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.

[Brandy]

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

spazz

Ooh...like that idea.

[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.