Handlebar Tape Bandits???

[WindingRoad]

OK here's the story. My BF and I went on a camping / riding trip this past weekend. After the first day of riding we leaned both bikes up against a tree, covered them with a tarp to keep the dew off and went to bed. We are about to leave for another ride the next day and discover that some bizarre creature had chewed my BF's handlebar tape all to heck. There were bitemarks all over the drops and pieces of red tape were all over the ground. We didn't hear anything in the night so we didn't get up to check it out. This is about the strangest thing I have ever heard of. Have any of you had any experience with strange nocturnal handlebar tape eating critters in the forest???

[KnottedYet]

Used to have trouble with porcupines eating salty/sweaty things. (axe handles, etc.)

Bar tape might be a very tasty treat to them!

[OakLeaf]

Wow. Around here, groundhogs will eat nearly anything, plastic included, but they'd have to be some awfully tall groundhogs to get your bar tape without knocking the bike over.

[alpinerabbit]

Maybe Martens. At least that's what they are called here. Sort of like ferrets.

They chew rubber for some reason, car cables are popular.

[Tuckervill]

Probably raccoons. They can get up tall and they're smart and able to open things. On the other hand, any little woodland creature that can climb trees could easily climb up a bike and get on the bars. A squirrel could have done it.

How far apart are the teeth marks? If it looks too big to be a squirrel, it was probably a 'coon.

Karen

[TrekJeni]

Used to have trouble with porcupines eating salty/sweaty things. (axe handles, etc.)

Bar tape might be a very tasty treat to them!

I'm with KY.

Porkies are really big salt fiends. People will go to their hunting cabins and their outhouse toilet seats will be eaten, the arms of the rocking chairs chewed off, etc. Basically anything that had salt on it, they'll eat.

Jeni