Fun with handlebar tape

[Gowest]

Awesome job!!! As a track rider - I see the retro bars with the striped pattern a lot - but this is far superior and creative - of course by a woman no less. You have given me ideas for a black and white job on my white Pinarello track bike.......... maybe with pink thrown in somehow - because there is always some little itty bitty bit of pink on all of my bikes.

Debi

[Trigress]

Groovy!

Hmmm, evil plans are being formed. Isn't my birthday soon, I wonder? Isn't my birthday present wish a new handle bar, I wonder? Wouldn't that mean taking off all the black handle bar tape, I wonder? Wouldn't my Morpho look stunning with Harlekin handlebar tape in black with red accents, I wonder? Is red handle bar tape available in the Norwegian bike shop third world, I wonder?

[Andrea]

Wow, that is absolutely beautiful. You have given me something to think about!

I apologize if I have asked you this before, but what bars do you have? Are they made to make the reach to levers a little easier? I am always on the lookout for ways I could reach my brakes more easily without changing EVERYTHING. (I know this is a hijack...feel free to PM me.)

It's the Ritchey Biomax II handlebars. They are compact bend and the tops angle back slightly while the ends flare out a little. I got them so that I could climb/sprint easier in the drops (they're not quite a low as a standard bend and the flare keeps my forearms from hitting the bar tops). I do find it a little easier to reach the shifters as well, but that wasn't my main reason for getting them.

Any of you that try this out should post your pictures! I'd love to see what everyone else comes up with. If someone can figure out a way to get around the shifter and all the way up to the normal "stopping" point, pleeeeease let me know!
Oh yeah, and keep in mind that people originally did this with cotton tape, so whatever you use needs to be pretty flexible and thin. The microtex was great because it's thin, tough, and you can roll the edges up & down while you're weaving. Happy taping!

[Starfish]

Any of you that try this out should post your pictures! I'd love to see what everyone else comes up with.

Thanks for the info on the bars.

And, LOL, I am thinking it will be a miracle if I can duplicate what you've done, looking at your picture, let alone invent something cool to show off!!

[rij73]

Wow! Snazzy indeed
And, the pooch is, of course, precious.

[sgtiger]

Andrea, your bars look great! Blue, white, and black are one of my favorite color combinations. BTW, how are you liking the Sram Red?

[Andrea]

^Thanks! The Red is awesome! It lightened my bike by a full pound over the Frankenstein mix of ultegra/tektro/truvative that I used to have, and it shifts "like buttah"

[GLC1968]

Very nice! I think you are inspiring me to try something creative when I change out the handlebars on my 'project' bike!

[madscot13]

I've been thinking of retaping my bars for a while now. that looks super cool. Maybe it could improve the old Turkey Bird, my bike nickname, and make it faster!

[F8th637]

Hey! That's the same thing you said when you saw me!

Really nice job.
I'm about as good (or bad) wrapping bars as I am sewing

I guess I didn't do a good job of keeping my excitement down, huh?

[Zen]

I guess I didn't do a good job of keeping my excitement down, huh?

HA! You're just being polite. I know what you were really excited about...SurlyGirl

[ArmySpouse10]

I haven' t ridden much only two rides and then some on the trainer but I have pink handlebar tape. My bike is light blue and I'm doing pink accessories..looking for pink bottle cages..anyway it is hard to keep the pink tape clean looking. Like I said I haven't ridden much and mine already looks dirty. I think it was Fredwina(hope I spelled that right) that was thinking of doing the pink tape..

I LOVE the blue and white it's very nice looking!!