View Full Version : talk to me about bar tape...
Brandy
07-07-2006, 08:39 PM
like I'm a 2 year old, because I know nothing about it! All I know is that mine is blue and white and I want it to be black. What do I look for? Is it hard to wrap?
spazzdog
07-07-2006, 09:28 PM
It's not really hard. You just need to be a little anal about it... or maybe that's just me???
I use cork bar tape. Most LBS' will have a selection and black ought to be an easy get.
spazz
SadieKate
07-08-2006, 05:33 AM
Cinelli cork tape is wonderful and traditional stuff.
Deda tape is a synthetic with a nice cush and re-wraps more easily than Cinelli. It doesn't dry out as fast as cork tape.
Specialized Bar Phat/Tape combo comes in black and the Phat can be either 2.5mm or 4 mm. I love the 2.5 combo. Comfy without making the bars to large.
Deda bar tape is not long enough to wrap over Specialized Bar Phat unless you have 40 cm or narrower bars.
What else you want to know? The how to? We'll have to look for some photos. You have Shimano or Campy levers? It makes a difference on on the back side of the lever (inside the drops).
Cinelli cork tape is wonderful and traditional stuff.
Cork tape is not traditional (for us over-the-hill types). Cloth tape is traditional, but you can't get it anymore. Wish you could. I just rewrapped my bars in Cinelli cork and I don't care for it. The edges are so thin they roll. With the old cloth and plastic tapes, you could start in the middle of the bar, wrap to the end, push the rest inside the bar, and insert the plug. With current tapes you have to do it in the opposite direction which makes it a little more difficult. But I've never been that fond of wrapping bars anyway. I'd much rather pack bearings.
Bar wrapping tips: overlap turns by 1/3, stretch the tape as you go around a bend in the bars. Usually you can do a figure-8 around the brake levers.
spazzdog
07-08-2006, 07:07 PM
you can ask your friendly lbs to do it for you.
spazz
**I'd forgotten about that old cloth bartape... ah, nostalgia.
Veronica
07-09-2006, 08:15 AM
Cork tape is not traditional (for us over-the-hill types). Cloth tape is traditional, but you can't get it anymore. Wish you could. I just rewrapped my bars in Cinelli cork and I don't care for it.
Rivendell has cloth tape - rivbike.com
You can also get Brooks leather tape from wallbike.com. I really like it. It's great in the rain too!
V.
Brandy
07-09-2006, 08:39 AM
you can ask your friendly lbs to do it for you.
spazz
Ooh...like that idea. :p
caligurl
07-09-2006, 08:44 AM
the fizik black tape feels SOOOOOOO nice! it's suedey feeling! if i wanted black on my bike... THAT is the tape i would have!
as for wrapping it... i let hubby do it... and yes... i'm anal about it (he still needs to redo my silver cuz it looks like dookey!)
pooks
07-09-2006, 08:35 PM
Okay, go even less than two years old and talk to me like a newborn!
What is the tape for? Do you put it on all bikes, or just racing bikes? Would it go on an upright like mine?
KnottedYet
07-09-2006, 08:56 PM
Nope, on an upright you're most likely to be happy with grips. I changed my grips to Ritchey's, and used plain ol' rubbing alcohol to slide the old ones off and the new ones on.
I think my new ones were something like $9 from Performance.
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=4701&subcategory_ID=5251
Now they're like totally on sale for around $5.
I like them much better than the originals my bike came with. They fit my hands better and absorb vibration better.
pooks
07-10-2006, 04:39 AM
Oh. I'm assuming mine can't be changed since I have a Shimano Nexus 7-speed Twist Grip Shift.
Pooks -- I think they could be changed if you felt you needed them changed -- they're not part of the shifter! (well, on my bike, anyway!)
Deb, what kind of fabric is (was) the cloth tape made of? Could we stage a come back with bias cut strips of delightful fabrics?
Karen in Boise
Rivendell has cloth tape - rivbike.com
Thanks V. I'll order some.
Deb, what kind of fabric is (was) the cloth tape made of? Could we stage a come back with bias cut strips of delightful fabrics?
It has to be sticky tape. Think of hockey stick tape but narrower and thicker with more texture. I just got some new gloves with a really nice leather (real leather) palm pad, so now I want less padding on my bars. The cork tape or other padded tapes are better with thinner gloves.
pooks
07-10-2006, 07:37 AM
Kano -- it's okay so far. I haven't been interested in changing yet.
Like so many things, it's all so new to me that if it's causing me any trouble, I don't know enough to recognize it!
It has to be sticky tape. Think of hockey stick tape but narrower and thicker with more texture. I just got some new gloves with a really nice leather (real leather) palm pad, so now I want less padding on my bars. The cork tape or other padded tapes are better with thinner gloves.
How sticky? What kind of stick? How permanently sticky? I'm not too familiar with hockey stick tape, darn it! How does it compare to that tape for "DIY bandaids" -- you know, the kind for the really BIG boo boos!
I seem to remember doing some plastic type tape on my bike when I was a kid, but I don't remember any stickiness to it.
Karen in Boise
How sticky? What kind of stick? How permanently sticky? I'm not too familiar with hockey stick tape, darn it! How does it compare to that tape for "DIY bandaids" -- you know, the kind for the really BIG boo boos!
I seem to remember doing some plastic type tape on my bike when I was a kid, but I don't remember any stickiness to it.
Karen in Boise
There was plastic tape back then too, and it was not sticky. You just overlapped a couple turns, then went down the bars and held the last turn with an end plug. It worked OK, but when it started to come loose it could all unravel. The cloth stuff was sticky like cloth bandaging tape but had a much more textured surface for a good grip. It was permanently sticky, but not quite as sticky as duct tape. Does that help?
There was plastic tape back then too, and it was not sticky. You just overlapped a couple turns, then went down the bars and held the last turn with an end plug. It worked OK, but when it started to come loose it could all unravel. The cloth stuff was sticky like cloth bandaging tape but had a much more textured surface for a good grip. It was permanently sticky, but not quite as sticky as duct tape. Does that help?
Yup, that helps -- now, repositionable forever, or did it get stuck stuck after you wrapped it? and how textured? Do we need to be thinking like denim, or pique? Or is a nice quilter's cotton something to consider? (corduroy comes to mind, but I don't think it would wrap nicely!)
At the moment, I'm visualizing making strips of fabric, and laying them on something like carpet tape. Then you've got the fabric stuck to the tape, which would then be sticky on the other side....
(more work than buying "ready made" but it could be fun to have unique wraps!)
Karen in Boise
Yup, that helps -- now, repositionable forever, or did it get stuck stuck after you wrapped it? and how textured? Do we need to be thinking like denim, or pique? Or is a nice quilter's cotton something to consider? (corduroy comes to mind, but I don't think it would wrap nicely!)
At the moment, I'm visualizing making strips of fabric, and laying them on something like carpet tape. Then you've got the fabric stuck to the tape, which would then be sticky on the other side....
(more work than buying "ready made" but it could be fun to have unique wraps!)
Karen in Boise
Not repositionable. Stuck forever until you rip it off and discard it. I don't know all these fabric types you talk about, but probably a texture somewhere between denim and corduroy. Just so it's not slippery in your hand.
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