talk to me about bar tape...

[Brandy]

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]

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]

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).

[DebW]

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]

you can ask your friendly lbs to do it for you.

spazz

**I'd forgotten about that old cloth bartape... ah, nostalgia.

[Veronica]

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]

you can ask your friendly lbs to do it for you.

spazz

Ooh...like that idea.

[caligurl]

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]

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]

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/...tegory_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]

Oh. I'm assuming mine can't be changed since I have a Shimano Nexus 7-speed Twist Grip Shift.

[Kano]

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

[DebW]

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]

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!

[Kano]

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