Cleaning White Tape on the handlebars

[Owlie]

Someone at my LBS just commented on how all the handlebar tape and seats are white because they apparently are "flashier" on the floor, but nearly everyone changes both. I keep seeing references to seat color - is it tradition to match seats and handlebars? (I am shockingly ambivalent about bike color and matching - doesn't matter that much to me).

There's some sort of "rule" that your bar tape must match your saddle. It's the cycling equivalent of "bag must match shoes" or something. I'm not entirely sure how that's possible unless you have black, white or maybe brown tape, because saddles usually only come in those three colors (most often only two of those colors), whereas there's a rainbow of options for bar tape color. Bicycling magazine had this ridiculous graphic of what was (not) acceptable to coordinate. (Between that and the lengthy "how to shave your legs" article from last summer, I have pretty much lost any respect I have for that magazine).

I don't know that it matters that much. Black pretty much goes with anything, and who cares if they match? As long as you can stand to look at the bike, it doesn't matter. And relatively few people are going to see your saddle anyway. Your butt will be on it!

[Aromig]

. And relatively few people are going to see your saddle anyway. Your butt will be on it!

Ha -- especially mine! Can't see any of that saddle...Tee hee. I have white bar tape on my new bike. Hate it. I've only been riding on a trainer, and its already dirty looking. Just switched the saddle to black, guess that gives me permission to switch tape too! Yeah, it all sounds very silly. I actually have more respect when I see bikes that are "mismatched" (I saw one yesterday with different color tires, seat, etc. -nothing matched!) To me, that means the person rides it enough that things need to be replaced.

Its funny that I could care less about bike colors, etc., because all of my skydiving equipment is totally matchy matchy (we make a tongue-in-cheek joke that your skills are increased if you match)

[KDNYC]

Fizik tape stays pretty clean.

You might also try Magic Eraser. I used Magic Eraser on my vintage white Turbo saddle, which I'd deliberately neglected since it was for city use. Except for the tiny wrinkles on the side, it looks new again.