white bartape - practical for a mancunian commuter ?

edhornby
edhornby Posts: 1,780
edited January 2009 in Workshop
I ride daily and I'll have a plain red frame (when it gets back from the powdercoating) with white forks

so I'm wondering if white bartape and a white saddle is viable or will it all turn skeggy in a very short timescale?

or should I have white saddle and red tape as a sop to practicality ??

or can anyone else think of a better colour scheme...
"I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, how good is that"
--Jens Voight

Comments

  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    Compromise between the frame colour and saddle colour, go with pink! :lol:
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Hmmmm - i have a nice brown saddle on my red fixie. You can get tan bar tape to match that (check out the Charge Spoon saddle - comfy and so cheap).

    White tape will get dirty unless you're v good at cleaning, and the white saddle the same.
  • Lagavulin
    Lagavulin Posts: 1,688
    I wouldn't put white on a commuter/hack. Whenever I've seen one or pics it has invariably looked nothing short of scruffy.

    Even with brand new gloves, no punctures/events and such like, the Pro white tape on my summer bike required a couple of cleans in roughly 600 dry miles of use last summer.

    I wouldn't like to think what a dropped chain or a puncture in the wet would have the bars looking like.

    I've just re-taped my Allez with Pro Adhesive microfibre in silver. Was previously black. Hope it'll last but not so sure.
  • gkerr4
    gkerr4 Posts: 3,408
    yeah - get the white tape and saddle - it'll look great!

    even when it gets dirty the white tape still looks better than having boring black tape (which gets just as dirty but you don't notice cos it always looks crap!)
  • edhornby
    edhornby Posts: 1,780
    actually that tan option may work well, it's a viking frame with retro cinelli bars... the charge spoon is the saddle that my bro recommended

    mind you bartape is only a fiver a pop, I could get some white and see how long it lasts
    "I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, how good is that"
    --Jens Voight
  • N4PALM
    N4PALM Posts: 240
    I'm using white specialzed roubaix bar tape on my bike. Its kinda soft n spongy with a almost suede feel. When it gets dirty it isnt so much a case of wiping clean, its scrub it clean.

    Its been getting quite dirty with all the spray in recent weather but its usually a case of scrubbing it with a soapy scouring sponge and it comes clean. However, I experienced a puncture while out the other day and managed to get the tape quite muddy. I think its basically ruined now and perhaps I should have been using a colour other than white for the winter.

    White looks great but unless you wanna be cleaning it all the time to keep it looking so nice I'd go with something else.
  • gkerr4
    gkerr4 Posts: 3,408
    edhornby wrote:
    actually that tan option may work well, it's a viking frame with retro cinelli bars... the charge spoon is the saddle that my bro recommended

    mind you bartape is only a fiver a pop, I could get some white and see how long it lasts

    the tan stuff looks quite smart IMO - and the charge tape wipes clean - although it is a bit PVC-ish in feel - not soft and spongy like cork tape - here is the charge tan bartape and charge spoon saddle on my 2007 langster:
    P1000488.jpg
  • Dustine
    Dustine Posts: 184
    I managed to wreck white bar tape within a few weeks of installing it on my daily commuter. It was on a red and white Nigel Dean from the 80's, and looked great when applied, but oil from puncture repairs particularly did for it. It got REALLY shabby looking. I went with boring black tape when i built up a Salsa Casseroll as my next commuter- with mudguards, lights, respro reflective stickers etc, its a practical workhorse not a show-piece.

    I have however put white bar tape on the newly rebuilt Nigel Dean, but its a 'nice weather only' singlespeed built up for the -fingers crossed- sunny weather ahead.
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    If you're commuting, stick on a brookes saddle and matching leather bar tape...


    Impractical but looks brilliant.
  • softlad
    softlad Posts: 3,513
    if it is for a commuter bike - surely looks are completely irrelevant..??
  • gkerr4
    gkerr4 Posts: 3,408
    softlad wrote:
    if it is for a commuter bike - surely looks are completely irrelevant..??

    whaaaattttt!!

    Surely looks are of paramount importance!

    As always

    - less of this silly talk

    :-)
  • softlad
    softlad Posts: 3,513
    gkerr4 wrote:
    whaaaattttt!!

    Surely looks are of paramount importance!

    As always

    - less of this silly talk

    :-)

    apologies - I was overcome by a wave of practicality.. ;)
  • rhext
    rhext Posts: 1,639
    Come on guys, he already knows the answer to this one. What he really wants is for all of us to tell him he's wrong and white tape will be OK. So he has a cast-iron excuse to finish his bike off properly, and sod what happens when it actually hits the road.

    White bar tape will be fine!!!
  • Dustine
    Dustine Posts: 184
    I have some pictures of my bikes stuck up around my desk, and have to say, white tape looks a bit nicer with a red bike/ white forks, but red tape still looks damn fine. I would compromise with that personally.

    But i would still say, save the white tape for your 'best' bike.
  • Slow Downcp
    Slow Downcp Posts: 3,041
    Stick the white tape on - just clean it regularly with baby wipes and it'll look okay for a few months.
    Carlsberg don't make cycle clothing, but if they did it would probably still not be as good as Assos
  • edhornby
    edhornby Posts: 1,780
    see I only have 2 bikes, a Carerra Fury and my fixed wheel - so this is my best bike !

    to be honest I've been agonising over the colours for ages - I'm one of those people who only makes their mind up in a restaurant when the waitress comes to the table...

    To be honest I did think that white is a silly choice but if I got a load of people who have had positive experience with europonce bar tape then I'd have gone with it

    now I'm thinking I prefer the tan :roll:

    ooh, hang on - tan saddle, white tape for the summer and back to tan tape in the winter !!!
    "I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, how good is that"
    --Jens Voight
  • gkerr4
    gkerr4 Posts: 3,408
    ah - now you are thinking straight..

    a brown charge spoon with matching bartape for autumn / winter
    a white charge spoon with white cork tape for spring summer

    a bike for all seasons - good thinking..
  • Dustine
    Dustine Posts: 184
    My short answer would be that you need to get more bikes.... :-)