Why You Don't Re-Use British-Style Cloth Rim Strips...

British-made three speed bikes often come with old, cloth rim strips. These are identifiable by their white/cotton color, and metal buckle holding them together. 

I love old Dunlop tubes and old Dunlop tires - they were really well made parts. Most of the time the old tires are all dried... but sometimes you get lucky and find good, old tires.

One thing you want to dump though are the old, cloth rim strips that are found under these tubes and tires. If they take water or moisture, they will hold it against the rim, and leave a big, ugly rust spot.

The Raleigh Sprite project I recently completed had very, very clean rims. In fact, the only rust spots were inside the rims, where the cloth strips had taken water and held it against the rim. They cleaned up well enough, but don't re-use these rim strips if you value your rims.

 Below you can see the spots where there was moisture, and rust formed - indicated by the brown stains on the strip.

The rim strip above is a "moderate" case, and certainly nothing that will harm the structure of the rim. But it makes a mess and leaves a point where future moisture could cause the rust to restart. In the worst cases, the rust will actually eat through the inside of the rim, leaving you wondering how the rim could look passable outside, but be so badly rusted inside. 

Don't re-use these strips. Velox rim tape and even the basic, rubber strips, are a better choice.