Fitting bar tape

[ishaw]

Having long left my road days behind, I've not fitted bar tape for decades. I used to be good at it, even remember having a technique to make a good job around the levers. I've long forgotten how I did this, the last time I recall doing it was when Shimano 105 so was new, or was it 155?

I'm now needing to do a few bikes, a gravel and a road.

Anyone got any tips and tricks or a go to video that will result in my bars being adorned with neat, well fitting tape?

May as well ask opinions on good value bar tape while I'm at it.

Thanks

 

[pigman]

Definitely start at the ends and work up towards the stem. This is so when you're riding on the hoods, the edges don't get turned down

 

[bikeworkshop]

Cork, cloth and ribbon, glue and unglued, are slightly different:

Do the first loop projecting half over the end (allows you to tuck it in later with the plug)

bar tape wraps from the ends up, maintaining direction of rotation, and keeping the min overlap (and angle) constant round the curves. You put some tension on the tape to avoid wrinkling on the inside of the curve, and help it hold on, glued or unglued.

Only do the figure-of-8 around the hood if you are not using dual control levers
(sti/ergo -i can't bear the B-word, won't have it said in the shop)
and you are using ribbon or cloth tape.

(Cinelli invented the soft cork tape and supply it with 2 short strips to put round the back of the lever brackets, so that's from the Horse's Mouth)

When hipsters gave up on fixies and singlespeeds they brought the vintage fig8 wrap style to Cork tape on modern levers, ending up with an uncomfortable lump in the tape behind the bars. they also set the bottom of the drops parallel with the ground... almost always wrong.


...Whereas thin ribbon or cloth you can do a fig 8, because it's so thin and was historically unglued.

Cut to a taper at the top end and wrap with decent electrical tape, which you can cover with the supplied decorative tape - curiously if you use this tape on its own to finish the wrap, it will peel off overnight.
One of the last remaining great traditions of the cycle world!

If you do it gently enough, you can probably have a second try, although some brands of tape leaves the glued strip on the bar.

Just use cinelli!

 

[novocaine]

To add to what is said above modern tapered edge Cork tape, as the name implies is tapered for a reason, overlap should be about 5mm to give a flat grip instead of the lumpy mess you see on most bikes where it's either too big of an overlap (lumps between the centre) or to low of an overlap (lumps at the centre). It can take a few attempts to get it right first time. Glued tape can be undone and redone easy enough till you get it right.

It's a bugbear of mine, it always looks a mess.

 

[novocaine]

Oh and tape your cables an inch from the lever, at the corner and about an inch from where you want your tape to finish. Good old electrical tape is perfect.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Good point, and if you've got Cables under the tape, usually run them in the front (in grooves if there are any) sometimes one front one back, to create a comfortable shape for the hand

 

[jim haseltine]

I haven't wrapped tape around the levers since I changed to dual-control back in 1999 because the hoods had tabs to lock into the levers. I've used Cinelli cork since then too, originally in white but more recently a much more sensible black. Having had cork tape wrecked in the past by the glue whilst trying to align the windings now before I fit the stuff I spend a considerable amount of time stripping the adhesive off.

 

[Nob]

This is my weak point & hate wrapping bars…

 

[Deleted member 69416]

+1 for Cinelli .

 

[Ippikin]

Hardest part of this job is clean removal of the old baked on tape. New tape can be a pain , especially when you get interrupted and it unravels and cascades to the floor picking up all the cat hairs and expired insects! Can also be a quick job especially when it all goes on perfectly in one go . Much easier to do ime where the bike is supported at normal height using a portable 2 hook frame stand.