Yes, and the Vorwek Company in Germany also made it.
We brought it in and sold lots of it in the day. Came in a nice metal round
container, like chocolate.
Had that same smell. Like creosote, not chocolate
It also had a plastic layer between the tape surfaces so that it wouldn't
stick to itself.
Our modus operandi was to stretch it on the rim, cut it to size and then
take a small rounded rim radius type handle of some tool and rub the tape
hard and quickly to seat it REAL tite to the rim.
This minimized raveling when fitting a snugger tire and kept it better in
place when removing a punctured tubulare.
We found that one could revive the tape to save it a second time by putting
a solvent like finger nail polish on the tape and it would get nice and
sticky like, once more.
This tape was designed to use with cloth base tapes that were untreated .
The rubberized ones would leave the rubberization on the rim tape and it was
sort of a checkerboard of blotches of tape and rubbery spots when the tire
was removed. So you had to use a new tape.
Before we put a tire on we would wet a finger and moisten the rimtape so
that it was just a little moist all the way around.
This would allow for easier installation and straightening.
The cloth base tape of the tire would soak up the water and would be dry in
minutes.
Opposite the valve we would put a strip of paper cut to the the rim well
width between two spoke holes and stick that paper in place.
Then in case of flat on the road or a tire change, that several inch section
would give a start to take off the tire as it gave a little room to get a
finger under the tire and work it up and loose leaving the tape stuck in
position on the rim.
Don't worry, the tire won't roll. We still doit today with our rimglues and
it sure helps.36/32 H rims no problem, 28H maybe, but I glue my tires well
and haven't had a problem in 50 years.
That's where/when the tape rubbing trick was appreciated
It was always sticky enough for one change, and that's where the solvent
trick came in handy to resuscitate the tape and save a.penny
when one removed the spare.
As the base tapes became the majority and the gutta's became gooder, the
rimtape slowly faded until the newer chcck tire came in with their products.
That's the way it was, and we LIKED it!
Ted Ernst
Palos Verdes Estates
CA USA
>
>
> Yes, Jantex double-sided rim tape!!! What a sweet memory!!! And I never
> rolled a tire. The stuff had an odd smell, somewhat like creosote. It was
> so sticky to use, I came up with the idea of putting a new roll in the
> freezer for a few hours, before mounting a tubular. In very hot weather,
> glue would ooz out along the base tape. Centrifical force then caused the
> glue to form radial lines on a tire's sidewall.
>
> Michael Allison
> New York, NY