 to 10g, but you can use cloth rim strips. As long as you aren't going to go tubless is won't hurt a thing.

Good Dirt

 

[40hills]

The BR rim strips weigh about 51g each, and I just weighed a plastic Schwalbe rim strip at 21g. I imagine that a cloth strip would weigh about the same as the Schwalbe... anyhow, that would be a savings of 30g per wheel... not exactly earth shattering. My suggestion is to just leave the tubeless strips on there in case you want to try tubeless. They can be removed, but the edges tend to get sort of mangled and they may not fit great again.... new ones are only $4 each though.

By the way, that Schwalbe rim strip is really nice. It almost looks like it was heat shrunk in place. I like it better than cloth.

 

[Tallsilver1]

I removed mine. I found it very hard to change tubes & tires with the tubeless rim strip in place. Much much easier with a std. cloth rim strip.