James and Patric Manou are a pair of Fillipino brothers who have day jobs already, but nevertheless are bent on resurrecting American industry. Below everybody's radar they're working overtime after hours to design and cause the making of bike parts and accessories in the land where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies...

First they took over (at our request and with our support) the Einstein's Patch Kits. At first they duplicated what we had, and put it in a flip-top tube. Then, when Velox started rebranding glue and patches from China, James and Patrick found a super maker in Japan, always a good thing, and didn't miss a beat.

Next it was rim tape, the most unappreciated and invisible and least frequently replaced of all things on your bike. For this they found a mill in the land where Ben Franklin used to roam, and after a few false starts, we now have a fine and dense Penn-made rim tape.

There are other things on the menu. We know what a few of them are, but aren't at Liberty to say right now.

We're now getting Made in the USA (MUSA) rim tape, made by the Manou Bros.  It's only available in the 17mm width at the moment but we hope to get the 22mm width tape from them soon. 

So for now the 22mm wide tape is still the French made Zefal.

French cloth rim tape. The $4 gets you one roll, enough for a wheel. It'll say either Zefal or Velox, but they're identical, so it doesn't matter. These tapes are the World Standard in rim tapes. They don't slip and don't rupture. You put them on and that's it. There are lighter tapes out there, but if you're not going to be fantatical and you just want something that'll work forever, this is it.

The 17mm tape fits most road rims up to about 21mm wide (outside to outside). The 22mm tape is for most wider rims.

Oh--it goes on the outer circumference and protects the inner tube from the edges of the  spoke holes....which will surely wreck the tube unless they're covered.

Also makes great bar tape, especially if you shellac it. You need about two rolls per side, so it costs more, but it lasts about 3x as long as regular bar tape (bad news for those who enjoy fraying cloth bar tape over time, and yes, we exist).