Effetto Mariposa Carogna tub tape

The Carogna Tape from Italian company Effetto Mariposa makes the fitting of tubs an absolute doddle even for the first time tubular user, and thanks to its ease of use, cleanliness and unbelievable adhesive qualities, I for one will never be using glue again.

I've used tubular tyres for the best part of 10 years and for most I've used glue, namely Vittoria's Mastik One, to attach them to the rim. This is mostly because I was always warned by the old boys of the club run never to use tape. It's a bit of an art form to not end up with hands and legs (and the draining board, worktop, plus your three-year-old son's head – but that's another story all together) covered in glue, but the finished product has always left me with heaps of confidence that a high pressure, skinny racing tyre isn't likely to roll off mid time trial.

Using the Carogna gave me that same confidence, with the added bonus that after I'd fitted the tyre my boy didn't need an emergency haircut before his mother came home...

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The Carogna, in its simplest form, is a double-sided sticky tape, though each side has differing properties. Rim side gets an acrylic glue, which is a non-permanent solution. The theory is that when you remove the tyre, the glue goes with it rather than staying on the rim – a big plus against mastik and even other tapes like Tufo's version. It doesn't come off the rim easily, mind. Once it's cured the bond is very strong and it takes some serious manhandling to get the tyre off the wheel.

The tape comes in a roll, two metres long in this instance, which is enough to do one 700c rim, separated by a sheet of removable backing to stop the tape sticking to itself. To kick things off you stick the rim side of the tape next to the valve hole, unrolling it around the rim as you go, applying a little pressure with your thumb to seat it. Once you are back at the opposite side of the valve hole you snip it to length, leaving the hole clear and also leaving on the protective backing tyre side. You just pull 25mm or so out to the side of the rim to aid removal, watch the video here. 

You now whack your tyre on and pump it up to 60psi before centreing the tyre on the rim. This is where things normally get messy with glue – things are drying fast and you are nudging the tub side to side to get things running true. If things go badly, glue gets on the sidewall, then your hands, then your expensive carbon rims...

With the Mariposa you get none of this. The tyre isn't yet stuck, so you can play about with it, and only when you are ready do you pull out the protective backing between tape and tyre. Then pump the tyre up to its recommended maximum pressure and let things cure.

The glue on the tyre side permanently fixes to the tub and it's actually been designed for underwater applications so nothing out on the road is going to affect its adhesion. The tape is about 1.5mm thick, but with the pressure from the tyre this flattens down and moulds to the contours of the wheel and tyre.

Mariposa recommends a fitting temperature range of 21-38°C; at this, within eight hours it will have reached 80 per cent of its adhesion. Give it a full day and it's totally cured.

Once everything is cured and the tyres are rolling they feel just as secure, if not more so, than with glue. High speed, tight corners like roundabouts or junctions at race pace don't show up any feelings of movement or slippage.

Mariposa claims some impressive temperature ranges for the tape's use. Once cured it'll stay stuck right down to -40°C and up as far as 93°C for continued use. For the European mountain descenders among us, the Carogna can handle up to 149°C for hours without affecting its longevity, ideal for those heavy-braking, hot carbon fibre rims. Obviously this is all a little bit tricky for us to test, but as summer has turned to autumn (and winter some days!), I haven't noticed any changes.

I left the tape on for a good few months to see how Mariposa's claims of the Carogna leaving no residue stood up to real life testing, and other than a few witness lines it was as if the rims were brand new once I'd taken the tyre off. The only downside to this would be if you were changing the tub at the side of the road; if you'd used glue you'd have enough tackiness to hold the new tub on until you got home.

>> Need new tyres? Check out road.cc's reviews here 

Weight-wise, things are similar across the board. A single tube of Vittoria Mastik is 30g; okay, some of that will be lost during the curing process, but the Mariposa's 31g (once fitted, removal of the roll, backing tape and so on) is admiral and it's worth sacrificing a couple of grams for the ease of fitment.

So, price? At £9.99 for this 16.5mm x 2m roll (16m shop roll - £59.99), which is suitable for one rim up to 21mm wide, that is 70 per cent more than a tube of glue and 25 per cent more than the similar Tufo tape, but the Mariposa has a more secure feel to it, and if its claims of the high temperature range are true, it'd be better suited to those summer Alpine descents.

It's also available in a 20mm and 25mm width for £12.99 (2m) or £69.99 (16m shop roll) to cover other road and off road tyres. Apparently low-pressure applications won't cause the tyres to roll off as once the glues have cured, the adhesion strength stays the same regardless of pressure.

Overall the Effetto Mariposa tape is brilliant: so easy to fit and use, and it offers the same ride feel to that of glue without the mess. The added cost is negligible unless you swap your tubs around a lot. I definitely won't be gluing anytime soon.

Verdict

The benchmark-setter in the world of tubular adhesive tapes