tubes and rim tape
 

Should these be changed when you change tyres ?
Bike has 11k on it,
Not sure when or if they have been changed
Recommend a good place to source these in the uk
Cheers all

I changed my rear, but only because of a small spear I picked up in Portugal that destroyed the rim tape (and the tube), then made a noticeable gash in the rim!

The front is original - never changed it.

It's there to protect the tube from the spoke nipples.. so I guess, unless it perishes then it's only going to need replacing if you have a problem with your nipples.

A good Enduro trick is to leave the OE rim tape and add four or five layers of Duct tape over it. Helps hold back a broken spoke.

oh hahahahaha.... 'problems with your nipples'.
sorry :/

Hi i usually just remove the tape, add a droplet of oil to each nipple and tape the grove around a couple of times with a half width of duct tape.

the tubes, if i was constantly riding rough ground, change them yearly as they do get little nicks and can fail for no apparent reason. for regular riding, they'll be fine. I never use hd tubes, just decent quality ones

stoic

for me in the past I always used to change the lot when fitting new tyres and carry the old tubes as spares. I used to think the tubes got a bit hot if the bike was left in the sun. Plus I found it gives confidence on long trips.

What size tubes fits the XTX ? i.ve been searching but can only find imperial sizes

It's terrible when that happens isn't it :D

I read somewhere that heat cycles will eventually make your tube fail, along with friction between tube/tyre caused by acceleration (back wheel), & also braking/cornering etc. I also notice that the metal parts of the valve stem, particularly nut & washer, go rusty quite quickly, so the part you can't see inside the rim, will probably be in even worse shape. As tubes are not much money, I reckon changing every second tyre change probably gives good peace of mind. I'm no mechanic, & I don't ride off road.....

Replace them when they fail.

I did a good 25,000 miles on the original, wafer-thin front tube, and over 30,000 on the rear.

The front tube is still fine, and I carry it as my spare tube. The only reason I swapped it was because my spare happened to be a thicker tube, and thus took up annoyingly more space to carry.

I changed the rear tube because I pinched it fitting a tyre. Otherwise it was still fine.